2016 george crier

June 30, 2016

Inside:

Event schedule Citizen of the Year Georgette Spotlight

George Crier

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GEORGE CRIER

The Quincy Valley

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

No one celebrates July 4th like George

Bring the family for grand parade, live music & cherry pie Staff report

Post-Register file photos

TOP: The Georgettes will be serving up their now-famous cherry pie, beginning at noon on July 4. The pie will be served to some 2,400 people. OPPOSITE PAGE: Rep. Matt Manweller, here with Sen. Judy Warnick, will be the guest speaker again this year at the patriotic program. FAR RIGHT, TOP: Don't miss out on the ringing of the Freedom Bell ceremony, which begins after the parade at 11 a.m. FAR RIGHT, BOTTOM: A gaggle of tractors decorated for the festivities are a highlight of the small-town parade. The event's grand parade gets underway at 10 a.m. The parade starts at the west end of Montmorency Boulevard and goes down the street before turning the corner to go past the crowd again.

Since July 4, 1957, the community of George has put on one of the best community celebrations in the area.

And why not?

The town named after our first president just might be the perfect place to celebrate the Fourth of July. (Wikipedia claims George is the only town in the country that bears the full name of a U.S. president.)

The George celebration typically attracts some 2,500 people to the town of only 700 residents. Most events are held at George Community Park.

The day kicks off with a breakfast in the park served from 7 to 10 a.m. While you're there, check on the Georgettes, the community's No. 1 volunteer group. The Georgettes will be getting this year's pie prepared in the Rotary Pie Pavilion.

Registration is also that Monday morning for the 27th Annual Cherry Bomb Run. Look for people registering on the island at Montmorency Boulevard, just down from the park.

The Cherry Bomb Run has a 10K event and a 2-mile run, with start-

FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS ON PAGE 16 ing times at 8:30 a.m. Age groups cover from childhood to over 70 years.

Activity in the park starts picking up at 9 a.m. when the open-air market and food booths open.

The grand parade is one of those events that you won't want to miss on July 4th. While it's a short route, the George parade is one that exemplifies small-town living and the agriculture community.

New this year, in the parade will be the "Fallen Heroes" banner carriers. Local volunteers will be carrying banners with the names, hometowns, dates of birth and death, and photographs of some of the young men and women from the area who have given their lives to defend freedom.

Up after the parade is an annual patriotic program that will take place on stage at the park as well as at the flag pole near the Freedom Bell.

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as the guest speaker will be Rep. Matt Manweller, R-Ellensburg. Guests of the program also include George Mayor Gerene Nelson and the 2016 George Citizen of the Year Tony Liebelt.

Ongoing throughout the afternoon will be children's events, the open-air market , a classic car show and live entertainment on the stage.

New this year, the pie-eating and cherry-spitting contests have been moved to the main stage. The contests be-

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

GEORGE CRIER

gin at 11:30 a.m.

The evening, on-stage entertainment includes: w4:30 p.m.: Los Vega, a Latin group. w6:30 p.m.: Mike Faast & The Jangles, a cowboy and western swing group. w8:30 p.m.: Darnell Scott Band, a rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll group.

And don't forget the evening ends in style with a fireworks show -- some say the best in the area -- at dusk at the park.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

2001-2016

2008 - Les & Sue Albright

2015 - Mike Wallace

2007 - Agnes Escure

2014 - Jeannie Kiehn

2006 - Zane Newton

2013 - Hector Saldana

2005 - Ken & Barb Dipprey

2012 - Lynn Felder

2004 - Chris Gehring

2011 - Wallace Bushman

2003 - Shirley Eggers

2010 - Kelly Field

2002 - Signe Williamson

2009 - Marylou Krautscheid

2001 - Rob and Lisa Field

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BY SEBASTIAN MORAGA sports@qvpr.com Enamored with all things George, Tony Liebelt is his hometown’s 2016 Citizen of the Year – much to his chagrin.

A lifelong resident of the town, Liebelt said he likes its small-town feel, likes living within sight of his parents’ house, and likes the climate and the potential for growth.

The accolades? Not so much.

