What's Happening at the Fair? November 17, 2011

Attention all bingo players! Tomorrow night, (Friday) at 6 p.m., the Wahkiakum County Fair Board’s Turkey Bingo, at the J. A. Wendt multi-purpose room will begin! There will be two fund raising raffle drawings at the event. One raffle drawing is for multiple prizes, many are useful items but we also include some funny items in this drawing . The grand prize raffle is for a 42 inch flat screen color TV. Raffle tickets are only $1 each for both drawings. Bingo cards are three for $10, bring a can of food to donate to the food bank and we will give you one free bingo card. Every bingo winner will receive a turkey or a ham for their prize. This is a fun night for all ages and you just might win your Thanksgiving turkey at the bingo. Invite your friends and neighbors, we need everyone in our community to support this Fair Board event. All proceeds from Wahkiakum County Fair Board fund raising events support the operation of the 2012 Wahkiakum County Fair and projects on the Fairgrounds.

I have a little more information about our Columbia River Gillnet Boat. It was constructed between 1913 and 1916 at the Wilson Shipyard in Astoria, Ore. This gillnet boat was built for one of the shipyard owners and this shipyard no longer exists.

Some more history about these boats--The first commercial cannery on the Columbia River was built in 1866 on Eagle Cliff in Wahkiakum County. In these early years, a great majority of the gillnet boats were the property of the canneries on the river. They were rented to the fisherman by the canneries, which made it easier for men to work in the fishing industry, as they didn’t have to purchase a boat. This practice kept a steady flow of salmon coming to the cannery with a willing work force always wanting to rent the cannery boats.

If you helped restore this boat or know information about the boat's past history please give me a call.

Next year, a pole and roof building for our boat will need to be constructed in the summer. We will research historical information to be posted with this boat display. If you would like to make a donation to the Fair to help get this Columbia River Gillnet Boat Project started, please send your donation to: Wahkiakum County Fair, P.O.Box 1, Skamokawa, WA 98647t. Please enclose a note saying these funds are for the Gillnet Boat Project.

The fairgrounds equipment has been taken to higher ground for the winter. Many thanks to Dean Seaberg for hauling our Kubota tractor and mower to the county shop for safe keeping!

The fair received two wonderful donations this week! Thank you, Kathy Crow and Tom Patterson for donating your fair premium checks back to the fair!

The fair office is open by appointment only. If you need to gain access to the fairgrounds contact Fair Manager Becky Ledtke at 360-560-0371 or 795-3480 and leave a message.

The next Wahkiakum County Fair Board meeting is December 14, 7 p.m., at the River Street meeting room in Cathlamet. The public is always welcome to attend.