The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

BEEN WARM--By the time you read this, you may have experienced a little drizzle this morning, but forecasters weren't sure, and if it were to show up, it wouldn't be much. While some areas haven't had any sprinkles, we did manage a few last week when no one else did. Needless to say, the fire danger is high and it's important to take extra care to prevent a dangerous situation. One guy had a tail pipe come down and was dragging it along the freeway, and with sparks flying, was setting off small fires all along the freeway. Don't be that guy!

VERY IMPORTANT--Tomorrow, Friday-July 21, is the last day to get all animals pre-registered for the upcoming Wahkiakum County Fair. If you have a horse, you are asked to read the section in the fair book regarding horses, very carefully. There will be no telephone entries, so if you have an animal that you'd like to show in the fair, be sure to get those entries out of the fair book and mailed in ASAP! It is located on Page 94 of the fair book.

HORSES THIS SATURDAY--Speaking of the fairgrounds, the Silver Buckle Series will be held this Saturday, July 22 if all goes well. The first part had to be cancelled due to a health issue by the one in charge, so let's hope all is well this week. Sign-ups for this are at 8 a.m., and the show starts at 9 a.m., so don't be late. There are prizes given at each show, but in order for a rider to qualify for the high point buckle, a rider must take part in two of the shows. The last one will be held during the fair on August 19, so get those horses and riders ready and here's hoping they have a great turnout!

FAIR TIME COMETH--In less than a month, we'll all be heading to the 109th Wahkiakum County Fair held on August 17, 18 and 19 this year. The theme is "Denim-N-Diamonds" so let's see the sparkles come out and let's rock that denim up right this year!

The fair is always in need of volunteers, whether it's taking tickets or cleaning up or being a superintendent of something, so call the fairgrounds and leave a message if you'd like to help out in some way, 795-3480.

ROADKILL SALOON--On Aug. 19, the last day of the fair, the Roadkill Saloon, which is right by the fairgrounds, will be having a "Rat Rodded, Rusted and Under Contruction" Car/Truck/Bike Cruz-in and Show event, which lasts from 9 to noon. For more information on this event and all others that the RS is hosting, be sure to stop by and ask, or contact April at 360-606-0179.

FOS--The Friends of Skamokawa have their latest exhibit up, so head to the River Life Interpretive Center in Redmen Hall, and check it out. The hall is open Thursdays through Sundays, noon to four. Call 795-3007 for more information.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from July 20-26 are Rick Benfit, Stuart Bosch, Bev Moonen, Al McClain, Randy Montgomery, Suzet Parker, Larry Hendrickson, Skip Nortrup, Elisa Wallin, Steve L. Doumit, Raedyn Grasseth, Lisa Hannah, Theresa Libby, Bob Roseberry, Linda Wright, Ruth Doumit, McKenna Longtain, Tanner Bergseng, Ashley and Kelsey Hedges, John Buennagel, Jerry DeBriae Jr., Carol Cooper, Frank Webb, Jon Hauff, Lesley Horman, Julie Pedersen, Molly Jorgensen and Art Pedersen. Hope your birthday celebrations are just fantastic!

Celebrating anniversaries this week are Andrew Emlen and Audrey Petterson, Mr. and Mrs. Rick Bryan and Mark and Patti Phillips. May you all enjoy your special days! My apologies to John and Mary Gustafson who celebrated their special day last Saturday, so happy belated anniversary wishes to them!

CELEBRATED THIRD--Speaking of birthdays, Jensen Finkas turned three years old this past week and his folks, Ty and Kendra, recently celebrated his big day with a group of family members and friends at Windemere Park in Longview with a Moana themed party. As is so typical of kids, the biggest hit of the day was not all the neat bags of presents that he got, but the big box that a big gift came in. Everyone had a big chuckle over that! Jensen is the grandson of Steve Finkas, and the only great grandson of my brother and his wife, Frank and Carolyn Pedersen of Longview, so he's pretty special, and super cute too!