“I tried to get out of it,” he said, recounting how he was taking a rest in the middle of a small break while fighting a fire, when he got the call that he had been chosen citizen of the year.

He argued a bit. (“I was actually going after (bleep) hole of the year,” he says.) Then he reasoned that once chosen, he’s “probably off the hook for it for the next 40 years or so,” and accepted the honor.

“I was too tired to fight too long,” he said.

The assistant chief of Grant County Fire District No. 3, Liebelt feels at home. Not only has he lived here his whole life, he also knows this area better than most, having worked

loading hay in addition to his work on the fire crews.

“It gave me an opportunity to go down all the roads and to all the farms,” Liebelt said. “And learn all the ditch banks.”

The son of a firefighter, he also once worked alongside his son, a volunteer firefighter, who has since switched careers.

“Maybe it was his chief officer at the station that was the problem,” Liebelt quipped, referring to himself.

“I’m not sure.”

Still, he relishes being one of the families at the fire district that has brought more than two generations to the staff.

Being in a small community, he has had to tend to neighbors and friends during emergencies. In addition, his wife works as a custodian at George Elementary School. (“She runs the school,” Liebelt joked. “Whoever controls the toilet paper controls the school.”) So it’s hard for Liebelt to go unnoticed.

It’s also hard for Liebelt, a firefighter for 28 years, to not notice other things. A drive around George tends to remind him of past emergencies. If he could take out one thing from the

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of the Year: Tony Liebelt community I grew up in, and that's pretty cool' George landscape, that would be it. If he could put in one thing in George, it would be a better budget for the city of George with which to work.

The name, however, he wouldn’t change for a second.

Not only is it unique, it’s a great icebreaker when on road trips, as is the name of the town’s founder.

“Founded by Charlie Brown,” he said. “You didn’t know that, did ya?”

As a child, Liebelt wanted to be a cowboy. Then he reached fourth grade and switched the goal to firefighter. To him, his ledger is full because he has been both.

“That’s sticking to the plan,” he said.

Liebelt gives credit to his wife, saying few people know what firefighters’ spouses go through, including the long worrisome waits, and credits his fire district for working as a team with those inside and outside the district.

“Probably one of the worst things that I have gone

Sebastian Moraga/Post-Register

Longtime George resident Tony Liebelt was named the 2016 Citizen of the Year. The assistant fire chief at Grant County Fire District No. 3, Liebelt said he's a lucky man to be doing a job he loves in a community that he loves. through here is a firefighter who we lost last year in a car wreck,” the citizen of the year said. “He was from George,

not in our fire district or anything, but still, close to home.

It was a difficult time for all of us.

On the other hand, the partnership with the lady running the school still goes strong, even if the tally doesn’t.

“We’ve been together 25 years,” he said before pausing. “Twenty-six, 27 – I dunno. I forgot a couple of years.”

Now that the grandchildren have arrived, the possibility of adding a fourth generation of Liebelt firefighters arises.

“Make sure you graduate from high school, study hard and start volunteering,” he said of what he would tell his grandchildren if they asked what they can do to someday battle the blazes.

Some departments, including GCFD3, even offer a residency program to train inhouse volunteers to become career firefighters, he added.

One of the trainers, of course, is Liebelt, but that does not mean he’s ready to give up battling blazes just yet.

“I feel good, I still like fighting fires, I love wildland fires and I love this job,” he said. “I’m working for the same community I grew up in and that’s pretty cool.”

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

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Georgette spotlight: Yvonne Boon For Boon family, volunteering is a part of living in your community

BY JILL FITZSIMMONS editor@qvpr.com When Yvonne and Dave Boon went looking to grow their dairy farm into a multi-site operation, they found more than just a new business opportunity in George.

They found a home.

The outgoing couple jumped right into George life only weeks after arriving some nine years ago.

Yvonne was quick to join the George Community Hall Board. Today she is board president and a volunteer with the Georgettes. She is the events director for the town’s most festive event of the year, July 4th in George.

As for Dave, he’s right beside his wife. He will be mc-ing some of the July 4th festivities this year as well as serving up ice cream on the famous Georgette cherry pie.

"It's just who we are," said Yvonne of how quickly the couple assimilated to George life. "We feel it's important to become part of a community if you're going to move there."

