Westside Stories

Impromptu New Year’s Day parade in Rosburg

Towards the end of December Susan Burkhalter posted a picture of the Grinch hanging out on Altoona Pillar Rock Road on Facebook and made a silly comment about him waiting for the New Year's Day parade. Several folks inquired about it in their comments and seemed interested. She had to add that she was only joking in her post.

Fast forward to January 1 at 11:15 a.m. and Karl Smith called Susan and said, "I saw a weird post that there was going to be a parade on Altoona Road today. I haven't taken the lights off my rig from the Naselle parade yet, so we’ll drive it down if there is a parade." Susan was intrigued and challenged to see if this could be pulled off. She called the Assistant Fire Chief, Austin Burkhalter, who said he would get ahold of Ken and Dallas Ruch and have the fire department represent at the parade. With those pieces in place, the parade was a go within 45 minutes.

The parade began at the Rosburg Store parking lot at noon. Austin drove a tractor with his son Clark, Diane Matthews drove her Pontiac LeMans, Mike Matthews rode his bike dressed as Santa Claus, Noah Burkhalter rode his bike, Ken Ruch drove the fire truck with his kids, Coral and Jacob, along with Theo and Veda Burkhalter, Karl and Shawna Smith and puppy were in their quad, and Gus and Grant Burkhalter drove a 4-wheeler. There were even a few participants in the parade who had no clue they would be in a parade that day! Susan broadcasted the parade on Facebook Live with running commentary as several spectators lined the road to watch. The parade turned around at the dairy farm and returned to the Rosburg Store.

Spontaneous fun was had by all with very little planning and very big community spirit. Hopefully this is the beginning of another great annual event!

New Library Hours at Johnson Park

Community Center

Johnson Park is pleased to announce the library will be open more days for your convenience. The schedule will be in full swing by Feb 1st as follows:

Monday 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. (Sherry Johnson)

Tuesday 12:00 - 5:00 p.m. (Carillon Nicol)

Thursday 12:00 - 5:00 p.m. (Carillon Nicol)

Friday 5:00 - 9:00 p.m. (David Rangila)

Office hours: Wednesday 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. (Denise Blanchard)

If would like to join the library, drop in on Tuesdays or Thursdays during business hours or Wednesday during office hours. The process is simple, just fill out a quick form and pay the membership fees. The prices are $10 for an individual and $20 for a family per month. Membership periods are from January through June, then from July throughy December. Members will be given codes to the doors when signing up. The codes will be changed January 13th.

Appelo Archives Calendars

The 2025 Logging calendar is available for purchase at Appelo Archives Center or on their website, http://www.appeloarchives.org. After a holiday break, the Archives is back open during their normal hours, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Burning Questions

Number 1: Why isn’t there a cell tower in Western Wahkiakum County? When I originally wrote this question, I wasn’t aware of an article published in the Eagle on September 19 by Ron Wright. In that article, this question is addressed:

The 80’ tower at KM Mountain is being replaced by a cell-phone tower leasing company in a public-private partnership at no cost to the county. The new tower will be 195’ tall with our antennas at about the 160’ level. This will significantly increase our repeater coverage. Additionally, the tower company will lease the top few feet to cell phone companies, significantly increasing cell phone coverage throughout the county for everyone, increasing 911 coverage, and increasing data coverage for our emergency vehicles. The old tower will remain in place and support the Amateur Radio health and welfare emergency radio system as outlined in a previous article in The Eagle. This is such great news for Wahkiakum County!

Number 2: What is happening with the Rosburg Store? I know a lot of us miss having a place to stop for a quick bite to eat or a place to pick up some essentials. The for sale sign that was in the window for a while is gone. It would be great to see something happen with it.

Number 3: Any bets on how long the latest abandoned RV will be parked at the county line on Salme Hill? The latest eye sore has been there for a few weeks.

Westside Happenings

January 2025

Senior Lunch at Rosburg Hall will be the 2nd & 4th Wednesdays in January.

25 – Bingo at Naselle Community Center, 6:00 p.m.

26 – FAFF annual board meeting, 4 p.m.

To include an event on the calendar or to give feedback, please contact me at writerlisayeager@outlook.com. You can also follow me on Facebook @ Writer Lisa Yeager.