NEW FAMILY MEMBER--Larry and Linda (Palmer) Spieth recently welcomed a "son" into their family when daughter, McKenna got married to Callum MacKintosh last Friday, so here's a big congratulations to them! The happy couple headed to Crater Lake, Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe for their honeymoon the following day, which was a bit unique as they took some of Callum's family from England with them so they could visit for a bit after coming all that way. However, the kids would be taking off for a week alone in Mexico so they would have the second honeymoon week all to themselves! Grandparents, Donna (Healy) and Glenn Palmer, of Longview, were naturally excited to attend the nuptials for their grand-daughter and attending the wedding from here, were Gene and Karen Healy.

NEW LISTING?--Recently my oldest grandson, Kyle Sechler, celebrated his birthday in Hawaii, but the day before his big day, he had an even bigger day, as on that day, he asked the love of his life, Suzy Ekstrom to be his wife! With a gorgeous ring in hand, and under a starry sky in Hawaii, she said yes! Kyle's folks, Pete and Katie (Nollan) Sechler had known about the plan prior to their vacation, so they were delighted when they got the official word that their eldest son had proposed. As of yet, there is no date set but we send our heartiest congratulations their way and wish them much happiness in the future.

BALD EAGLE DAY--Once again the Bald Eagle Day festivities were a big hit and the weather was perfect, the parade was nice and I heard lots of positive things about the entire set up, so kudos to everybody who took part to make the day a success! We also listened to some out of towners who just raved about how nice everyone was here in our area, and what a beautiful spot the marina was and couldn't wait to come back next year, so that's always great to hear.

One thing for sure, this event could also be called "Where You Get The Most Hugs Day" as friends and family and classmates, from near and far showed up and neighbors stopped by and they all got to meet on Main Street, where hugs were being freely served up. Sooooo nice! I got to visit a bit with the Good girls and Gwen (Good) and her hubby Arve Ronninghaug had come over from Norway to visit with sister, Kari (Good) Claussen and Tony, and they all met with their Uncle Harvey and Aunt Shirley Good, as well as visiting with lots of friends along the way. I got to chat briefly with my daughter-in-law Katie and granddaughter, Tessa, as they'd come down from Seattle to visit with Katie's sister, Susan (Nollan) Schillios and come to the parade, so it was great to see them for a bit as well. Son Pete even made it down for the fireworks after spending the day with friends Pat Shanahan and Henry Pype in Longview, and they cruised around Puget Island and shared "remember when" stories as they toodled around prior to the fireworks.

If you have any ideas of how to make this day even bigger and better, remember, the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce is always looking for people to help out, set up new exhibits, put in another float or two, etc. so, keep that in mind for next year. This is always a huge undertaking and it needs bodies to make it work, so here's hoping you'll think about setting up a booth or an entry in the parade. The more the merrier!

67'ERS MEET--Some members of the Class of 1967 met after the Bald Eagle Day parade for our 50th Class Reunion. We enjoyed visiting with classmates and their spouses, as well as others who dropped by. Seems hard to believe it's been 50 years since we all graced the hall of WA-KI-HI! Besides all the gabbing, we enjoyed our potluck luncheon and chowed down on a wide array of tasty dishes. Attending were David and Kathi West, Elaine (Munson) and Phil Rolf, Keith and Karen Lawrence, Mike and Becky Hicks, Bill and Kay (Pedersen) Chamberlain, Dale Jacobson, Don Marsyla, Don Seaberg, Sandra (Peterson) Davis, Judy (Lindwall) Bergman, Pam (Below) Lazor, Nancy (Jacobson) Brady, Linda (Holland) Toste and Kathy (Bond) Peek.

There were many former Wahkiakum High School classmates or residents who just stopped to say hello, and I probably didn't see them all, but a few of them were Vicki Jacobsen Gregory, Gail Olsen Brewer, Rena Kramer Morris along with her daughter, Al and Billy Munson, Don Doumit, Toni Below, Dennis Emery, Rhonda McFarland and her brother and probably others that showed up after I left or did not recognize, but it was nice to have them stop by.