Living on a farm just south of town, the Boons are among about 19 dairy farms operating in Grant County. From Mount Vernon in Skagit County, the couple has been farming together for 36 years. (For Dave, who grew up on a dairy farm, he’s been farming all his life.)

The couple found their way to George when they

Jill FitzSimmons/Post-Register

Yvonne and Dave Boon operate a multi-site dairy operation with their family. They have called George home for the past nine years when the Boons expanded their operation from Mount Vernon. The couple have become active members of the tight-knit communty. Look for them at the 4th of July celebration on Monday. were looking to expand their operation, which they now run with two of their four children. The family needed a location to raise young stock. The family was seeking not only a large space for their opera-

tion but also one that was in a warm, sunny climate.

Dave and Yvonne volunteered to be the ones to relocate because their children are raising young families. (The couple has nine grandchildren.)

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“We feel it's important to become part of a community if you're going to move there.”

GEORGE CRIER

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World Record Pie

Yvonne Boon Georgette

Warden and Ephrata also came up in the Boons’ search; however, the couple landed in George. The town’s close proximity to Interstate 90 turned out to be a great match for the family and its operation, Dave said.

Once a week, the Boons head west over the mountain passes to their Mount Vernon operation with a trailer-load of stock. They return with a trailer-load of young heifers.

The young stock is brought east at 6 to 7 months of age and then returned to Mount Vernon when they are ready to go into production, which is about 2 years old.

Despite this active lifestyle, the Boons still find time to immerse themselves in the George community. And it's one that they are enjoyoing.

Upon arriving in George, they were pleased to quickly learn that the community is a tight one, full of hard-working people, they said. There's also a neighborliness in George that they appreciate, they said.

In fact, a day or two after

they arrived, three neighboring families stopped in to introduce themselves. Later, when they found themselves alone for their first July 4th celebration in town, neighbors reached out to the Boons to invite them to stop in for a potluck. The gathering has become a tradition now.

This July 4th, the Boons will be joined by their family in George. The annual festival has become an opportunity to reconnect with family and friends while also meeting people who have traveled to the unique town and unique celebration.

"We see people from far and wide," Dave said.

Still, it was an adjustment moving to such a small town, Yvonne said. On the west side, you don’t have to travel far for shopping centers, she said.

And then there’s the name.

"It's amazing how many chuckles we get when the person at the end of the other line hears we live in George, Washington," Dave said.

Post-Register file photo

People come from far and wide every July 4th to get a photo of the world's largest cherry pie, a distinction proudly given to the Georgettes of George by the Guinness Book of World Records. The pie calls for about a dozen 35-pound buckets of cherries. Pieces of the cherry treat will be served up beginning at noon at the Rotary Pie Pavilion at the George Community Park.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

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A jammin' good time Practice session grows into a bluegrass treat

BY JILL FITZSIMMONS editor@qvpr.com On the first Friday of very month, the bluegrass music coming from George Community Hall is reminiscent of days gone by. It has a lonely but romantic sound and reflects the soul of country living.

Inside, a group of musicians and their guitars have gathered under dim lights. They sit in an informal semi-circle, taking turns selecting a song as they move around that circle. In harmony together, they sing folk songs and ballads, tossing in some honky tonk for kicks. They sing of finding love and meeting their maker.

A few of the seven musicians gathered on this night are new to singing before a group; however, most are accomplished performers who have been playing for years. Some spent their youth playing in garage bands, others performed with Saturday night bands.

Most jam nights the musicians play before a crowd of about two dozen regulars, many of whom have traveled from Ephrata. The Ephrata Senior Center brings a bus down to have a potluck dinner with the musicians before filling up the seats in the small hall.

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Jill FitzSimmons/Post-Register

Debby and Elliot Kooy of George found that once their children were grown they had more time to learn a new hobby, such as playing bluegrass. The couple jams along with the other musicians now every first Friday of the month at the George Community Hall. They've even formed a band that plays weekly for a senior living facility in Moses Lake. to hear live music, said Cheryl Jackson of Ephrata, who comes down with her 77-year-old mother Carol Linton.

Linton is sitting in the semi-circle with her guitar.

