Wooden boat show at marina on Saturday

NEW MONTH--Here we are, into the ninth month of this year, which has certainly flown by, at least it's felt that way to me. By now, the kids are back in school, we're having to watch out for more kids at school bus stops and we need to be more aware that there will be kids traveling to school via their bicycles as well as walking, so it's definitely time to slow down. It also means Fall is almost here and our summer is coming to an end, so I hope you've been able to get all your summer chores wrapped up and you're gearing up for the darker days ahead of us. With that in mind, it wouldn't hurt to do a "walk around" your vehicle, as I think I passed about 15 rigs the other day that only had one headlight!

WEATHER NEWS--We had a storm come through here on the last Saturday of August and while we weren't wild about the wind that came along with it, the rain that fell was a welcome relief for most of us. Of course, if we'd had our druthers, we'd like to have had it fall gently and soak things up slowly, rather than come down in buckets like it did! With our fire danger being so high, and plenty of wild fires going on in our state, we really needed this rain. With more falling on this Monday, I think we're finally easing some of our fire worries here.

FIRST FB GAME--School is back in session and the first football game of the season is tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 4 but it is away at Toutle Lake. All varsity games begin at 7 p.m., unless something comes up to change that. Here's to a great start to our 2015 football season. Go Mighty Mules!

THIS SATURDAY--We hope the weather clears and it will be a nice day for the "Bank of the Pacific Elochoman Marina Wooden Boat Festival" this Saturday, Sept. 5. The name change came after the B of P became the title sponsor of the event and so while the name has changed, the same great things will be happening there.

OTHER EVENT CANCELLED--Also, the "Battle of the Bowls" has been cancelled due to a lack of entries.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Sept. 3-9 are Tristan Collupy, Fred Bennett, Carla Keilwitz, Mike Rose, Amanda Poler, Ed Johnson, R. J. Brown, Orville Lindsey, Jasmine Lindsey, Cora Irving, Brent Linquist, Charity Kerstetter, Carey Johnson, Dave Hicks, Troy Davis, Don Ostling, Shirley Rose, Nathan Rose, Steve Wright, Jade Havens, Brett Deaton, Dan Lloyd, Paul Toney, Nathan Takko, Rich West, Sherry Irving McMahon, Jo Reed, Donna Peterson Bernard, Scott Baldwin, hubby Bill Chamberlain and special wishes to Arthur Vik as he is turning 100 years old on Tuesday; a big wow, congratulations and a very special happy birthday to him!

Belated birthday wishes go out to Charlott Droullard who celebrated her special day yesterday.

Happy Anniversary wishes go out to Jim and Betty Koziel, Brad and Kerrie McNally, Mike and Carrie Backman, Todd and Kristen Souvenir, Mr. and Mrs. Buzz Moore and Mr. and Mrs. Steve Doumit. Enjoy those special days everybody!

NICE BIRTHDAY--Dolly Hartley had a nice 86th birthday last week, as daughters Sherry McCormack and Sharon Buennagel brought her down to Skamokawa Vista Park where some friends and family gathered to enjoy burgers, hot dogs and of course birthday cake! It was a beautiful day and with temperatures in the mid-70s and no strong winds, it was about as perfect as one could get.

FAREWELL PARTY--Speaking of the Buennagel family, it was a mixture of smiles and tears when many of their friends and customers gathered at Sharon's Pizza and More last Friday to say goodbye to John, Sharon and Sara. John's sister, Mary Wingate, brought the perfect "Bon Voyage" cake, as it was decorated with palm trees and featured beautiful blue seas, so it just matched the area/scenery of their new home. We will all miss them but wish them well as they travel to their new destination nearer to their grandkids.

