CHANGES COMING TO TRADITIONAL 4TH OF JULY CELEBRATION

Planning for the 2008 running of the Old Fashioned Forks Fourth of July celebration is getting into high gear.

Event organizers are saying help is needed immediately to ensure the long-running Forks’ Fourth of July celebration is run this summer.

Changes to the annual line-up include the addition of two days of drag racing, and the dropping of two traditional events.
Charlene Caldwell, the vice-president of the annual event, which is staged independently of the City of Forks, told the Forks Forum that it is likely the log show and the art show are being removed from the schedule of events. She said this is due to the low attendance at the events in past years, the aging of those who ran the events.

“Due to circumstances such as medical problems, elderly health care, etc., the current committee members feel all the work cannot be accomplished without more help,” Caldwell said in a press release. “New ideas and volunteers have always been welcome. As it stands now, the tasks would be too overwhelming without your help.”

She said Mark Soderlind and a handful of other volunteers have dedicated hundreds of hours over the past few years to keep the Fourth of July celebration afloat.

Caldwell said in addition to providing entertainment and maintaining the community tradition, the event benefits local businesses and non-profits who raise money through food booths and other sales during the weekend-long festivities.

Caldwell has a list of titles that need to be filled that reads like the directory of a corporation. The unfulfilled jobs include: treasurer, parade coordinator, poster director, ambassador chaperone, float assembler, out-of-town parade representatives, ticket sales agent, button distributor and part-time secretary.

She said that representatives of the Fourth of July celebration met Thursday, Feb. 28 with members of West End Thunder to discuss potential conflicts between the drag racing weekend scheduled for Saturday, July 5 and Sunday, July 6. A demolition derby to be held at the Tillicum Park Arena on Friday, July 4 is a major fundraiser for underwriting the cost of the three-day celebration.

Soderlind said of the upcoming meeting: “the mission statement of the night is – welcome.”

Those attending included Soderlind and his wife Pat, who is the City of Forks’ event coordinator, representative of West End Thunder and Forks Ambulance, Monty and Donna Burt, Chon Clayton, Josh Cristy, Victor and Katy Valesquez and Janet Hughes.

Caldwell said the two-day West End Thunder drags and an arena cross motorbike racing event are being added to the official schedule of events, broadening the scope of the celebration.

She said events on the Fourth of July schedule include horseshoe competition, a cribbage tournament, and the downtown Forks “Moonlight Madness” merchants’ sale on Saturday night, July 5.

The Forks Lions Club also met with event organizers and plan to hold their popular salmon bake at the Tillicum Park pavilion on the Fourth, and the Kids Play Day will be held as usual.

A firework display at dark is also returning on the Fourth.

The planning meeting is scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Pacific Pizza.