Each year, I am continually amazed at how we pull off this one-day “extravaganza.” This is my chance to thank our committee members and community.

Our theme for 2009 was “Our Community Work.” The theme is clearly evident from the volunteers for this event and countless other volunteer-run programs in our town.

Fall City Elementary School was teeming with families enjoying the carnival, dunking their favorite teachers and playing in the 3-on-3 basketball tournament to support middle school sports.

The Arts Council brought us wonderful performances through 4 Culture grants. We plan on having a reader board next year so everyone knows when and where they are performing.

Kirk Dunckel and his crew worked hard on another successful Fun Run. The parade was awesome; thank you to Libby, Jane and Laurie Edwards. A special thank you to Angie for jumping in and getting the kiddies ready for their parade. I know Grand Marshal Brenda Carignan and her judges — Ruth Pickering, Richard Tebrueggen, Trese Rand, Barb Lewis and Paula Mathysse — were thrilled by the many performances. Thank you to Gene Stevens for graciously delivering and picking up his trailer for our use as parade stage and Kurt Roddewig from Twin Rivers Golf Course for loaning us their Gator.

We sold a lot of merchandise this year with Abigail Shaw’s design; thanks go to Melody and Carmen for manning our booth. There are still more shirts, mugs, and hats available at the Hauglie’s Insurance Agency.

The Duck Derby was a great success thanks to Jane, Laurie and Kevin Haughlie, Zanda, Elaine and their crew, and a special shout out goes to Amy Jones, who single-handedly collected all the donations and rocketed our ticket sales this year. Don Hastings and his volunteer deputies did an awesome job, keeping us safe and secure all day. Thanks to Jack and Judy Kelly, I get to drive around town to check on all the events throughout the day.

Cheri and Susan are indispensable as my vendor coordinators. Thank you to El Caporal and the Fall City Library for making your facilities available for our food vendors. Vanessa, Steve, Bill, Joe and Lee have the staging down to a science, and hopefully King County will grant us the permit to pour a permanent stage in the park by next year.

John and our road crew worked hard setting up the detours and packing it all away again for next year. Sherri Zucker and Troop 425 kept us clean and “green” this year too. Gordon Construction donated their dumpster for the day. Nancy White and her “pit” crew kept the watermelon contest flowing and helped run the food pantry booth, collecting donations all day. Thank you to the Farmhouse Market for supplying the watermelons.

Of course, last but not least is a big thank you to all of you in our community who make this event so successful and such an enjoyable experience for everyone. Monday morning, when I got back on the playground as “Judy the duty,” I hear from the most important critics (your kids) on how successful we really were.

Judy Dix

Fall City Days Committee chairwoman