BOTH ON THE 12TH--I'm never too pleased when two big events fall on the same day, but fortunately, according to sponsors, Francois and Sandi Rieder, the new Album (CD) Release Concert by Kyleen Austin on Sept. 12, is at 4 p.m., and the Friends of Skamokawa's Wine Tasting and Auction event will be held at 7 p.m., with doors open at 6:30, so there should be plenty of time to attend both. Kyleen's event will be held at the Little Barn Creamery at 444 East Little Island Road on Puget Island this year, while the FOS Wine Tasting will once again be at the Skamokawa Grange Hall. Along with Kyleen, you'll also get to enjoy the fantastic, multi-talented, Andrew Emlen and singer Jillian Raye, with other local talents, so it should be a wonderful music experience. Advance tickets for this concert are $10, while they will be $12 at the door. The cost of admission to the FOS Wine Tasting/Auction fund raiser is $15 each or two for $25 if you buy the tickets prior to the event and $5 more each if you buy them at the door, so save a few bucks and buy your tickets early! Remember, this is an adult evening out and your support is vital to the contining care of our historic, Redmen Hall.

EXHIBIT--The Friends of Skamokawa also want to remind you that the exhibit by Bob and Jenny Kizziar is still at the Redmen Hall up in the River Life Interpretive Center on the second floor. Both the clay and weaving items are wonderful, so stop by Thursday-Sunday, noon to four and check them out. More info? Call 795-3007.

PICKERS COMING--Do you have a lot of stuff around your place? Is your garage or that of your parents, filled to the brim with this and that and you have no idea what to do with it all? If you think you've got some "rusty gold" at your place, why not invite American Pickers, Mike and Frank from the History Channel, to come by your place and check it out? If you think you've got just the kind of things that they would be interested in, contact them at americanpickers@cineflix.com or leave a message at 1-855-OLD-RUST. You could also contact Shannon Gildea at our Wah. Chamber office at 795-9996 and she can help you out.

LARGE GATHERING--It came as no surprise that the Skamokawa United Methodist Church was packed last Sunday, as it was standing room only and there wasn't much room for anymore of those folks either, as all those who knew and loved Nova McNally gathered to remember her and say their goodbyes. She was one of the great ones, that's for sure, but how wonderful that her grandkids and great grandkids got to have her as long as they did, as she was able to express how very proud of them she was and in return, they expressed their love for her. We may have lost her, but heaven has gained another angel.

FAIR TIME--There was drizzle, sun, wind and smoke during the three days of the fair, so we got a bit of everything at this year's 107th annual Wahkiakum County Fair. With so many things going on, I think it definitely impacted the attendance at the fair, so I'm hoping that next year it will be better, as the Downhill Corral skateboarding event is scheduled for June next year I'm told, and that will be much better I think. There are only a certain amount of people in the area, and these people only have so much time and so much money to spend, and they can't be everywhere at once, so having multiple big events on one day just doesn't work out very well.

Congratulations to Delaney Cothren for being crowned our Queen this year, and kudos to all who helped support the fair by purchasing fair passes and attending the various fund raising events.

If any group or person wants to make an improvement for next year's fair, I would hope they would think about having some nice signs made up for the individual things going on, as well as a central sign board located in the middle of the fairway. This would need to be portable so that it could be moved out of the way when the fairway is needed to allow vehicles in it, or when the fair is over so it could be stored for safe keeping. But having a nice sign board like this, with the events for the fair listed in a central location, would be extremely beneficial to fairgoers as an informative, easily accessible way to learn what's going on throughout the fair each day. People do not carry their fair books with them nor do visitors have access to one, so knowing when special events are happening is really important. More signage: it was something I heard mentioned multiple times over the three days of the fair. If you arrived a few minutes after something was announced on the intercom, then you were out of luck, so while having them announced is important, it doesn't solve the issue of knowing what is going on throughout the day. Also, it would be great to have a nice big sign made which announced and pointed the way to the salmon BBQ as most I spoke to had no idea it was going on. I believe I remember sign posts with arrows pointing to the various exhibits and I think having some new ones brought back would be a great look for the fair, as well as letting people know where things are now. At any rate, if we have some folks who are good with a saw and some paint, maybe they'd like to make one of these much needed items a nice project that would definitely benefit next year's fair. Give me a call and I'll pass the word along. One can never have enough signage, but it's important to make it look decent and have wording on it that is boldly written and clearly legible.