Rosalia celebrates Battle Days this weekend

ROSALIA — Battle Days is in route again this year with a weekend of fun May 31 and June 1.

Festivities start, Friday, May 31, with dinner provided by the Battle Days Association at 5 p.m. at the Rosalia Park. From 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. there will be free swimming and games at the pool.

Also on Friday, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. live music will be provided by Valente and The Jim Basnight Band.

Saturday, June 1, will start out at 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. with a Scouts Breakfast at the fire station, 607 Whitman Avenue.

The Fun Run will take at 8 a.m., with registration starting at 7 a.m. at the fire station.

The Rosalia Garden Club will host a plant sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the mini park, and the kids’ parade will start at 10:30 a.m. with the theme “Adventure Begins at Your Libary.”

The main parade will take place at 11 a.m., and an egg toss will take place immediately after for all ages.

A ceremony commemorating placement of the monument at Steptoe Battlefield State Park will be hosted by Daughters of the American Revolution.

Activities happening all day during Battle Days include Italian sodas sold by the Rosalia High School Senior Class at the lot by the post office. A 50/50 raffle will take place at the fire station, Mike Day will host his raffle benefiting Tekoa and Rosalia Booster Clubs. Vendors hosting artisan crafts, local food and ice cream will be available.

During the day there will be a dunk tank at the lot next to the post office, 3 Forks Bicycle Repair will have an obstacle course that attendees can bring their bike to and IEBRA Barrel Racers will be at the Rodeo Ground.

At noon, a luncheon will happen at the fire station, a Cajun shrimp boil at the Rose Garage and a beer garden at the mini park.

There will be a free swim at the pool starting at 1 p.m. until 8 p.m., on June 1, and music at 1 p.m. from Valente and The Jim Basnight Band at the mini park, as well as pickle ball.

Also from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. there will be a baked goods bingo. Starting at 1:30 p.m. until 5 p.m., there will be a 3-point shooting contest to play for free to win prizes.

The corn hole tournament will take place from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. at the Veteran’s Memorial Park behind the Texaco. Interested participants can sign up with the game host before 3 p.m. for a cash entry fee.

Rosalia Battle Days Committee Member Mary Widman said that this year’s Grand Marshalls for the main parade will be longtime Rosalia residents John and Penni Barringer.

John Barringer was born, at home on July 9, 1935. “The normal doctor’s fee was $25.00, but the doctor told his parents, Bob and Mary, that if they named their son John Paul, the fee would be reduced to only $15.00, so everyone was happy,” said Widman in a press release. John grew up in Spokane and graduated from North Central High School in 1953, Widman said, John came to Rosalia in 1964 when he married Lois Holling Blank. Lois brought three children to the marriage - Rhonda, Cheryl and Brian.

Widman wrote that John spent two years serving in the army, has worked in construction, owned a clothing and state liquor store, and retired from the U.S. Postal Service. “John has been a vital part of this community for 60 years,” Widman said, “He has volunteered his time and talents to the Lions Club Texas Station, the Rosalia Gun Club and the Rosalia Community Church.”

Penni was born in Colfax on December 25, 1943, to Cliff and Edith Faust DeYoung, Widman wrote. “Her mother always told her that she was her best Christmas present ever,” Widman said, adding that Penni attended her first eight grades of school in Thornton and then attended Rosalia High School, where she graduated in 1962. Penni was married to Terry Claussen and her children are Stacy Claussen and Dru Claussen.

“While working at US Bank in Rosalia, Penni asked John to attend a Christmas party, he said yes and the rest is history. John and Penni were married in Reno on August 5, 1989. Together, they have 12 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren,” Widman said.

According to Widman, over the years, Penni has helped with Battle Days, the Rosalia Garden Club and Gifted Grannies. “She has volunteered for the Lions Club, at church and for school projects,” Widman said.

“Both John and Penni, love living in the small town of Rosalia, where they have great friends and neighbors. Their hope is that everyone in Rosalia takes pride in their little town,” Widman said.

Throughout the day, a living history reenactor will be enacting historical figure Sgt. Edward Ball, said Widman.

“As his first mistake, Sgt. Edward Ball, who, after a long day of desperate Indian fighting, had been tasked with dumping all the whiskey and spirits, and had poured a fair amount into himself. His second mistake was to pass out under a bush on the banks of Pine Creek, only to awaken the next morning, horse-less, without provisions, and over a hundred miles of hostile territory to cover between him and Ft. Walla Walla,” Widman quotes in a press release.

Widman said that Ball would be portrayed by Lyle Gleason, a veteran actor and reenactor with Ft. Walla Walla Museum and the Pacific Northwest Living Historians.

According to Widman, Glason has over 30 years experience, including Medieval, Revolutionary War, Civil War, Mountain Man, and Lewis and Clark portrayals.

“He has spent over three years of concentrated study on the Inland Empire Indian Wars, from the Whitman Massacre of 1847, to the Steptoe Wrights campaigns of 1858,” said Widman.