What's Happening at the Fair?

The first raffle ticket for the Valentine Diamond Dinner grand prize was drawn and set to the side to keep everyone in suspense! Blair Brady and I then drew and announced the winners of the other multiple raffle prizes we had for our guests . The winner of the diamond necklace, a bottle of champagne, a movie, a box of chocolates and a $25 gas card was Carol Ervest! Carol has got to be one of the luckiest people I know! She is one of the Fair’s most dedicated supporters and has been the 4-H Superintendent in the Youth Building during Fair for many many years too! Congratulations, Carol!

My column was dedicated to thanking the many fair board members and volunteers that helped at our Valentine Diamond Dinner fund raising event last week. This week I can devote my column to thanking the people and businesses that supported our many material needs as we set up for our dinner. Below is a brief summary of how our whole community gets involved in supporting fair board fund raising events. This dinner event is successful because of the willingness of people and businesses to share what they have available in hopes our fund raising attempts will be successful and the Wahkiakum County Fair will continue to be a part of our summers.

The Skamokawa Grange members generously provided the use of their beautiful Grange Hall for our dinner event. They also provided tables, chairs, plates, silverware, cooking pans, coffee pots and numerous other items that we needed for our dinner.

The Wahkiakum County 4-H Council loaned the fair board their eight foot long tables. Using these big tables we can put four couples per table. If a group of eight guests want to sit together we can reserve a whole table for them. Carrie and Mike Backman delivered the tables to the Grange and picked them up too!

The Wahkiakum Community Network loaned me their black tablecloths to use at our dinner. We purchased some red tablecloths and arranged the two colors in a simple pattern on the 15 tables, then added bright decorations. The visual effect was amazing.

I had one more list of items I needed to find and asked Logan and Gretchen at the Skamokawa Resort if they would have these items at the Duck Inn Restaurant that is being remodeled. They were able to supply me with these last much needed items on my list.

Next stop was the J. A. Wendt Kitchen. All the dishes and silverware were hauled up there to be washed and sanitized. With some instruction from the school kitchen crew Carrie and Mike Backman and I started putting all the dishes through their washer. Hours later we were finally done.

The Bank of the Pacific has always been a big part of our fund raising events, they announce our events on their big outdoor sign, sell tickets for us inside the Bank and this year they also provided a radio ad to help bring people to our event! Advertising is a big part of making our dinner a success, we can’t thank them enough for providing these services to support our Fair events!

We received some unexpected free advertising from Lower Columbia Realty, LLC! Thank you, Kay Cochran for advertising the Valentine Diamond Dinner in your realty ad!

Kay Chamberlain and Trudy Fredrickson both write columns in The Wahkiakum County Eagle, they do their very best to attract people from both sides of KM Mountain to our dinner and I sure appreciate their well written articles.

As you read through the above accounting of the community involvement we receive as we plan our Fair Board fund raising events, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that people in this County love the Wahkiakum County Fair! The next Wahkiakum County Fair Board fund raising event will be “Easter Bingo” on April 6th. A fun family night with lots of raffle prize drawings and bingo games!

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.