When “outlaw country” music legend Merle Haggard performed at the Napavine Amphitheater a decade ago this month, he proclaimed himself just a beer joint singer. Then he grinned and looked over the vast crowd at the then-popular concert venue and told them they had “a pretty good joint.”
That was in 2006, when the Napavine Amphitheater was hosting performers like Weird Al Yankovic, bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, alt-rocker Presidents of the United States of America, musical princeling Hank Williams III, and country crooner Randy Travis.
The venue eventually fell on hard times and its devoted promoter moved on. It’s been five years since a band last rocked out at the NapAmp.
Tonight, that changes.
The Prohibition Band, which plays rock and country standards, is playing tonight at the Napavine Amphitheater. All are invited to the free show.
It would be great to get that venue going again (even though it comes at a bit of a personal sacrifice for our family, as we can hear the bass throbbing at our home miles away while we’re trying to go to bed.)
Still, the venue holds so much promise, especially since the Napavine Foundation helped spruce it up last year. It’ll take a lot of devotion and volunteer efforts, but if the interest is there, the payoff will be great for music fans in Lewis County’s third-largest town.
If you go to the show tonight, bring your own chair. It should be a great concert.
If I’m not there, be assured that I’m there in spirit — and I can hear it just fine from my bedroom at home.
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Donald Trump will visit Washington state at the end of this month or early September, his state campaign leaders said this week. While his stops haven’t been announced, “He will definitely be doing events,” said Sen. Doug Ericksen, D-Ferndale, deputy state director for the Trump campaign.
May I suggest that he visit Lewis County, where his “Make America Great Again” signs are in abundance?
He could deliver his stump speech from atop the McKinley Stump in Chehalis, where strong-spoken President Theodore Roosevelt addressed huge crowds in 1903.
Or he could trace the steps of the most recent presidential visit, following in the steps of President Bill Clinton and his 1996 “Building a Bridge to the 21st Century” speech in downtown Centralia.
Come to think of it, First Lady Hillary Clinton was there, too, 20 years before she became the Democratic presidential nominee.
That stop was literally monumental — a marble memorial was erected on the spot in 2008.
It’s high time for Lewis County to host a presidential visit again. And if we get both candidates to visit our little piece of America’s heartland here on the Left Coast — even better.
Maybe we could event make bumper stickers for the event: “Lewis County in 2016.” That’s a political sentiment that should be agreeable to everyone.
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Attention all huckleberry hounds out there: I’m hearing reports that the mountain huckleberries are starting to show up in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. I’m thinking of taking an excursion up there with the family next week.
Any suggestions on the best spots to go? Drop me an email and let me know where we can indulge our Northwest sweet tooth. My hungry, hungry kiddos offer you thanks in advance.
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Send Brian Mittge your favorite mountain huckleberry picking spots via brianmittge@hotmail.com.
