Harrington News

The Needhams perform in Harrington

Monday night, Sept 30th, the Needhams family-based group performed at the Harrington Opera House for an audience of about 50 persons. This was the third year's appearance of the Needhams at the Harrington Opera House who have been on a West Coast tour for September and are on their route home to Murfreesboro, near Nashville, Tenn. Diane Needham Mummert, playing the mandolin, is the wife of Steve Mummert, their sound man. Diane is the sister of Dave Needham Jr, on the bass guitar, and daughter of Dave Sr., who entertained with guitar and harmonica. Dave's rendition on the harmonica of He Hideth My Soul was well received by the audience. There are other family members in their group who were not on this West Coast tour. They advertise that they have 3 song-writers in their group, lending to greater versatility, but that Diane wrote most of the songs and lyrics for the evening's performance. Their music is described as country gospel, country ballad and family harmonies. Their focus is "to worship the Lord with their audience" and create an awareness of the gift of salvation. Their performance was one hour and thirty minutes to a most appreciative audience as judged by their applause. In addition to the performance, they advertised their CDs, for sale in the lobby that evening, and their upcoming cruise tour to Jamaica which may be viewed on their website http://www.theneedhams.com.

Harrington PDA Meeting

The meeting of the Harrington PDA was held Monday, Sept 30 at 7 p.m. presided by Josh Steward. Discussions included the upcoming Charrette with EWU, the Institute for Extended Learning (which is to expand to Lincoln County), the Sprague building that collapsed in early September removing the antique store and apartments, and loan information that may be available from the state for businesses. PDA will meet next on Oct 29th.

HHPC Requests Participants

Tuesday, Oct 1, the Harrington Historic Preservation Commission held its last meeting before the Oct 26 Charrette, a project of EWU's Urban Planning program. It is coordinated by Prof. Teresa Brum with oversight by Dr Dick Winchell. This one-day event is a creative process for a potential future downtown district for Harrington.

Harrington Citizens of all ages can participate any time during the day's event by sharing stories or historic photos, by taking photos, or by being on an inventory team that collects data for each building and area of the downtown district. Any one with an interest in the future of Harrington and those with knowledge of Harrington's history are encouraged to come and meet with the students from EWU and with the members of the Historic Preservation Commission during the day. From 9 a.m. to 9:30 they will be setting up a "working office" with maps, laptops, digital cameras and LCD projector. At this time, teams of students and residents will be formed. From 9:30 to noon these teams will take the inventory that the Urban Planning program has determined to be relevant: actual land use (vacant or structured), buildings, traffic, sidewalks, parking, streets, entrance signage, etc. An hour will be taken for the noon break.

Two hours of the afternoon are also designated for taking more inventory. By 3 p.m. the inventory is to be taken back to the working office, where data will be transferred to the maps and prepared for presentation. At 5 p.m. an informal potluck dinner will be held where Mayor Paul Gilliland will make introductions. The presentation of maps and photos will be held during this time followed by a brainstorming session.

Time is short for citizens who have boxes or scrapbooks with local photos stored in their homes. The members of HHPC want to encourage citizen participation in as much as one's energy's would allow in order to have a wide array of photos, ideas and historic recollections as to how things had been in the past. Dreams for the town are important for its growth. Come and contribute toyour town.

Chamber of Commerce Met

Wednesday noon, Oct 2, the Harrington Chamber of Commerce met with five visitors present. A review of the process that occurred at the Harrington Fall Festival due to the weather was held with recommendations for future events, specifically that a representative of the chamber be present during the event. Discussion was held regarding the Christmas Bazaar on Dec 7, with six vendors scheduled to come. Activities will include Christmas Bingo, cake walk, coloring contest, chili and hot dog feed, and music. New business was the dues letter, Harrington Community on Facebook, Chamber officers positions coming up for re-election, the Harrington Float (which the school has shown no interest in), beautification of the downtown area, and scholarship money.

Opera House rummage sale

This last Saturday morning was beautiful weather as compared to the previous weekend. The Opera House rummage sale was ready to go at 9 a.m. and had a steady flow of people until after 3 p.m. with the net proceeds totaling more than $300 and with tours of the opera house being provided to perhaps a dozen different people. The rummage sale is to benefit the elevator fund. The next rummage sale is scheduled for November with a new theme for the additional items to be offered for sale.

Flyers were made available advertising the upcoming Shriner's Band: "In Concert-International Award Winning El Katif Shrine Band Under the Direction of Noble Karl Mote, Sunday, Oct 20, 3 p.m. Enjoy marches, show tunes, patriotic songs, toe tappers and old time melodies".