Like many others in the Lewis County area, I joined the throngs at the Southwest Washington Fair over the weekend, where Saturday morning rain kept the ride lines shorter for a while.
An unusually muggy afternoon wandering the Midway, visiting with people in the Commercial Building, and seeking a brief reprieve in the Lewis County Historical Museum’s air-conditioned building prompted more memories of fairs I attended nearly every year when our kids were young.
Even my husband ventured to the fair this year as we joined family members and friends. My stepdaughter, Amanda Reeder, of Woodland, reminded me of our last visit to the fair six years ago when her daughter was only eight. She and her husband, Keith, brought their 14-year-old daughter Brooke and her friend, Paige Gunn, from Longview. The girls spent much of the day at the carnival on the rides.
Our daughter, Nora, and her husband, Chase, of Vancouver, and his mother and sister from Shelton and brother and sister-in-law from Olympia and their families also spent the afternoon and evening at the fair, which made for a fun crew ranging in age from two months to 80 years old.
I loved seeing people I knew — Centralia author Debby Lee from my Inklings group, Carol Brock from the St. Helens Club, former Centralia Mayor Bonnie Canaday Coumbs, Chehalis Mayor Tony Ketchum, retired Toledo science teacher Marilynn Chintella from the Lewis County chapter of the American Association of University Women, and two former Lewis County commissioners — Edna Fund and Col. Ron Averill. He served us corn on the cob from the Rotary Club booth.
“It used to be you’d see a lot of people you knew on the Midway,” my husband said to me just before we ran into former state Sen. Gary Odegaard. I remember when I interviewed him for the book “Centralia College: Its People and Their Stories,” he recalled times in the 1970s when he, as a moderate Democrat, and my husband, as The Daily Chronicle’s conservative editorial page opinion writer, differed on issues. Funny how political divides fade with time … or we simply mellow or evolve in our views.
But at the fair on Saturday, Larry introduced the former senator to our daughter by saying, “He taught me how to type in high school.” Sure enough, both my husband and Odegaard are natives of Whatcom County near the Canadian border. Odegaard graduated from Nooksack Valley High School, studied business education at Western Washington College, and did student teaching at Meridian High School north of Bellingham. He’s only five years older than my husband.
As we wandered through the 4-H building, I thought back to my childhood in Colorado and the last-minute scramble before the Boulder County Fair in Longmont as Mom helped me and my four sisters finish sewing projects, bake goodies, and enter everything in the fair as 4-H members. I still have the ribbons I won—blue, red, and white—tucked inside an ancient Pringles container.
I remember exhibiting in 4-H at the Clark County Fair during high school, where a pillow cover I knitted and sewed won a championship ribbon and earned a trip to the Western Washington State Fair. As a college student, during summer breaks, I often visited the Clark County Fair with siblings or on dates with a boyfriend.
When our son was young, we attended the Skamania County Fair, where, as a member of my sister’s 4-H club, he won ribbons for baked goods, a Pokémon ornament he sewed, and even a book of poetry he created for school. We took the kids on plenty of rides and watched their cousins show sheep and other animals.
Many of the buildings at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds are new, my husband noted, although he hasn’t been to the fair for many years. It took me a minute to figure out the restrooms at the north end of the fairgrounds are now unisex. We scrambled to find a picnic table near the Midway where we could sit to nibble on overpriced fair food. They used to be in the grassy area just south of the restrooms. Apparently, new tables are in the shade of tall trees nearby.
I thought of the people who oversaw the fair through the years — many of whom have passed away, including Bob Sommerville, Chaplin Foster, Waldo Carlson, Tom Wood, Carl Hampe, Art Ehret, Tony Wildhaber, Paul Creighton, Lee Coumbs and Earl Spencer. Each left a legacy in the development of the fair, and stories of their tenure as fair managers are recorded in Chapters of Life at the Southwest Washington Fair. I’m so glad I interviewed Margaret Wildhaber, Coumbs, and Spencer while I had the chance to gather their stories.
We passed the field where my daughter and her friend took their first pony rides. I recalled taking photos of the kids flying down the large slide. I remember my niece doing the rock climbing and my nephew competing in the freckle contest.
This year, I watched the wonder in a toddler’s eyes as a baby chick emerged from an eggshell under an incubator in the poultry barn. We saw a cow raise its tail and a young man scoop up the poop with a shovel almost before it landed. Teenagers swept debris from the aisles through the barns.
Although I don’t make it to the fair every year, I treasure the memories of the times I’ve visited and the nostalgia a walk through the barns, buildings and carnival brings.
•••
Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.
