Sue’s

The Excitement Builds!

We lead this month with a personal invitation, urging you, our readers, to join us for a once-in-a-lifetime celebration next month, and to support our centennial efforts with purchase of our new book, Empire of Trees.

Hal Calbom has done an amazing job writing the monthly “People plus Place Then and Now” feature series, and the book project has been a labor of love for us both.

In partnership with Friends of Longview and with the support of many generous donors, we will be presenting a copy of the book to each and every graduating senior in the Longview high school Classes of 2023. These are meant as keepsakes and gifts for them from their community. Best wishes and congratulations to these students!

Our gala book launch variety show, “From Page to Stage” will celebrate three events: Longview’s Centennial, the launch of our Empire of Trees , and the 20th Year of Columbia River Reader! You’ll be entertained and amused, maybe even delighted (we hope) as we review favorite aspects from the paper over the years, and share excerpts and insights from the new book and our past year of reporting. And of course, we’ll be serving birthday cake and bubbly in honor of our beloved Planned City.

The proofreaders always say this, but I agree this month’s is a very rich and diverse issue. I’m sure everyone will enjoy reading the HaikuFest selections. We also present a two-page spread marking the 43rd anniversary of the eruption of Mount Saint Helens. This came about thanks to the Lee family, who feel a special affinity for the volcano.

On The Cover

Class

Publisher/Editor: Susan P. Piper

Columnists and contributors:

Tracy Beard

Hal Calbom

Alice Dietz

Creighton Goldsmith

Joseph Govednik

Gary Meyers

Michael Perry

Ned Piper

Perry Piper

Robert Michael Pyle

Marc Roland

Alan Rose

Alice Slusher

Greg Smith

Andre Stepankowsky

Paula Stepankowsky

Debra Tweedy

Judy VanderMaten

Editorial/Proofreading Assistants:

Merrilee Bauman, Michael Perry, Marilyn Perry, Tiffany Dickinson, Debra Tweedy

Advertising Manager: Ned Piper, 360-749-2632

Columbia River Reader, llc 1333 14th Ave, Longview, WA 98632

P.O. Box 1643 • Rainier, OR 97048

Office Hours: M-W-F • 11–3*

*Other times by chance or appointment

E-mail: publisher@crreader.com

Phone: 360-749-1021

Tracy takes us, as she often does, on an interesting, off-the-beaten-path day trip. Her story reminded me of the “rides” my family would often take on a Sunday. My dad was literally the driving force, station wagon keys, map, and camera in hand. There would be informational, roadside signs for us three kids to pose in front of, geological features to marvel at and, if we were lucky and well-behaved, a stop for ice cream cones or hamburgers along the way.

Our gardening columnist, Alice Slusher, poses an interesting “conundrum” about maintaining a lush green lawn versus replacing it with planting beds of flowers and shrubs. Ned and I tore out the lawn at our last house and installed raised bed gardens with flowers and vegetables, surrounded by a sea of pea gravel. It made sense, and WE liked it, but the neighbors thought we’d gone nuts. When we moved five years ago, the new owners immediately put the lawn back in.

Our Centennial Celebration will combine a gala book launch and variety show on June 30 (see details, facing page). Please consider purchasing your book and reserving your gala seats early. We expect to sell out.

If you try to pre-order your book and gala ticket on CRR’s website and can’t make it work, I apologize. We are working on it. In a pinch, please call or come by the office and we can take your payment in person, by check, credit card, or cash — yes, we are “old school” and still accept greenbacks!

The excitement builds! Thanks as always for your support. We hope to see you June 30th!

Sue Piper

Columbia River Reader is published monthly, with 14,000 copies distributed in the Lower Columbia region. Entire contents copyrighted; No reproduction of any kind allowed without express written permission of Columbia River Reader, LLC. Opinions expressed herein, whether in editorial content or paid ad space, belong to the writers and advertisers and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Reader.

Submission guidelines: page 38.

General Ad info: page 4.

Ad Manager: Ned Piper 360-749-2632.

CRREADER.COM

Visit our website for the current issue and archive of past issues from 2013.