What's Happening at the Fair?

The Fairgrounds was full of activity last week-end. Dan Wakefield brought his Boy Scout Troop from Puyallup to camp at the Fairgrounds Park. The group of seven scouts and three adults volunteered to give us some help with the projects we are doing as we get ready for our Fair. The scouts painted, denailed boards, used the weed eater, moved lumber and helped to build some animal pens in the new barn. The scout troop likes using recycled materials, they were very happy with the materials we had to build the pens with. Some of the pens we set up were the ones used in the sheep area before the snow and rain took the old arena down and the lumber was from the old bleachers. We were very glad they volunteered to give some of their time and skills to improve our Fairgrounds. Thank-you Boy Scout Troop #105 for coming all the way from Puyallup to help!

The project for this week is to finish the sheep and pig pens. Then the whole building will be pressure washed roof to floor and it will be time to organize a painting party!

Last week, I added up the volunteer hours that people have worked at the Fairgrounds in the last three months, I was amazed. We had over 1,000 hours of volunteer help! Thank you to all who volunteered, the fairgrounds needed the attention and we have accomplished much together!

I would like to thank Lisa Frink for the many years she worked in the Fair office. Each year she had hundreds of ribbons to sort, paperwork forms to prepare, thousands of questions to answer and she made many trips to town for supplies before Fair. She did her job very well and we will miss her in the office. Lisa’s career is taking up most of her time now, so she had to decline the Administrative Assistant position for our 2011 Fair. She also has a big group of 4-H After School kids and will be helping them bring their animals and projects to the Fair this year. Lisa has promised me she will be around to help the new administrative assistant Valle Ledtke settle into the office. Valle has been involved with the Fair for many years, first in 4-H Club Activities, then as a Department Superintendent in the T-building for Horticulture and Forage. Valle will be handling the office responsibilities and spending many hours in July putting the whole Fair book into a new computer program. This program will help speed up processing the paperwork that is needed to organize our county fair. Welcome to the fair staff, Valle!

Stop by the Wahkiakum County Fair Board tent on Bald Eagle Day. I will have Fair books available for you to take home, so you can start preparing your Fair exhibits. We will be selling raffle tickets for the two cords of firewood from the alder trees that were cut up last month. The cords are raffled separately; you can purchase tickets for cord one and cord two. This raffle is a Wahkiakum County Fair Board fund raiser. All proceeds will be used for projects on the Fairgrounds or for maintenance and the operation of the 2011 Wahkiakum County Fair.

I would like to thank the Chamber of Commerce for the free advertising they provide for Fair Board fund raising events. For our events to be successful we need an easy way to get the event information out to the people of our community. The Chamber has provided this service to us, by using their huge network of e-mails. This e-mail advertising brings many people to our events.

Only five more weeks until Fair! Want to be a vendor at the Wahkiakum County Fair? It’s time to give me a call and secure your space! Please leave a message on the recorder.

I need a T-building Superintendent for Open Class Adult Hobbies & Collections. This is a fun department to manage. If you have some time on your hands, would like to be involved in the fair, this is the perfect opportunity. For all the details call the numbers listed below. Be sure to leave a message, I am just outside working and will call as soon as I am back in the office.

If you need to gain access to the Fairgrounds contact Fair Manager Becky Ledtke @ 360-560-0371 or you can call the Fairgrounds Office at 1-360-795-3480 and leave a message.

The next Wahkiakum County Fair Board meeting will start at 7 p.m. on August 10, in the T-building at the Fairgrounds in Skamokawa. The public is always welcome to attend.