Country Days celebrates the best of the region

The Columbia River Country Days celebration gets underway on October 5 and 6. The beginning event on Friday is a Slow Moving Parade leaving the Elochoman Slough Marina at 2:30 p.m. and winding down Main Street in Cathlamet, across the bridge to the Two Islands Farm Market on Puget Island.

A special treat at the market on Friday will be barbecued corn and hamburgers made from Puget Island beef. There will also be a pie social, with homemade pies sold to benefit 4-H, Punkin' Chunkin' with prizes, concentrating on accuracy and distance, and music by the Wahkiakum Acoustic Guitar Society. At 5 p.m. there will be a demonstration of the Whiz Bang Chicken Plucker so that those interested can see how it's done.

Also on Friday are events at the Wahkiakum Community Garden. At 5 p.m. there will be a cooking demonstration, free of charge. At 7:30 p.m. at the garden, Movie in the Park, produced by Wahkiakum 4-H Media Club will be offered, also free of charge.

On Saturday, at the Wahkiakum County Fairgrounds, is a 4-H Open House. 4-H Youth will give demonstrations and have their 4-H animals and other projects on display. Snacks will be provided.

Beginning at 4:30 p.m., the 4-H Covered Bridge Dinner will be served in the Covered Bridge at Grays River. Tickets for the dinner are $35 or for veterans and seniors 72 years and older, $25. They are available at the Bank of the Pacific in Naselle and Cathlamet and the Rosburg Store.

During the dinner, Jeffrey Reynolds will provide violin music and cowboy poetry and an old-time auction will be offered by Joel Fitts of Grays River. Auction items are all handcrafted and sold to benefit Wahkiakum 4-H. The menu includes fresh Columbia River Chinook salmon donated by local fishermen, huckleberry dessert with berries picked by volunteers, a chanterelle mushroom dish with mushrooms fresh picked by volunteers and locally grown vegetables and potatoes.

The harvest celebration has been planned to feature rural Wahkiakum County with the focus on farming and the Extension Service's history of helping farmers and introducing Wahkiakum youth to the 4-H program and all it can offer.