What's happening at the Fair?

It’s cold and snowing, yet wintertime projects at the fairgrounds continue to be planned and completed. One of our continuing projects has been to try to make all of our buildings wheelchair accessible. Last summer we built a goat, sheep and pig barn complete with animal pens, built out of the materials we had available. We built the barn on a concrete slab that was designed for a former building. The concrete slab had some dirt areas where we needed to have an aisle, these dirt areas made maneuvering through the barn difficult. Three-quarters of this aisle was already concrete and only about a foot was dirt. We moved this project to the top of our 2012 list. It’s been a little cold to work outside mixing and pouring concrete, but I have a group of volunteers that like to keep busy year-around. Thank you Ed Stevens, Barb Czarnecki, Georgie Billings, Mackenzie Stevens and new volunteer Chuck Gaines. Ed and Chuck also donated funds to complete part of this project! They are doing a great job and when these improvements are completed everyone will be able to wander through this barn.

The 2012 Fair Theme Contest is going to end in early February! Keep sending your ideas to wahkiakumfair@centurytel.net or mail to Wahkiakum County Fair, P.O.Box 1, Skamokawa, WA 98647. The fair board will select the theme at their February 8 board meeting. The winner will be announced in this column. If your theme is picked you will be notified and awarded two bright colored fair T-shirts and two fair passes. Good luck to all who have entered their ideas in this contest!

Horse owners sometimes find it’s difficult to keep their horses exercised because we lose some daylight hours in the winter time and most jobs keep them at work until 5 p.m. or later. I have a solution. Switch on our bright arena lights and ride in the evening at our covered horse arena. If this sounds like fun, first you need to purchase a $50 horse gate key! The $50 fee is for the whole year with unlimited hours of riding unless a special event is planned in the arena or it's fair time. For more information call the fair office.

It’s time to purchase your tickets for the Valentine Diamond Dinner held at the Skamokawa Grange on February 11. Cost is still only $25 per dinner ticket and the price includes a raffle ticket to win a diamond necklace! The necklace is a beautiful double heart with sparkling diamond accents. You can purchase more raffle tickets for the diamond necklace at $1 each during the dinner. Purchase your dinner tickets at the Cathlamet Bank of the Pacific or call Becky at 795-3434/560-0371 for out of town purchases. Dinner includes a filet mignon steak, baked potato with all the fixings, a beautiful multi-lettuce salad, a fresh baked roll, dessert, a glass of wine or your choice of beverage. All proceeds from Wahkiakum County Fair Board fund raising events will go directly toward supporting and maintaining your 2012 Wahkiakum County Fair.

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

The next Wahkiakum County Fair Board meeting is February 8, 7 p.m., River Street Building Meeting Room in Cathlamet. The public is always welcome to attend.