No stranger to the stage, she's been playing since she was 18. In fact, some 50 years ago Linton and her husband played together in a country band.

The Ephrata group comes because it enjoys the small venue and the atmosphere at the hall, Jackson

said.

"It feels like community," she said.

The first Friday jams began some six years ago.

After starting the week-long bluegrass festival in George, now held every September, organizers decided they needed to get together once a month for an impromptu jam session. They invited "anyone with an instrument" to play and "anyone with ears" to listen.

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The idea was slow to catch on; four or five musicians showed up to start, said Debby Kooy of George. Debby and her husband, Elliot Kooy, the former mayor of George, have been regulars at the jam since its start -- first as spectators and then as musicians. Debby plays the guitar and Elliot the banjo.

At first, the jams were more like practices, Debby said. She and her husband knew three cords when they started, she said.

"We just turned on the lights and played," Debby said.

But today, the jam sessions certainly don't sound like practice sessions to the faithful audience.

Some first Fridays, more than 15 musicians from throughout the area show up.

"I like that they share their talent," Jackson said.

"I think it's a blast."

Marc Leman of Moses Lake has been playing the guitar since 1975. An engineer by trade, he was in a country-rock band for years. The George jam is his favorite above others around the area because it attracts more guitar players.

"I like to play with people where you can hear the rhythm," he said.

There are quite a few spectacular musicians who show up for the George jam sessions, said Jerry Voorhies of George, who is among the founders of the bluegrass festival and also a crowd favorite. He used to go to several bluegrass jams in the area but now attends only the George one.

"I just love to play the old music and this is a good place to do that," Voorhies said.

Pete Staudenraus of Moses Lake is another regular. The former postmaster of Warden, Staudenraus was in a little Saturday night band in the 1970s that played throughout Eastern Washington.

For him, playing in the jams is a way to keep up his craft while getting out with other like-minded people. The George jam attracts some good musicians, he said.

GEORGE CRIER

Jill FitzSimmons/Post-Register

Musicians like Charlie Root of Moses Lake come from throughout Grant County and the area. They usually get to playing at about 7 p.m. that first Friday of every month at George Community Hall. The musicians and some audience members sit down together at 6 p.m. for a potluck dinner prior to the jam session.

"I'm not a bluegrass player," he added. "I play slow and sing low."

As for Debby, the jam nights have been like group lessons for her and her husband. You end up learning in spite of yourself, she said. The jams have become one of her favorite things to look forward to each month.

"This is by far the most fun thing we do here," said Debby of events at the hall.

The First Friday Jams are at 7 p.m. the first Friday of every month. A potluck dinner begins at 6 p.m. and the jamming goes until about 9 p.m. The jam is held at George Community Hall, 403 W. Montmorency.

Yahoo takes great pride in contributing to our community and helping make it a better place to live and work. We’d love for you to join us in this effort. Below is a list of causes and organizations in GEORGE that could really use your time, talents and financial support.

This is only a sample of where to give in the Quincy Valley. Don’t forget volunteer and service organizations, as well as many other worthy causes.

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George Community Hall • Monthly

expenses of running the hall • George Coffee House • Bluegrass festival • Fourth of July celebration & fireworks • George Washington’s birthday celebration PO Box 5064 George, WA 98824

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

Purple Reign:

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Family builds new business around new crop

BY JILL FITZSIMMONS editor@qvpr.com Tucked among the green and gold fields of George is a shock of purple.

The vibrant fields are home to Trinity Gardens, one of the area’s newest businesses.

Trinity Gardens specializes in a crop that’s pretty unique to Grant County – lavender.

Dave Putnam, a seasoned orchardist, knows of only about 30 acres of lavender planted throughout the county. Now his fields are among them.

Dave and his wife, Julie, started Trinity Gardens last year, planting an acre of their property off of Road 5 Southwest in the versatile and aromatic (not to mention lovely) crop. They are harvesting that acre this year and have since planted another acre. Plans are to expand by about another acre next year.

Lavender is used around the globe in several ways. It can be used as an herb in cooking or in tea. It can be dried or distilled and used in lotions, soaps, sprays and more.

