Harrington news

On September 22, the members of the Needham family provided Country and Christian music to an audience of 50 or more at the Harrington Opera House. It was their final performance before their return to Nashville, Tenn., having played at 14 locations in 21 days. Dave Needham introduced his father David (on acoustic guitar and harmonica) and his sister Diana Mummert, who writes most of their songs and plays the mandolin. Diane's husband Steve was on percussion, and their son Steve, Jr. played guitar and is considered their road manager. Their music included: "I'm in the Middle of a Miracle," "You Are Jesus to Me," Someday," "What Grandma Said," "It is Well With My Soul," "I'll Fly Away," "Welcome Home" and "How Beautiful Heaven Must Be."

The Spokane Magic Club performed Friday evening, September 25, and kept the audience engaged throughout their performances. Jon Bowne was the emcee, comedy was provided by John the Hat, Cameron Brow was a mentalist and Flash held the audience's attention with his rope magic. After intermission another set of performers took the stage: Isaiah Daniels with parlor magic, Phil Miller and Dr. Fun with a ventriloquist act, John Bowne's Miser's Dream Money, Steve From Spokane with parlor magic and a second performance by John the Hat. There were many children in the approximately 80-member audience. Club members enlisted audience participation, which the children seemed to thoroughly enjoy. The Spokane Magic Club provided their talents and time as a benefit performance for the Harrington Opera House Society. Long hours had gone into remaking of the drapes to fit the stage, and this performance was the first requiring multiple "drawing of the drapes." The set-up worked perfectly.

On September 21, K-12 students turned out to clean and help prepare the town for the Fall Festival, a project supported by school superintendent Justin Bradford, who acts on his belief that the school and community should support each other. Picking up loose papers was a teaching moment for those who are careless about dropping wrappers; someone eventually must pick them up. During the week, straw bales appeared with scarecrows and fall flowers, put in place this year by Betty Warner's first period ag class.

Early Saturday, crews were making ready for the Huff-n-Puff race. People congregated along the street to watch the runners, trotters and walkers on their routes.

The rummage sale had customers even prior to the planned 9 a.m. opening. Linda Colbert was posted in the city park with the petting zoo, and Lions Club members were busy with last minute preparations.

The 11 a.m. parade made its way down the street with 33 entries. Davenport supported the parade with a float and their band. Odessa sent their float, and Harrington had its band with supplemental assistance from several alumni including Dillon Haas, Steven Hardy, Dean Mann and Dave Nighswonger.

Numerous classic cars were on display, among them the 1957 Chevy convertible (owned by Jamie Floyd) carrying "2015 Honored Citizens" Jim and Vicki Knapp. The 2014 Honored Citizens, Charlie and Linda Colbert, followed the horses on clean-up duty. They were heard saying, "You never want to get too full of yourself. One year you are riding in a beautiful convertible as citizen of the year, and the next year you are shoveling horse manure in the parade!"

The honored classes of 1955, 1965, 1975, 1985, 1995 and 2005 were each represented in the parade, as were the boy scouts. Harrington's Mayor Paul Gilliland was seen waving from a pickup as he was driven through town. District 13 representative Tom Dent and senator Judy Warnick rode their horses in the parade and later toured the opera house. Several Mud Bog entries participated in the parade, and USBank employees carried a banner.

Allen Barth of the Studebaker Garage put some of his cars in the parade and also gave tours of his business with its antique and classic cars and other collectibles. Tours of the Harrington Opera House were also offered all morning and into the afternoon. In the lobby of the opera house a miniature Steinway piano was on exhibit to attract attention to the letters and pledge forms for the grand piano fund-raiser project.

Throughout the day's activities, the rummage room was open with a bountiful supply of goods, all for the taking with a donation. Many were surprised that items did not have prices, and the generosity of the people who visited was only matched by the generosity of the donors of the items for sale. This donor-to-donor deal was wonderful for the "elevator maintenance fund," and by day's end nearly $700 was raised. So many items were donated that many were unable to be placed in view. Therefore, there will be another sale this fall, although no date has been set. The Art Room artisan was Kristi Poteet with hand-crafted jewelry and sweet morsels to eat. A steady flow of people continued most of the day.

Following the parade, people were headed for the city park where many other activities were taking place. Amy Foley of the Rusty Lark was set up at the west end with antique furniture, pots, pans, kitchen gadgets, glassware and quilts, to mention only a few. Sue Shear of Coulee City displayed crafts and art work in the same area. Linda Colbert's petting zoo, which had miniature horses, friendly goats, two 50-pound turkeys and some chickens, was busy all day.

