etc. - June 10, 2010

Colfax Rotary club

will mark 60th year

Members of Colfax Rotary will mark the 60th anniversary of the club Saturday with a tournament at Colfax Golf Club and banquet Saturday at Hill Ray Plaza for members, former members and guests. The club now has 37 members with Jon Davis president this year.

Among guests Saturday will be Phil Faris, retired superior court judge who now makes his home in Spokane. Judge Faris, last surviving charter member of the club, was a new Colfax attorney when the club was formed May 11, 1950.

At that time the new Rotary Club was viewed as an upstart to the long-established Colfax Kiwanis Club.

Don Schmick of Colfax joined the club a few months after it started. He will be unable to attend because he will be attending the graduation of a granddaughter in Corvallis, Ore.

Exchange students Ellen Shepard of Perth, Australia, and Maxi Ekert of Stuttgart, Germany, will also be present. They join a long list of high school students who have been hosted by club members over the years. The club expects to host a student from Thailand next year.

A former exchange student, Maaike Weesjes of the Netherlands, came back to visit this spring and had a party at the home of Christine and Don Kackman. A student here in 2002-3, she has now completed medical school in the Netherlands.

Sponsorship of exchange students, group study exchange members and Rotary Foundation, which undertakes international projects, have also been part of club activities along with local projects such as scholarships for Colfax graduates and the Henry Rotary Little League Field.

Mayor Norma Becker has proclaimed this week Colfax Rotary Club week in honor of the club’s activities.

39th dance recital

set at CHS Friday

Sixty dancers will present the 39th annual recital for Nancy School of Dance Friday at 7 p.m. in Colfax High School auditorium. The recital will include dancers from four years old through high school doing tap, jazz, hip-hop and tumbling numbers, according to Director Nancy Stanard.

CHS valedictorian Heather Harder, who has taken tap lessons since she was four, will give a farewell performance with a rendition of the Gene Kelly’s performance in “Singing in the Rain” and a 1940s tap number to “Zoot Suit Riot.”

Another feature number will be 10 four-year-olds in “Boom Boom, Ain’t It Great to Be Crazy.”

Admission will be $4, and tickets will be available at the door. Proceeds are used to pay rental and performance costs.

‘Little Princess’ set

for RTOP stage

Regional Theatre of the Palouse’s Performing Arts School will present “A Little Princess” Saturday, June 12 with performances at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the theater in Pullman. The show is part of RTOP’s family weekend series.

The classic story is brought to life by nine students in RTOP’s Performing Arts School taught by Joseph Monohon, who is also directing the show. This is Monohon’s third production as teacher and director for the Performing Arts School.

Tickets are $3 for children and $5 for adults. They can be purchased in advance and will also be available at the door.

Writer of B-17 book

plans Fairfield stop

Claudia Buob-Hagen of Modesto will return to Fairfield for Flag Day festivities June 12 with copies of her book, “The Night A Fortress Fell To Fairfield.” She officially presented the book to Fairfield residents and the Southeast Spokane County Historical Society last July.

Many local Fairfield, Rockford and Mt. Hope residents recalled the night in 1943 a blizzard caused the crash of a B-17 bomber on the Buob farm. Gathering those personal recollections, family memories and historical documents of the crash, she wrote a re-enactment of the incident and included many facts about the B-17 as well as views of life during World War II.

A “meet the author” vendor space will be set up in the Fairfield Park.

Genealogical Society picnic

slated

Whitman County Genealogical Society’s annual potluck picnic will be at the McCroskey House in Garfield, Saturday, June 12. Participants are asked to bring a dish to share, table service and beverage.

The McCroskey House is listed on the National Historical Register. Donna Gwinn, owner, has offered to give tours of her house which she also operates as a Bed and Breakfast.

County Commissioner Greg Partch, a history/genealogy buff, will give a brief overview of Garfield area history.

The McCroskey family came to the Palouse from Tennessee following the Civil War. Robert and Blanche McCroskey raised five children in the house. Robert acquired 2,000 acres of farmland north of the house. He served on WSU Board of Regents and as a state senator in Olympia. Later in life he lost his vision and had a rope installed from the house to downtown Garfield so he could walk to town unassisted.

The house was built in 1898 after the original house on the site, built around 1880, burned down. The present house is based on a design by architect Julius Zittel, who also designed the Hanford Castle in Oakesdale, administration buildings at Gonzaga University, and many churches in Spokane.

McCroskey House was built primarily using coast fir shipped from western Washington. There are six entrances in the house. Other features include a root cellar, a separate bunk house, and the infamous naked cherubs on the dining room ceiling.

For more information contact Sue Kreikemeier at Garfield.

Marimba Band at Dahmen Barn

Sesitshaya Marimba Band will perform at Dahmen Barn in Uniontown Saturday, June 12, at 7 p.m. The concert will be outdoors if weather permits.

The band plays traditional and contemporary songs from Sub-Saharan Africa and shares the lively rhythmic sounds of the sonorous Kwanongoma marimbas of Zimbabwe. Built in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, the marimbas produce the full earthy sound that characterizes the music and are the only Kwanongomas in the region.

Admission will be $8 at the door.

Winona Day set for June 12

Winona Day will be Saturday, June 12, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Endicott School Cafeteria. There will be a discussion on the future of the event. Floyd and Bertie Honn unable to host the event due to personal reasons.