Finn-American Choir to begin practice Aug. 3NASELLE – The Finnish-American Choir will be performing at the Deep River Historic Lutheran Church on Sunday, Aug. 21 at 3 p.m. In preparation, the choir will be rehearsing on Wednesdays, Aug. 3, 10 and 17, 7 p.m., at the Naselle Lutheran Church.

Questions can be directed to Cliff or Kaye Weimer at 484 3989.

Covered Bridge Fest this SaturdayGRAYS RIVER – The historic Grays River Covered Bridge, built in 1905, will celebrate its 100th birthday this Saturday, Aug. 6.

Beginning with a Bridge Walk Run event, followed by a parade of historic vehicles with descendants of the pioneer families who built the bridge and festivities honoring the farms and families of the Grays River Valley, this Celebration is an opportunity to revisit the days when neighbors gathered on a summer day to rest, visit and play. Located 40 miles west of Longview, just off State Route 4, the covered bridge still provides access to farms and homes in rural Wahkiakum County.

The Walk-Run over a 4.5-mile loop that starts and ends at the bridge, begins at 9 a.m. with registration at 7 a.m. The parade through the bridge of historic vehicles and pioneer families begins at 11 a.m. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. games, music, a marimba band and other activities will highlight the day. At 4 p.m. a beer garden opens with special music and dancing. There is no charge to attend the celebration.

All proceeds from the celebration will benefit the Covered Bridge Fund at the Wahkiakum Community Foundation. The fund provides annual grants to nonprofits in the area.

For more information, contact Karen Bertroch at (360) 465-2414 or Bonnie Linquist at (360) 465-2281.

Enjoy Finnish music at Vespers SundayDEEP RIVER – The historic Deep River Pioneer Lutheran Church will have a Finnish theme for its three Vespers and music concerts in August. Sunday, Aug. 7, the Wirkkala family concert will include music by flutist Rebecca Wirkkala. Aug. 14, the Saari family will play music on the kantele, the delicate instrument also known as the Finnish harp. For the final summer concert the Rev. Cliff Weimer will direct the Finnish American Festival Choir. Each concert is at 3 p.m. at the Deep River Church, two miles north and east of the bridge on State Route 4, between Naselle and Rosburg. The concerts are free. Donations are welcome to support the continued restoration and maintenance of this unique church. For further information contact Karen Bertroch, 465-2414, kbertroch@aol.com or Barbara Bate, 665-4421 or bgofish@willapabay.org.

Willapa Players present Snow WhiteRAYMOND – The Willapa Players Summer Youth Theater’s production of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs of the Black Forest” will be presented the second week of August. Productions are scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 11, and Friday, Aug. 12, at 6:30 p.m., and Saturday, Aug. 13, and Sunday, Aug. 14, at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $5 and are available at South Bend Pharmacy, Raymond Drug, and Jensen’s Furniture in Raymond. Tickets for the Youth Theater go fast, so it is wise to get tickets in advance. There probably won’t be tickets available at the door.

This year’s production is under the direction of Russ Wiitala and features Ally Shults as Snow White and Lindsay Rhoades as the part Queen/part Witch, Bella. Wiitala warns, “This is not the Disney production of ‘Snow White,’ so don’t expect to see Dopey, Doc, and the rest of that bunch.”

Since the Brothers Grimm first published the fairy tale, there have been many versions of the dwarfs. The dwarfs in this production are Hickory (Tyler Boyes), Dickory (Hannah Webster), Dock (Josiah Webster), Weepy (Courtney Fogleber), Curly (Cora Sides), Echo Echo (Shylo Boyes), and Little Banjo ((Matthew Boyes).

All of the actors in the youth productions are between the ages of 8- and 16-years of age. Other roles are played by Kira Dunsmoor, Kelly Rockett, Cody Simpson, Chelsea McClean, Justin Siel, Ashley McCoy, Lisa Manlow, Alex Webster, Kelsey Martin, Jacob Siel, Aubrey Boyes, Michaela Simpson, Nicole Manlow, and Austin Boyes.

Naselle garden tour is coming Aug. 21NASELLE – A summer tour of six Naselle and Rosburg area gardens will be on tap for garden lovers Aug. 21, from noon to 5 p.m.

The Naselle Finnish American Folk Festival is sponsoring the garden tour as a fundraiser for FinnFest USA ’06, which will be held in Naselle and Astoria, July 26 through July 30.

Ticket-maps for the self-guided tour of gardens are $7 or $5 for FAFF member cardholders.

For more information, contact Mitzi at 484-3436 or Bonnie at 484-7183.

THE CIRCUS IS COMING TO VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL!When: Aug. 22 through Aug. 26: Monday through Friday

Times: Noon to 3 p.m. (On opening day plan to come early!)

Where: Naselle Lutheran Church

Theme: “Davey and Goliath’s Circus Spectacular” (A High-Flying Gospel adventure!)

Ages: 5-12 (Kindergarten through 6th grade)

Cost: Donations Accepted.

Features: Clown, balloons, popcorn, songs, bible stories, puppet shows, games, painted crafts and more!

Contact Barb Swanson at (360) 484-3602 for more information

Naselle Youth Camp School Maximizes Technology ResourcesNASELLE – The Naselle Youth Camp School received 36 free computers over the last 18 months from the OSPI’s Computers 4 Kids program, according to Mr. Thompson. State offices get new computers on a regular basis and the used models are then given to schools that apply for them. The market value of these computers, if the school had to buy them new, would be about $1,400 each, for a total of $50,400. This is in addition to $84,600 the camp has applied for in federal grants to update the camp’s servers and switches. With the federal E-Rate program, the camp gets 90 cents in funding for every 10 cents they spend – a very good deal indeed.

In the words of camp principal Robin Andrea, “This allows us to have computer stations in our classrooms to enhance instruction for all our students. Since we have stations in the classrooms, our computer labs are more available for student usage. We would be unable to run the modern network-based instruction without up-to-date computers. We would be in the dinosaur age without our technology resources.”

Superintendent Alan Bennett said, “In small districts like Naselle-Grays River, we are thankful to have resourceful employees like Mr. Thompson and Mr. Andrea to maximize what we have with outside sources. Although our resources may be small, our resourcefulness isn’t.”