Bald Eagle Festival action starts Friday

Cathlamet’s Bald Eagle Days are here.

Now in its 32nd year, the three-day festival starts Friday afternoon and runs through Sunday afternoon. Highlights include the traditional parade, street fair, fireworks show and wooden boat festival.

Action starts Friday afternoon with a sidewalk art contest from 2:30-5:30 p.m. and live music, first at the Two Islands Farm Market on Puget Island and later at the Tsuga Art Gallery on Main Street. Tsuga will celebrate its second anniversary Friday afternoon with a reception that will include live music by two local groups from Skamokawa and Puget Island.

The Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce will run its trolley from the Elochoman Slough Marina in Cathlamet to the market on Friday.

Saturday action starts with breakfast at the Elochoman Slough Marina, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Cathlamet, from 7-10 a.m. Proceeds go to youth and children’s programs sponsored by Kiwanis.

There is also the Bald Eagle Days Fun Run, which starts on Main Street and heads out to Puget Island and back for 10k, 5k or 2-mile walk/run events. Runners should meet in front of the Cathlamet Pharmacy by 8:30 a.m. to register with the start at 9 a.m. Proceeds go to support the Wahkiakum High School Cross Country and Track programs.

While the run is taking place, Main Street will close to vehicular traffic, and vendors and other exhibitors begin setting up the street fair. Organizers from the Chamber think there will be over 40 vendors set up for the street fair.

Participants in the Bald Eagle Parade will converge by 9:30 a.m. in the Wahkiakum High School parking lot for judging with the parade starting at 11 a.m. The theme of this year’s festival and parade is “Celebrating Old Ways.”

The Chamber of Commerce has lined up a varied group of entertainers. On Saturday, the Rock-n-Roll Congress and the Running with Scissors band will perform throughout the afternoon on the Main Street stage. At 4 p.m., members of local fire departments will set up hoses for their annual waterball tournament at one end of Main Street.

Saturday evening, Clay Chambers and the Last Ride Band will perform at the Elochoman Slough Marina, 7-10 p.m. Drop Anchor Brewery will sponsor the beer garden, open at 6 p.m., and, of course, the fireworks show is set for 10 p.m.

Other activities include games for kids, as well as an inflatable obstacle course on Main Street and train rides for kids at the Wahkiakum County Historical Museum.

Sunday’s activities shift to the Elochoman Slough Marina for the Wooden Boat Show starting at 9 a.m. A variety of wooden boats will be on display, and there will be vendors, activities for kids, a raffle for a wooden boat, and other activities.