The fast-moving Putnams already have a line of lavender products that range from

Submitted photo

At Trinity Gardens, lavender farming is a family affair. Dave and Julie Putnam, center, are joined by their son, Matt, left; their daughter, Chelsea, right; and grandson Michael. lotion and body butter to linen sprays and car spritzers. Some of their products are for sale in area stores, including Two

Doors Down and White Trail Produce in Quincy and the Seed Cupboard in Royal City.

But the family has more

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than lavender production on their minds. They aim to turn Trinity Gardens into a destination for visitors and the

community.

The Columbia Basin is growing, Dave said. And with attractions such as Cave B and the Gorge Amphitheatre nearby, thousands of people are passing by on nearby Intestate 90, he added.

"We want this to be a place to come to," said Chelsea, the couple’s daughter.

Future plans include building a retail store on site and setting aside u-pick days for visitors. It also means eventually opening up the lavender farm as an event venue for weddings and other gatherings as well as a backdrop for senior photos.

“The sky’s the limit,” Julie said.

Just how did the Putnams get hooked on lavender?

"Flying by the seat of our pants," joked Chelsea.

Three years ago, Dave was driving by the property on Road 5 and noticed it was for sale. What possibly could they do with the land, Julie asked her husband. Dave thought his wife might like a lavender garden.

That’s because years ago the couple had visited Sequim, lavender capital of the state. They were able to tour

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lavender farms there, and it left a lasting impression on Julie.

“The smell, the look, just how you feel when you’re walking around – I just loved it,” said Julie, a retired nurse.

Back in George, the Putnams were able to envision among the weeds growing on that land a new family venture.

Julie got to work researching lavender and its products.

She chose their first varieties – Royal Velvet, Grusso and Super – and mapped out the lavender farm in neat blocks and pathways.

Joining the couple in their lavender adventure are two of their three grown children, Chelsea, 26, and Matt, 24. Julie believes her children have played a big role in the fledgling business’ successes this past year.

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

“Each of the kids brings a vision and a lot of energy and excellent input,” she said. It was Matt who pointed out the lavender fields would make a wonderful wedding venue. And Chelsea, who works alongside Julie on the production end, has added an organic vegetable garden.

Along with planting lavender and tending to their new crop, the Putnams have been getting their hands dirty landscaping the property to turn it into that destination location. Using repurposed materials such as decorative headboards, orchard props and wheels from an irrigation wheel, the family has been building sitting areas where visitors can spend some quiet time among the picturesque lavender fields. A pergola also is planned.

Jill FitzSimmons/Post-Register

The Putnams hope to turn the lavender farm into a destination for visitors and the community. They are building unique sitting areas (left) around the farm so people will be able to enjoy the uniqueness of the lavender rows. They've also built walking paths (above) through the fields.

"It's fun to take things that nobody else wants anymore and to give it a different purpose," Dave said.

With all the work the Putnams already have put into Trinity Gardens, the business has quickly grown into

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a deeply personal adventure.

The business’ name itself is special to the family because it is not only a nod to the Putnams’ three children but also to their faith.

This past year also has been special for Dave and Julie,

who get to work alongside their children. Even if, in the end, they don’t make a penny, all the work will have been worth it, Dave said.

"It's worth every minute that we get to spend together," he said.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

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Business is (not) the pits Cousins fulfill childhood dreams after opening The Cherry Pit

BY SEBASTIAN MORAGA sports@qpvr.com Steve Steele knows what he wants. He wants the Pit. But not the pits.

He wants his restaurant, The Cherry Pit, to succeed, but not at all cost. He doesn’t want to turn his dream into a nightmare. And that has been the plan since Day 1.

“We didn’t want to be a dive bar,” said Steele, who purchased the restaurant with his business partner and cousin Patrick Mezo a year ago and slowly began the work of turning it into a restaurant and bar. More restaurant than bar.

“We didn’t want to be your local drunk’s stop,” he said.

This is the third re-incarnation for the building, which opened as The Cherry Pit in mid-May 2015.

This is the first restaurant for Steele and Mezo, both electricians by trade, who bought the place from one of Steele’s neighbors.

“It’s every boy’s dream to have a bar,” Steele said.

