Officials for the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds took a moment on Friday, May 2, during opening night of the Spring Youth Fair to officially dedicate the fair’s Exposition Hall to Lee Coumbs, the former mayor of Centralia and dedicated community advocate who died of cancer last December.
The dedication honored his legacy as a co-founder of the Spring Youth Fair and his more than 40 years of service to the community through his work with the Southwest Washington Fair and in his many other roles.
Leading up to the dedication, fair officials also announced a new yearly award named in Coumbs’ honor. Shortly after being announced, the brand new Lee Coumbs Opportunity Seized Award was given to Rick Conklin for his own service to the community, especially leading up to this year's Spring Youth Fair.
“The Lee Coumbs Opportunity Seized Award will be given to somebody who steps up when needed,” said Ashley Hamilton, Spring Youth Fair manager. “Who sees the challenge and turns it into a contribution … Honoring bold action community spirit and making it happen. Just like Lee.”
After receiving the award, Conklin expressed shock and said he was honored. He reflected on roughly 15 years of volunteering with Coumbs both at the fairgrounds and wherever else he was needed. This year, Conklin played a major role in helping fair staff set up for the Spring Youth Fair as they prepared for the first time without Coumbs.
“Each year, everything I did with him was just something different, and he made it special,” Conklin said. “He was like a grandfather or one of my best buddies.”
Next, fair officials asked attendees to gather outside of the southeast entrance to the Exposition Hall. Little Miss Friendly Hadleigh Westover and Centralia resident Antonio Abbarno helped unveil the new sign, which reads Lee Coumbs Exposition Hall, as the crowd cheered them on.
During the fair, the Exposition Hall plays host to a number of still-life exhibits, including elementary, junior and senior art displays as well as a number of booths manned by local organizations and vendors. Among them, the fair set up a memory station asking attendees to take a moment to write down a favorite memory of Coumbs to share with his friends and family.
In attendance at the event were former Lewis County Commissioner Edna Fund and current County Commissioner Lindsey Pollock, who took the opportunity to share some of their fondest memories with Lee.
Fund reflected on her time being mentored by Coumbs during his time as mayor of Centralia and her own time on the city council. Pollock shared her memories of Coumbs from her years showing animals at the Spring Youth Fair and added how impressed she had been even as a child at Coumbs’ ability to be everywhere as well as his determination to make sure that going to the fair didn’t mean people missed church.
“It was just amazing to me that the head honcho was everywhere,” Pollock said. “And then, on Sunday morning, he made sure to get everybody together in the show pavilion for Sunday morning church service before everything else started. He made sure that everything got quieted down. Everybody had to shut off their clippers, their blowers, whatever else was going on on the fairgrounds … I mean, literally, we’d have our cows in hand.”
Also in attendance at the dedication was Coumbs’ wife Bonnie Canaday Coumbs, who greeted many of the attendees. She and many others wore blue fair sweaters honoring Coumbs.
After the event Friday, Bonnie described the unveiling as a positive but difficult moment after Coumbs' death, being surrounded by so much of what Coumbs helped build.
Bonnie, who had worked closely with Coumbs as a volunteer for many years, described being welcomed wherever she went during the fair that evening and getting hugs from many of the attendees.
“He’s one of these people who, when we were in a meeting and we would say we need to contact people, Lee would always raise his hand,” Bonnie said. “The interesting thing to that was Lee would walk into a place and the first thing out of peoples’ mouths was, what do you need Lee? Because he gave so much back that others gave back to him.”
Bonnie shared a recent experience with Coumbs, saying that even when he was sick he was still working for the community. Most recently, he began planting garlic when it had become apparent that the community didn't have enough people growing it for the Washington State Garlic Fest in August.
Bonnie added that she will now begin serving on the Spring Youth Fair Board and continue Coumbs’ work with the Spring Youth Fair.
