More cancellations have been announced

Skamokawa News

 

April 30, 2020



ALMOST GONE--If you are getting this on Thursday, then this is the last day of yet another month; where did April go? So, tomorrow, Friday, is May Day; Happy May Day, everybody! Here's hoping you can surprise somebody with some flowers, like we used to do in the old days, as that's always fun, while practicing social distancing of course! I'm seeing lots of great pictures on Facebook of folks' lawns and flowers, and I have to say, they are looking awesome.

This month is also "Cinco De Mayo" time (May 5) and as luck would have it, it actually falls on what we call Taco Tuesday! So why not try a taco pizza or an order of tacos or a salad to go, and help support our local businesses during this tough time? Remember, all the places that are open have "to go" services right now, so please support them if you can.

After that comes Mother's Day on May 10. Again, it all depends on what happens with our restrictions in our state, but even if you can't go anywhere, all the husbands or kids can make their wives or Moms feel special that day. Whether you get the kids to make Mom a handmade card or help out with the housework or garden work, or the older kids make a "coupon book" with a special "I'll do ‘this' for you today" coupons. Any of those things would truly make a busy Mom happy! As far as I know, you can still head to our local nursery and pick up plants and flowers for Mom, so start planning now, and here's hoping your Mom has the best day ever in spite of all that is going on in the world right now!

FAIRLY DAMP--The weather has been off and on, and on some days, it's wet for one part of it and sunny for the rest, so I guess we should be thankful that it's not just steady rainfall 24/7 as that would certainly put an extra damper on folks' moods. I know one thing, this rainy, sunny mix has the lawn growing twice as fast so it's certainly keeping the lawn mowers busy. That also means the weeds that I had so carefully removed, have also made a return and my back is saying, "Let them grow" about now, sooooo, it's looking like they'll get a little bigger before I get back out there to attack them with a vengeance! There's definitely not "nothing to do" when you have a lawn and flower beds or are in the midst of planting a garden.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from April 30-May 6 are Conner Emlen-Petterson, Connie Luthi, Ricky Montgomery, Eva Snow, Maria Snow, Orville D. Lindsey, Stephanie Moonen, David Faubion, Patience Nortrup, Carolyn LaBerge, Nicholas LaBerge, Scott Holland, Lars Blix, Jeff Ostling, Rosie DeBriae, Nick Deal, Megan Leitz, Dave Hendrickson, Abby Pedersen, Matthew Freeman and Austin Good.

Happy Anniversary wishes this week go out to Mr. and Mrs. Treasure Collupy, Mr. and Mrs. Lamar Blix, Tim and Margie Pedersen and Katrina (Pedersen) and Matthew Freeman. Here's hoping all of your special days are celebrated to the fullest in the safety of your home!

FAFF CANCELED & MORE--Sadly, this COVID-19 pandemic has led to yet another cancellation of a long standing event in Naselle, and that's the Finnish-American Folk Festival. It had been planned for July 24-26 in Naselle but with so many things still up in the air, the organizers have felt it best to cancel it this year. This is an event that is usually held every other year, so now the question will be whether to hold it next year, beings this one is not going to happen, or just stay on their regular schedule and hold it in 2022. For now, this has yet to be decided but I'll let you know when I find out about it and I'm sure the organizers will have something put in the paper as well.

Also, according to Allan C. Wirkkala, the "Logger's Reunion" that usually takes place down that way, is also canceled.

MORE CANCELLATIONS LIKELY--As we head towards a possible reopening of our state, it's pretty clear that it's a fluid situation and dates that are given are likely to be changed from one week to the next, so trying to plan just about any event is truly difficult at this time. If you're looking forward to one of our local events, be sure to check ahead with the organizations that are supposed to hold them, just in case things don't open up quite like we'd want. We'll keep our fingers crossed for many of them to happen, but in these unsettled times, it's really hard to say for certain. At any rate, locally, you can always call the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce with your concerns, as they are often one of the first ones to be notified. You can reach them at 360-795-9996 or visit their website at wahkiakumchamber.com.