He laughed when he said it, but he was serious. He and Mezo talked about owning a place like The Cherry Pit when they were children. Moreover, their grandparents owned a restaurant in Skykomish.

“It was a large part of our childhood growing up,” Mezo said of the restaurant in Skykomish.

The dream did not get more specific than that, Steele added. The opportunity arose in George, so they opened it there.

“We knew that George doesn’t have a lot of businesses,” Steele said, “So we can do something with

“We knew that George doesn't have a lot of businesses. So we can do something with this, because there's a need to fill.”

Steve Steele Co-owner, The Cherry Pit this, because there’s a need to fill.”

Unlike most restaurants of its type, Steele said, the draw is the food, not the variety of bottles on the shelves. In addition to its menu, the business partners are putting the finishing touches on an outdoor kitchen area that will allow them to hold barbecues.

They also want to update the kitchen and separate some areas so that the atmosphere becomes more restaurant-and-lounge than restaurant-and-bar.

“There’s a lot of people who are very religious in the area, they are not going to take their children into a bar to eat,” Steele said. “And if you’re seeing the people sitting at a bar, you’re at a bar to eat.”

Right now, the menu is not as broad as Steele would like it to be. He would like to offer steaks and seafood at some point. Right now, it’s mostly pizzas and fryer foods. But that will change. For starters, grandma’s recipes from the restaurant in Skykomish may make it onto the menu at some point.

It will take a while, saidd Steele, to turn all that into a reality, but they are willing to wait and put in the hours.

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“A lot of times you just get three hours (of sleep) a night,” Mezo said.

“We are trying to organically grow a business,” Steele said. “You can see we don’t even have signs up yet. That’s because we want to grow by word of mouth, by reputation, not by ‘Here’s a front-page ad in the paper.’”

In the meantime, they look for ideas. For starters, they looked at what their grandparents did. Their restaurant in Skykomish was part of the community, and that’s what the cousins want to do, more than 40 years later.

Back in the 1960s, their grandmother bought every turkey she could find in Monroe and every woman in town baked a turkey, so that firefighters battling the blazes near Stevens Pass could have lunch and dinner every day.

Four decades-plus later, Mezo delivered a late dinner to a fire hall, so firefighters on call could have a bite once their work was over.

Mezo and Steele also looked at every restaurant they went to for six months prior to buying the place, Steele said.

Then, in the first six months after they bought it, the kudos started. Steele said he was a little skeptical.

“They would say, ‘Oh we love your food,’ and I would be like, ‘Did they really love it or are they just being nice?’”

With another seven months on top of the first halfyear, the place has started developing regulars and repeat customers.

“We want to be part of the community,” Mezo

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The Quincy Valley

Post Register repeated. “So you look and ask, what does the community need: Do they have a general place to eat that you can go to seven days a week and get a meal? No. Not in Moses Lake, not in Quincy, not in Wenatchee. They all close at 9 o’ clock.”

In five years, hopefully, George will have a place where someone can come in late and “get a roast-beef dinner, if that’s what you want,” Mezo said.

In its first incarnation, the establishment was called The River Shark, (“basically, a bar,” Steele said.) Then it switched hands and became Martha’s II, with a wink to a longtime truck stop establishment named Martha’s that was located close to I-90.

So when Steele and Mezo went chasing after a name, they wanted something with connections to the area, and they chose a name that ties to George’s reputation as the home of the World’s Largest Cherry Pie. “We thought about everything, like Wild Horses Tavern, but we wanted to be more family oriented and have something to do with George,” Steele said. “And we piggy-backed on the cherry-pie thing.”

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

GEORGE CRIER

13

Sebastian Moraga/Post-Register

Cousins Steve Steele, left, and Patrick Mezo are celebrating their first anniversary as owners of The Cherry Pit, which is in the former Martha's II location in George.

The 13-month-old venture has not lacked for challenges, but both Mezo and Steele say they would do it all over again

if given the chance.

“It’s been a fun experience,” Steele said. "It hasn’t been without trials and tribu-

lations.”

Mezo agreed, adding that anytime you deal with public, there’s pluses and minuses.

“You can do 100 things right; do that one thing wrong and that’s what everyone hears about,” Mezo said.

