Despite rain, power outage, Fest 2016 still fun

The 46th annual Odessa Deutschesfest drew enthusiastic crowds to all of the events offered. Despite some relatively light rain during the Saturday morning parade and the threat of even windier conditions, the folks who attended appeared not to be bothered much at all. The rain cleared up by about noon, and the forecast winds were not as bad as had been predicted. The vendors we talked to said they were prepared for such contingencies and had well-secured booths.

The rain that fell Saturday morning after a dry spell sparked a power pole fire just outside of town. That led to a power outage that lasted well over an hour. Vendors trying to serve lunch scrambled to find and hook up generators or offer alternatives to their cooked fare. Once the power came back on everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The Biergarten stage came to life and started the music with the Hillyard Belles performing a condensed version of their show, followed by the other acts cutting down the length of their performances until the band schedule was back on track.

Wheatland Bank sponsored the chalk-drawing contest again this year, and the turnout was very good. Children in four different age groups stake out one of the rectangles drawn on the pavement in front of the bank. Each group also had to produce drawings corresponding to a different subject matter. The winners in the different age groups were Sarah Hayashi, Claire Squire, Caleb Frick and Layla Summers. Each participant received a shoulder bag filled with sweets and other surprises compliments of Wheatland Bank. The four winners also each received a gift certificate from Wheatland Bank.

In the youngest age group of two- to four-year-olds, 12 participants vied for the win. Carlos Reyes of Odessa, age four, was the winner by quite a margin. He is the son of Abby and Lyndsay Reyes. Young Peter Campbell, age three, son of Clint and Bonnie Campbell, was far more interested in gawking at the crowd than in trying to win a race and came across the finish line finally after a few nudges from his mother.

In the intermediate age group, Sawyer Walter, age seven, led the pack and sailed across the finish line in very good time for the win. Sawyer's parents are Colley and HaLee Walter of Odessa.

The older group of kids were aged eight to 10, and only four participants signed up for the race. Bo Walter, son of Stephen and Barbara Walter, won the race for the second year in a row, beating out Tucker Walter, son of Colley and HaLee Walter, who was close on his heels.

Every child who participated received a bag of goodies from the race sponsor, the Hair Haus.

Last year's second place team, the Odessa High School FBLA, put on this year's bed races. In mid-race, each team had to leave their beds, place one team member in an office chair and another team member attach a 500-sheet ream of paper to each of their feet. Then the person with reams on his/her feet had to push the person seated in the chair around a traffic cone placed several feet away. Then return to the bed and race to the finish line, where their times were recorded.

Seven teams participated: Odessa Golf & RV; Odessa Drive-In; Carpenter, McGuire & DeWulf; Odessa FBLA; Leffel, Otis & Warwick; the Odessa EMTs and the Odessa Trading Company.

The FBLA team was not to be denied this year and made it through two heats to chalk up the fastest time. The Odessa Trading Company bed came in second and will therefore be responsible for putting on the bed races in 2017.

The award for the best-decorated bed went to the Odessa Drive-In boasting a giant hamburger made out of appropriately colored pillows.

The Odessa Deutschesfest Fun Run had 37 participants this year. In the 5K race for men, Odessa's Travis Schuh came in first, finishing in 19:05. In second place was Dave Roberts of Spokane with a time of 23:23, followed by Mike Decker (no hometown given) in 23:44.

In the women's 5K, Kaci King of Odessa finished first in 23:48. Kaitlyn Reidt of Wilbur was second in 27:18 and Patty McCarrel (no hometown stated) was third in 33:29.

In the men's 10K race, first place went to Sam Sicilia (no hometown given) with a time of 48:03. Jason Volberding (no hometown given) came in second in 48:26 and Cole Kissler of Odessa took third (His time was validated at 43:57. He started the race late, nevertheless crossing the finish line as the third-place runner.)

In the women's 10K Zenda Reidt of Wilbur finished in 55:12 for first place, Anna Heninger of Odessa was second in 59:09 and Marge Jaeger of Tekoa was third in a time of 1:03:00.

A total of 14 people participated in the horseshoe meet. The participants were divided up into two-person teams by drawing lots. The teams winning the first three places won both trophies and cash. The fourth and fifth place teams won cash only.

The first-place team consisted of Earl Hectlein of Creston and Ron Heutink of Ephrata. Second place was Henry Lopez of Lewiston, Idaho and Harold Boyer of Moses Lake. The third-place team comprised of Homer Kleinsmith of Post Falls, Idaho and Gary Seibel of Odessa. Coming in fourth was the team of Mike Briceno of Lapumi, Idaho and Loren Totusek and Marlin. Getting fifth place was the team of Gary Kleinsmith of Weippe, Idaho and Ron Burnett of Davenport.

Sponsors of the prizes for the top five teams were Odessa Drug, Ott Insurance and the Odessa Trading Company.

Friday bake sale

Friday's old-fashioned bake sale found a crowd that may not have been the largest ever, but some of the folks who bought the homemade goodies filled boxes to take home with them. Some years, there are preserves and baked items left over well into the afternoon. But not this year. The bake sale sold out quickly.