CHANGE OF HOURS--In my column last week, I mentioned the various food banks but one of those has changed its hours of operation as well as a delivery option since then. The Wahkiakum Food Bank has changed their hours from 2 to 4 p.m., on Tuesdays, and they would prefer to have you call 360-795-3101 between 9 a.m., and noon, and they will deliver your pre-packed bags to your home later that afternoon. If that's not going to work out for you, you can come to the food bank, but stay in your vehicle and they will bring your items out to your car. Call that number for all the specifics.

THANKFUL--As the days go by, we can certainly appreciate those that are still working and working for us, from the people stocking our grocery shelves, to the mail delivery people, to the doctors and nurses and all those who are cleaning up in those hospitals and other areas and everybody in-between, we say "Thank you very much!"

SMILE--In these trying times, it's often tough to be able to afford to help your fellow man with extra money or other material things, but regardless of how rich or poor you are, remember, it costs nothing to be kind. So put a smile on your face and just be kind, as that may be the best thing a person receives all day.

CONDOLENCES--We want to offer our sincere sympathies to all the family members of Trudy Blain as her sister, Lorraine (Blain) McNally, announced that she had passed away on April 21 after a lengthy illness. Immediate family members also include Trudy's other siblings: the Steve Blains and also the Jim (Karen Chamberlain) Blain families. Again, our condolences to the whole family.

OUT OF THE PAST--This week, 70 years ago, in 1950, it was definitely a mix of weather as not only did they end April with a nice day and begin May with three great days in a row, but lo and behold, the temperatures dropped and on May 5, it began to snow! As a matter of fact, there was enough snow that KM was very slippery and local logging camps weren't able to operate. Thankfully the white stuff didn't last too long and only affected the higher regions as on the lower elevations, it melted as it fell. This was really good news for the Krist Pedersen family as they had to head to Seattle on that day, as KP left for Alaska on May 6. In the meantime, Grandma Elsie was writing letters, and dealing with visits by Mr. Nordfors, Mr. Park and John Donovan and sighed a huge sigh of relief when the planned telephone strike was called off. Grandma Elsie's good friend, Alva Mast had a bit of an accident when she sliced her finger pretty good while working in her kitchen.

In 1960, this was a special time as May Day was on a Sunday this year, and it was the big day for the PTA Smorgasbord dinner in Cathlamet, held at the grade school. (This is the only day I could get out of church early to go and help make the fancy butter balls that were used then!) Besides most of the locals, there were people there from all over Washington and Oregon and even a bunch of nurses from California who had been to a reunion in Astoria, and the mayor of Longview showed up. This annual Scandinavian smorgasbord feast was known for its fantastic main courses, which of course included fish and all those delicious pastries with lots and lots of side dishes to boot. The chairman of this event was Mrs. Bill Renfro (Thelma) and she handled this event with confidence and precision. A few fun food numbers for the feast were: 175 pounds of potatoes were used; 50 pounds of hamburger for the meatballs; 140 pounds of salmon ( & could have used more); 80 pounds of turkey (could have used more); 7 large hams; 35 pounds of cottage cheese and enough eggs to serve up 450 deviled eggs, plus much more. Mrs. Shirley Leavens was in carge of the hors d'oeuvres and had 10 committee members working with her. Another important committee which contributed a lot of food and many hours, was headed by Mr. Ben Peterson, Mrs. Nogi Fritzie and Mrs. Ray Bowman and they were working with 55 other women who made up the Scandinavian pastries. Each one was to make and donate around 8 dozen goodies, and some even donated more, so that's a lot of work and ingredients for those butter laden goodies! There was a great picture in the Daily News of some of the PTA members in their Norwegian outfits that day and they were: Mr. Ben Peterson, Mrs. Elroy Svensen, Mrs. Robert Seaberg, Mrs. Antone Ostling, Mrs. Byron Leavens, Mrs. Leroy Wika and Mrs. Ray Nelson. They were part of a great group of women who put on a fantastic event. Beings they had such a good crowd that year, (over a thousand), they had to close early, so the chairman for the following year, Mrs. Roberta Ronning, said she'd be adding more of everything to the grocery list next year! All this according to my Grandma Elsie Everest's diaries.

 

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