You'd have to see it to believe it, but there was also "Chicken Poop Bingo." Numbers from 1 to 315 were marked on a board placed in a pen with two chickens. People chose a number hoping that one of the chickens would be the first ti poop on their chosen number. The winner, Caroline Slack, received $50. Another contest was to guess the weight of a pumpkin, which tipped the scales at 120 pounds. Guessing the number of cheese balls in a container, 864, was won by Cameron Burton. A coloring contest was won by Sammy Crawford. A horse named "Bob," owned by Denise Hoffman, took 65 kids on rides in an exhibit run by a high school class. Then the normal Bingo event was as successful as it has been for years and years. Cotton candy sales were another school-sponsored money maker overseen by Betty Warner. The Harrington Homemakers had a pie sale. The Lions Club sold 3,750 raffle tickets. Winner of the grand prize, a 43-inch TV, was Jim Boss of Odessa. The club also sold all the meat purchased for the festival, including 550 pounds of barbecued beef, one ham, hamburger patties, baked beans and potato salad. Several members of the Lions Club said that there was a high level of participation by the crowd which seemed perhaps a little smaller than last year. The fish-pond activity thrilled some of the children, and the booth remained busy most of the day.

The Mud Bog event was organized and held by the 4 x 4 Club and its president Rod Herron, vice president Andrew Cronrath and secretary-treasurer Nathan Luck. There were 25 entries, with the greatest distance traveled being from Idaho. The mud was good, the weather was great and there were no accidents. Four classes or divisions were held. First-place winners were Stock Class, Ricky Hedreen; Street and Trail, Gerald Conway; Modified Class, Jim Bennett and X-Class, Robert Smith. The 4 x 4 Club was supported by the community, providing help with obtaining insurance, the land and the water trucks for the event. The only downsides to the event were a few flat tires, a warped front end and more than four breakdowns. High hopes for a bigger and better third year were expressed by participants.

Near the Mud Bog event, a sample American flag was displayed to encourage people to donate "Memorial Flags" for a joint project of the Lions Club and Homemakers Club to furnish rows of flags at the cemetery. Randy Oestreich explained the project at the park.

By 6 p.m. the park was nearly deserted. The alumni dinner that followed served 80, with Karl Kupers acting as emcee for the evening. Roger Scott was the oldest alum in attendance, and Sally Conklin Hanlon had traveled the greatest distance for the reunion. As has become the custom, these two signed the book that was selected to be donated to the public library. For the 11th year, the dinner was catered by Lakeview Catering, owned by Ron Groff of the Seven Bays area. Each of the honored classes had a spokesperson. Following the dinner event, a Glow-in-the-Dark Golf match was tried for a second year, the proceeds going to the scholarship fund. As they say, "a good time was had by all."

Huff-n-Puff Race

Results of the Harrington Huff-n-Puff races held Saturday, September 25:

5K female pre-teen

1: Scout Sewall 42:47

2: Lola Phillips 46:25

3: Annika Walters 51:31

5K female teen/adult (age 13-39)

1: Megan Moos 22:54

2: Kaci King 23:16

3: Katie DeWulf 27:20

5K female masters (age 40+)

1: Julie Teade 28:27

2: Kelli Tanke 29:39

3: Becky Colbert 49:16

5K male pre-teen

1st Tristan Smith 31:02

5K male teen/adult/masters (13+)

1: Travis Schuh 19:50

2: Cole Kissler 21:11

3: M. Van Pevenage 21:36

Overall 5K winners

Female: Megan Moos 22:54

Male: Travis Schuh 19:50

Female pre-teen mile

1: Laurel Victor 14:21

2: Hannah Colbert 15:27

3: Addy Colbert 15:33

Female teen/adult mile

1: Alexandria Bruce 9:40

2: Brenda Victor 13:36

3: Sarah Donaldson 15:04

Female masters mile

1: Debbie Soliday 14:47

2: Cassandra Pfaffle-Dick 14:48

3: Linda Colbert 15:36

Male pre-teen mile

1: Zachary Bruce 8:56

2: William Victor 13:36

3: Turner Slack 12:38

Male teen/adult/masters mile

1: Aaron Gruis 9:22

2: Lonnie Soliday 10:27

3: Glen Tanke 17:35

Overall Mile Winners:

Female: Alexandria Bruce 9:40

Male: Zachary Bruce 8:56