ILWACO / ASTORIA – Karen Harrell and Kevin Romeyn, postmasters at the Ilwaco and Astoria post offices, are gearing up for what could be as many as 5,000 people wanting first-day postmarks of three new Lewis and Clark-related stamps.

On Friday, the stamps will be introduced to the public and cancelled in ceremonies at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center at Cape Disappointment State Park beginning at 9 a.m. and at Fort Clatsop National Memorial at noon. A total of 11 sites on the Lewis and Clark Trail will have simultaneous cancellations Friday.

A first-day-of-issue is always a big deal, Harrell said, but the local events will mark “probably the only time it will happen in Ilwaco or Astoria.” She said Peter Hass, public affairs director for the U.S. Postal Service’s Portland District said they could expect between 150 and 5,000 people.

The “Lewis and Clark on the promontory” stamp and stamps with likenesses of William Clark and Meriwether Lewis will be for sale only at the Interpretive Center, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and at Fort Clatsop from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., available only in full sheets or in “Prestige Booklets” of 20 stamps. The booklets, at $8.95, contain about 20 pages of photos and historic information about the Corps of Discovery and, according to Harrell, are “very collectible.” The face value of the stamps in the booklet is $7.40. The $5 parking fee will be waived at the Interpretive Center in Cape Disappointment State Park.

With five groups offering commemorative envelopes for sale – three in Washington and two in Oregon – Harrell said is remarkable that no design was duplicated.

Romeyn said he began e-mailing postal headquarters about three years ago, urging the cancellation event to be held at the mouth of the Columbia River, the end of the Lewis and Clark Trail. His efforts paid off, but he said the cancellation occuring this weekend in St. Louis along with a national bicentennial signature event is “scary. They’re expecting a million visitors to the events,” he said.

But the local event also is “huge,” Romeyn said. “From a postal standpoint, I can’t say enough about this. None of us will see another first-day issue in our lifetimes. Astoria is the oldest post office west of the Rockies.”

Master of ceremonies at Friday’s events will be Dallas Keck, district manager of the service’s Portland district. Dedicating official will be Richard Strasser Jr., chief financial officer and executive vice president of the U.S. Postal Service.

ILWACO – Philatelists and history buffs will have a field day Friday when, for the first time in history, three new stamps will be released simultaneously in 11 locations in states along the Lewis and Clark Trail.

In Pacific County, the Pacific County Friends of Lewis and Clark will offer first-day-of-issue commemorative envelopes depicting “Clark’s Map” and postmarked stamps in a 9 a.m. ceremony Friday at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center at Cape Disappointment State Park.

The following Friends’ limited edition commemorative envelopes are available in several versions, all postmarked at the Ilwaco Post Office:

with a William Clark Stamp and “Clark’s Map”

with a Meriwether Lewis stamp and “Clark’s Map”

with a Bicentennial stamp and “Clark’s Map

with a William Clark stamp and first-day-of-issue postmark

with a Meriwether Lewis stamp and first-day-of-issue postmark

with a Bicentennial stamp and first-day-of-issue postmark

All are available by mail for $5 each plus $3.95 shipping from Pacific County Friends of Lewis and Clark, P.O. Box 1059, Long Beach, WA 98631. Orders also may be placed at the Friends’ Web site at www.lewisandclarkwa.org/pages/stamp.

Description: Clark’s map of the lower Columbia River with a quote from Meriwether Lewis, in a letter to President Jefferson, Sept. 23, 1806, “In obedience to your order we have penetrated the continent to the Pacific Ocean” The envelopes will be in protective sleeves with a protective card insert describing Destination: The Pacific and the Lewis and Clark sites in Pacific County and the Long Beach Peninsula.

Postmarks: Available with either the Clark’s Map postmark or the First Day of Issue postmark.

Stamps: Available with each of the three commemorative stamps

Quantity: 2,500 – limited edition – numbered series

Cost: $5 per envelope – 25 percent of net proceeds go to Destination: The Pacific, the bicentennial signature event to be held in November 2005 www.DestinationThePacific.com

Pacific County Friends of Lewis and Clark is a nonprofit organization devoted to commemorating the bicentennial of the epic journey of Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery, with special emphasis on the 18 days they spent in Pacific County.

After the ceremony at the Interpretive Center, a shuttle bus will be available to take people across the Columbia River to Fort Clatsop for a noon program and the opportunity to purchase other postmarked stamps and envelopes. Other organizations offering commemorative stamps and envelopes and working with the U.S. Postal Service as part of the First Day of Issue ceremonies are Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes, The Friends of the Columbia River Gateway, Fort Clatsop Historical Association and Washington State Parks.

A full weekend of activities is planned for the unprecedented events:

Commemorate Stamp Weekend Events

Friday, May 14

9:00-9:30 a.m. Stamp dedication, Cape Disappointment State Park

Noon-12:30 p.m. Stamp dedication, Fort Clatsop National Memorial Explorer Shuttle available for transportation between sites

7 p.m. Historian Rex Ziak, author of “In Full View,” will present “Hanging by a Thread,” at the Ilwaco Heritage Museum. Suggested donation $5.

Saturday, May 15

9 a.m. Bus Tours led by Rex Ziak, leaving from the Ilwaco Heritage Museum, returning at 1 p.m. Reservations required.

10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday Market at Port of Ilwaco

11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Lewis and Clark 1904 centennial kites to be flown on the beach near the Boardwalk at the Bolstad Beach Approach in Long Beach.

A number of hikes are planned at Cape Disappointment State Park during the weekend. All are free and open to the public. No reservations are necessary.

Saturday

8 a.m. Birding at the cape

10 a.m. Beach wildflowers

Noon Life of a coastal forest

11 a.mm. to 3 p.m. North Head Lighthouse tours

2 p.m. Ethnobotany of a fog forest

Sunday

10 a.m. Seastack wildflowers

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. North Head Lighthouse Tours

Noon Coastal defenses of Fort Canby

For more information on locations and content of each hike, visit the Friends Web site.