Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The second edition of the Oakesdale’s Old Mill Days will be Saturday with events scheduled from 7 a.m to midnight.
Featured will be area bands, headlined by a three-hour set from The Senders, a parade, dunk tank, car and tractor show, egg toss sponsored by AmericaWest Bank, a beer garden with door prizes and the Masons’ ice cream wagon.
It starts with a pancake breakfast at Oakesdale Fire Station and closes at midnight.
Three new attractions are tours of Hanford Castle from 3 to 5 p.m., bingo at the bus garage all day and a kids triathlon at 9:30 a.m. The McCoy Valley Museum is open for tours. All proceeds will benefit the museum, which will also hold a silent auction through the day with items such as WSU football tickets.
Grand Marshals Ruth and Verne Pittmann will lead the parade at 11 a.m. with participants lining up a half hour earlier at the Oakesdale Presbyterian Church.
The food headquarters will be the old gas station across from Crossett’s Market, where a new offering of beer brats will be added to the menu of barbecue hamburgers, hot dogs, pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad and chips.
The brats will simmer first for 15 minutes in a mixture of beer, mustard seeds, coriander and caraway seeds, onions, garlic and fresh ginger.
“Something that’s tasty but inexpensive,” said food co-chairman Gail Parsons, of the yet-undecided kind of beer to be used.
The pulled pork and potato salad will be supplied by the Feeding Station from Tekoa.
Entry fee for the five-mile fun run and kids’ triathlon will be $10 with all participants receiving a t-shirt.
The triathlon will be untimed with distances adjusted for the youngest kids to the oldest (age 15). It starts with a swim in the pool, from one side to the other for 5-year-olds up to six lengths for older kids, then culminates in a bike ride (up to three miles) and short run (up to 1.5 miles).
“The distances are geared to introduce the younger kids to a triathlon,” said volunteer Cap Perry. “It’s not meant to be grueling.”
Old Mill Days was revived in 2013 after a five-year hiatus. The event also marked the 125th anniversary of Oakesdale’s founding, along with the 25th anniversary of the Oakesdale Historical Society.
“We had a lot of people show up last year and we’re hoping for more,” said Jake Dingman, the event’s chairman.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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