Princess Napawinah rides by on a float during the Napavine Funtime Parade as kids race for candy on the street Saturday, July 15, 2017.
Families gather to watch as a military convoy roars down the street Saturday morning during the Napavine Funtime Festival parade.
It’s been 42 years since Linda Hamilton rode in the Napavine Funtime Festival parade after being crowned the third-ever Princess Napawinah.
She won’t have to sell the more than 1,200 handmade buttons that helped her earn the title in 1976 to claim a spot near the front of this year’s parade.
Hamilton is one of about two dozen former Napawinahs that will collectively serve as grand marshals for the parade as part of the 45th annual Funtime Festival that will take place from sunrise to sunset on Saturday.
“It’ll be amazing,” said Hamilton, who now lives in Centralia. “You see so many people alongside the road that you haven’t seen in forever. Going back to my hometown is always fun.”
The parade itself is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. and wind from Napavine Elementary School down Second Street and Washington Street before ending at Napavine Community Park.
Hamilton grew up across the street from the grade school and has fond memories of rolling down the street with Jerry Owens and the West Coast Express playing music on the same float. Owens is now president of the Napavine Funtime Festival.
The all-day affair features a car show in front of Annies Napavine Country Market — registration opens at 9 a.m. on-site — and a soapbox derby station for children to try out next to the car show beginning at 2 p.m.
Breakfast and lunch will be available for $10 at the Trinity Rebekah Lodge. Games and activities for children, including pony rides and bounce houses, will be set up in front of Ace Hardware beginning at noon.
New this year is a basketball game pitting members of the Napavine Police Department against their colleagues from Lewis County Fire District 5.
The game, given the tagline “Guns N’ Hoses,” is scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. inside the Napavine High School gymnasium at the same time Bingo is being played outside of Ace Hardware.
Donations will be taken at the door to benefit Napavine High School efforts to curb distracted driving.
“That’ll probably be one of the highlights,” Owens said. “Along with the car show, that’s always really popular.”
For Hamilton, the highlight of the day will simply be taking a trip down memory lane.
She lost all of her childhood mementos in 2012 when the Dr. Matz Building she owned in downtown Centralia burned to the ground.
Hamilton will have her grandchildren with her on the float as she takes a ride through 40-plus years of nostalgia.
A new Princess Napawinah will be crowned Friday night with decades of past honorees looking on.
“For all the girls that don’t run for it, I think they’re missing out,” Hamilton said. “Because, when you get older, it’s fun to be able to say you did it.”