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GEORGE CRIER

THE QUINCY VALLEY

Post Register

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

First celebration served up 1,400-pound pie ed by dignitaries, with the last being reserved for Brown’s four grandsons.

Free to All The afternoon will include free oysters, in their native shells, for the first thousand women to register, portions of an 800-pound barbecue, free cherry pie, free cherry drinks, a chance on a $750 piece of property, a trike race for 4- and 5-year-olds and numerous other events.

Special guests will be Mr. and Mrs. Naluai, bride and groom, his brother and Marjory Smith, all of Hawaii. They will offer a program of song and native music prior to the 3 p.m. events and will close the program with Aloha.

4,000 Expected More than 4,000 persons are expected to visit George during the day.

They’ll see a model town layout, wide streets, boulevards and tree-lined avenues. There isn’t much there yet, but Brown sees a sizeable town in the near future.

Editor’s Note: As the community of George, Washington, prepares to kick off its 59th Fourth of July celebration, we are reminded of how the event started. The following article appeared in the July 4, 1957, edition of the Quincy Valley Post-Register. The photo accompanying it was of town founder Charles Brown dwarfed by an 8-foot "monster" cherry pie tin. The first cherry pie, now a George tradition, weighed 1,400 pounds and was baked by Hal Emerson.

All is in readiness for the July 4th dedication of George, Washington, the Charles Brown dream town near Burke Junction.

Governor. Albert D. Rosellini will land at the Ephrata airport at 2:30 p.m., July 4, and will speak and plant a cherry tree at George at about 3 p.m.

He’s only one of the many legislators and VIPs invited to take part in the afternoon celebration.

State Sen. Nat W. Washington, a direct descendant of George Washington, will be on hand to participate in the affair. Ten cherry trees will be plant-

Happy 4th of July!

ANDREW ROYER aroyer@basinpacific.com 17 E St. SE Quincy, WA 98848 Phone: (509) 787-2816 Fax: (509) 787-1620

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The Quincy Valley

Post Register

Happy 4th of July!

Enjoy all the festivities in George!

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

GEORGE CRIER

15

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GEORGE CRIER

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

The Quincy Valley

Post Register

59th Annual

4TH OF JULY AT GEORGE,WA Schedule of Events

All events are at George Community Park unless otherwise noted.

7 AM - Breakfast (vendor in the park) served 7-10 a.m.

Construction of Giant Cherry Pie at Rotary Pie Pavilion Registration for Cherry Bomb Run (located 2 blocks west of the park on Montmorency Boulevard island) 8:30 AM - Cherry Bomb Run start time 9 AM - Parade registration/line-up at The Cherry Pit parking lot Open Air Market and all Food Booths 10 AM - Grand Parade Children’s Games and Activities - OPEN 10 A.M. – 3 P.M. 11 AM - Patriotic Program onstage and at flag pole.

Announcer/MC Dave Boon with VFW Color Guard: - Ringing of Freedom Bell and Observance of Flag-Raising - National Anthem by the Jim Adams’ Family Ensemble - Twenty-One Gun Salute - Special Speaker State Rep. Matthew Manweller - Introduction of George Mayor Gerene Nelson - Introduction of George Citizen of the Year Tony Leibelt 11:20 AM - Announcement of Fireworks Raffle Winner by Jim and Brett Adams of George Washington Fireworks 11:15 AM - 3 PM - Stars, Bars & Classic Cars Show (located east of the Community Hall parking lot) 11:30 AM- NOON - On Stage: Pie Eating Contest and Cherry Pit Spitting Contest NOON - Giant Cherry Pie with ice cream served at the Rotary Pie Pavilion (Pie sponsored by Williamson Farms; $1 donation suggested) 12:10 - 4:50 PM - On Stage: Live entertainment 2:45 PM - Car Show awards on stage 4:30 - 6:15 PM - On Stage: Los Vega (Latin group) 6:30 - 8:15 PM - On Stage: Mike Faast & The Jangles (cowboy/western swing) 8:30 - DUSK: On Stage: Darnell Scott Band (rhythm & blues/rock & roll)

F I R E WO RKS S H OW S TA RT S AT DUSK