Waitsburg Parade Day Saturday

WAITSBURG - Proudly bearing the Stars & Stripes behind the Veterans' Color Guard this coming Saturday morning, 12-year-old Emily Adams will do more than spearhead Waitsburg's annual parade. She will help kick off events season in the Touchet Valley.

Waitsburg's nonagenarians Bettie Chase and Jane Butler will not be far behind as the parade's Marshalls this year.

Saturday's Waitsburg Parade day, which will keep visitors busy from breakfast through dinner, will be followed Memorial Day weekend by Dayton Days. And then a summer filled with events will unfold, including All Wheels, the circus, Mule Mania, the Classic Auto Show and Pioneer Fall Festival to name a few.

Emily Adams' sister Beka, who was last year's Days of Real Sport Queen, is this year's Queen for Dayton Days.

The event the younger Adams sister will help kick off this weekend, traditionally known as the Days of Real Sports but renamed this year to reflect the absence of parimutuel horse racing, will have a different flavor than previous years. There will be a lot more to see, taste, hear and enjoy.

Starting with a Lions Club pancake breakfast and a Main Street parade, the day will feature at least 14 vendors at the first Wait's Market since the local farmers market's concept was born during Cycle Oregon at Preston Park last year.

Live music by such local bluegrass bands as the Rezonators and Troublemakers, and by Waitsburgbased singer songwriter Paul Gregutt will emanate from a stage in the park throughout the afternoon and into the early evening.

Around noon, families can enjoy games and activities such as three-legged and sack races, and vie for prizes in a miniature carnival. The Town Hall Association will host a special fundraising dinner starting at 5 p.m.

"We haven't done this combination of events before," said Robbie Johnson, president of the Commercial Club, which is one of several local entities helping organize the Waitsburg Parade.

"We needed something more than just the parade," he said.

That said, the parade itself, which coincides with Armed Forces Day, is the day's cornerstone with at least half of the Waitsburg area's World War II veterans riding in Jay Thomas' mule wagon and cars. It will include a special flyover at 10:09 am by Prescott farmer, county commissioner and pilot Perry Dozier.

Chase, who wasn't quite around for the early 20thcentury Waitsburg horse shows that evolved into the Days of Real Sport ( but almost), said she's honored to be Marshall along with Butler, who is also this year's Pioneer of the Year.

"I got nothing else to do," she joked with characteristic understatement.

Chase was parade Marshall once before in 1998.

Butler is this year's Pioneer of the Year.