Voodoo Vets’ ‘Thriller’

The Fall City Days pParade is one of the highlights of our year and we once again enjoyed the opportunity to bring our efforts to you, the community in which we live. It’s not only the staff of our businesses that pull this together, also involved were family members, clients of our various businesses and friends of all of these people that help refine our efforts into what you see during the parades.

This year was no different and perhaps even morepeople were involved. The Valley Record labeled us as a “Drill Team,” which got a good laugh. In reality, getting 30 ethnically bland people from all walks of life (veterinary caregivers, engineers, IT folks, architects and so on) to dance with any resemblance to ‘Michael’ was little short of a Herculean task. There were dance lessons at the Center For Dance for a number of weeks in advance and many rehearsals on our street in front of the vet hospital. Then there was the costumes and the makeup, etc. It was all worth it, and it looked like we were having fun for a very good reason.

For anybody who would like to see it, search for “Thriller at Fall City Days” on Youtube, and we may very well perform again at Salmon Days in Issaquah.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the recent death of Michael Jackson. Like him or not, there is no denying his talents and legacy. May he rest in peace.

Eric Greene and the staff, family and friends of Snoqualmie Valley Animal Hospital, Treuting Veterinary Housecalls and 4-Paws Mobile Grooming

Support your seniors

I would like to extend a special thank you to the Ouhl family in Maloney’s Grove that donated the remaining contents of their estate garage sale to the Mount Si Senior Center Thrift Store in North Bend.

I made the suggestion at the end of their sale, and I was in the store today and saw that they donated. Thank you!

I know it is easy to stop at the big blue truck at QFC to donate, as it is always there, and they do a great service for those in need. But I would like to encourage all Snoqualmie Valley neighbors to consider their donations be taken to the senior center’s thrift store. In these tough economic times, 100 percent of the money generated from the thrift store goes to run the senior center. The store is run entirely by volunteers. Let’s help out our local seniors.

If you haven’t been in, come check it out.

Tami Barber

North Bend

Fall City Days a hit

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 evidenced by 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 Anji 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 a 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 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 got 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 heard from the most important critics ­— your kids — on how successful we really were.

Judy Dix

Fall City Days Committee chairwoman