By Dylan Reubenking / dylanr@chronline.com
The City of Centralia named Holly Phelps as the 2025 Volunteer of the Year during its Tuesday business meeting as part of a ceremony honoring 22 volunteers.
Phelps was the original founder of the Downtown Festivals Association, which puts on Antique Fest and the Hub City Car Show every year, as well as the Ghost Walk Tours and the Dark Market event around Halloween.
Phelps also leads the Christmas on Magnolia event and the Holiday Makers Market at Christmas every year and created and activated the live reindeer display that has hundreds of kids lined up at 10 a.m. to see Santa’s reindeer. She also dresses up as the Grinch every year. Additionally, Phelps opened the Bordello Museum in 2015 and created a nonprofit organization called Twirl Foundation, which is housed in a storefront downtown. It provides free prom attire to high school kids in Centralia and throughout the county. Her nonprofit has served almost 6,000 prom dresses to high school girls who couldn’t afford them. The foundation also gives out suits, dress shirts and shoes for boys and accessories for girls and boys.
The city praised Phelps for cleaning the downtown streets following the events she sponsors and called her the “caretaker” of the downtown Central Park.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Phelps thanked the city for the award.
“The more that we do for our community and the more that we do for our kids, oh my gosh, it just changes the world. It changes our town. It changes the town,” she said. “I have a heartsong for our community. Thank you to everybody who does everything that you do. Thank you so much for the award. I really do love where I live, and I really do love that I have an opportunity to get to help where I can. It is a bottomless joy, and it truly is a blessing.”
The city also recognized people who have volunteered at Borst Park, the Borst House, the arboretum and the Borst Church. City staff provided the following information about the volunteers:
- Beverly York has volunteered at the Borst House wearing period clothing and knows the history of the home. She is a Daughter of the American Revolution, and she also presents history stories and information at the local schools.
- Debra Freelove volunteers with her spinning wheel and brings a gentleman named Will Ulry for a black powder demonstration during the July 4 festivities.
- Shirley Stirling spearheaded the Daughters of the American Revolution collaboration for Helen Sanders and Sandra Crowell, an event at the Borst Church last summer celebrating women in history.
- Lynn Maynard hosts most of the Borst Pioneer Church events.
- Vickie and Jeff Morehead help keep the Borst Home open for visitors. They also host school tours in the Borst Garden and many other tours.
- M’Lee Barlow is a direct descendent of the Fords of Fords Prairie. She presented two programs at the Borst House entitled “Oregon Trail” and “Settling on Fords Prairie.”
- Ashlinn and Riley York bring 4-H students to volunteer at the Borst Home for “clean-up museum day” and other special days.
- Charlie and Susan Williams regularly walk through the park to check on the Borst Home. They also help at the “hands-on” program at the carriage house.
- Bonnie Cox hosts in the one-room school house for most events and with school tours and Christmas tours.
- Diane Smith volunteers at the Borst Home, is a retired attorney and is in charge of logistics in the school and garden.
- Jean Bluhm always volunteers at the Borst Home and the school and church, while dressing in period attire. She is a longtime historian for Lewis County and the Borst House.
- Rick Blum is a member of the Borst Arboretum Botanical Society. Led by Blum, the Borst Arboretum Botanical Society has donated hundreds of hours in 2025 to improving the arboretum. They worked with a forester to help develop a tree ID list of almost 200 trees, planted over 20 new trees, selected the right tree for each location, then watered them regularly. The group installed all of the ID markers, with Blum ensuring that each marker had a concrete base so they would all stay in the ground.
- Justin Zenkner provided extensive help with the development with the downtown tree replacement program and assessment of individual trees. He provided the city with a large list of possible downtown tree replacement options. He volunteered many hours to guide staff on the new tree policy and helped with the committee to review it.
- Dwayne Yost has taken care of the pioneer section of the Mountain View Cemetery for 14 years. He mows the grass and has taken out many truckloads of leaves over the years. If anyone wants to know where a family member is buried, he will probably know where they are. Yost has spent a lot of his own money to do this work.
- Al Holcomb is a major reason why, over the last few years, there has been a big improvement in the maintenance of the cemetery, the city said. He has been going out daily to perform maintenance and clean up. He cleans the cemetery, makes sure there is no overnight camping, and provides landscaping and brush removal for the cemetery plot owners.
- Richard Noto has been cited by Holcomb and Yost as a person who also gives his time generously, volunteering in the pioneer cemetery.
- Steve Emrich and his ward at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Centralia organized two large events in Centralia. The first was the tree planting at Bridge and Riverside Park in April, when 50 church members planted 100 trees in two hours. The second was the cleanup of Greenwood Cemetery in September, when about 25 people came and did painting, leaf blowing, weeding and trimming to get the cemetery ready for the fall and Veterans Day.
- Damian Bean has volunteered his time at the Seminary Hill Nature Area, showing up regularly to plant and help maintain 500 plants of native species for the autumn and spring bloom. He volunteered separately on the Seminary Hill Nature Area Summer Watering Committee, watering every Thursday the new saplings during the summer months. Bean also volunteered with the Centralia Downtown Association in the Spring Clean-Up Days, a major local effort every year to keep the downtown looking its best.
