Harrington News

By MARJORIE WOMACH

Since 1988, under Clay Henry until the present under Michael Cronrath, the Harrington eighth grade Washington State history class has taken a historic field trip.

This year many of the eighth grade students, Alex Bruce, Colton Jacobsen, David Kennedy, John Tanke, Robbee Kiefer, Evie Mann, and Amber Smith and sophomore student Brilee Sewall, with teacher Michael Cronrath, chaperone Kelly Tanke and driver Tony Hamilton embarked Tuesday after lunch for Portland where they spent their first night.

Wednesday morning the group went to Fort Vancouver, and then to Olympia to see the Capitol building and finished the day with a visit to the Washington State Historic Museum in Tacoma. In the evening, their entertainment was to view the Mariners' baseball loss to the Anaheim Angels.

They started the second day at Woodland Park Zoo, followed by the Pacific Science Center and an IMAX movie. The day was rounded out by the Seattle Aquarium. The Seattle Aquarium, which opened in 1977, is the ninth largest aquarium in the U.S. by attendance. The species collection features six major exhibits: Window on Washington Waters, Life on the Edge, Pacific Coral Reef, Puget Sound Fish and Dome Room, Puget Sound Orcas Family Activity Center and Marine Mammals. Friday morning the group toured the Boeing Museum of Flight, after which the group began their trip home. Little was viewed on their return trip as exhaustion won out and sleep over-powered all except the driver.

The students were expected tokeep a journal and take photos on their trip and prepare a report after their return. They will then be expected to make a Power Point presentation in class on one of the seven venues.

The school district paid for hotels and transportation and the students paid for their meals and admissions; each was expected to bring spending money for non-essentials.

Their visit to the Rainforest Café at the South Center Mall in Seattle allowed for some shopping time.

Spring Festival Readiness

The Harrington Chamber of Commerce is ready with the vendors established at the Memorial Hall, and music will be provided across the street by Cindy Luiten Smith from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on April 26. There will be benches available for seating near the music. Yard sales will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Maps are available to make locating the yards easier.

This is the third annual Classic Car Show promoted by Allan Barth of the Studebaker Garage from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., who intends to hold a barbeque at the north entrance to his shop. Shirts will also be on sale at this event. Prizes and trophies will be awarded, and winners must be present to receive prizes. The automobiles in the Studebaker garage are a different batch from the previous show, each in varying stages of restoration, many totally complete.

Pete Nelson's draft horses will be plowing Mark Kramer's field at the corner of Highway 28 and Bethel Road, west of town, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. This is an exciting opportunity to view the ways of days gone by.

The Harrington Golf and Country Club is open for golfing; an Open House dinner with reservations will be served from 6 to10 p.m. on the April 26 featuring prime rib, a potato bar and crab. If you don't have a reservation, you might go hungry.

The Harrington Opera House Society will also sponsor artisans in the art room and continue the rummage fundraiser for the much needed elevator.

Stitchin' Chicks

One of the features of Harrington's 2014 Spring Festival is a quilt show being held upstairs in the historic Harrington Opera House April 26, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. It will be hosted by the Stitchin' Chicks – "chicks" who get together on an irregular basis to have fun stitching. The Chicks range in age from stewing hens to newly hatched! Everyone is invited to come and see the collection of both new and vintage quilts, as well as a variety of other quilted and hand stitched projects.

This will be the third quilt show held in the Harrington Opera House during Harrington's Spring Festival. The first one was when the Spring Festival committee asked the Chicks if they would be interested in hosting such an event. Because they felt strongly about supporting the community endeavors, they agreed. For the past three years the Chicks have gotten together and pieced quilt tops that were finished for raffle quilts. All of the proceeds have been donated to help with various projects: new rest rooms at the Harrington city park, the opera house elevator fund, and this year the proceeds will be donated to help purchase picnic tables for the Harrington City Park. Two quilts will be raffled, and the tickets are $1 each.

The Chicks hope that you will support the Harrington Spring Festival and come visit them at the quilt show in the opera house.