The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

By now, it is obvious that the recent Cycle Oregon event in our community was a resound­ing success. It took the whole community to accomplish this. It my intent with this letter to single out some of the individu­als who agreed to coordinate various parts of that event and make it the success it was. Deputy City Clerk Kelly Steinhoff was the community manager and responsible for the overall event. The site co­ordinator

was Dr. Carol Clarke with the responsibility of table and chair setup and takedown, security at the wine tasting and beer garden and the recycling of everything at the fairgrounds. Roseann Groom and her crew assumed the duties of bag­gage coordinator. Larry Johnson and Glynn Davis agreed to be the food coordinators. Larry also became an overnight celebrity with the cyclers when they dis­covered

that he was responsible for carving the bicycle into the hillside off Middle Waitsburg Road. Everyone agreed Mike Ferrians did an outstanding job as entertainment coordinator.

One of the biggest jobs of the entire event - that of hospitality and activity coordinator - was handled by Deanne Johnson. She coordinated the vendors and "Wait's Market" at the park, the Abbey farm visitation, the hot air balloon, the flight over the valley and the "Wheat, Wine and Wheels" activities overall.

The finish line and welcom­ing was coordinated by Carrie Graham, the PEO assisted with activities and centerpieces, while the Odako Club was responsible for the community information booth. Many more community members assumed responsibility for other essential parts of the event and are too numerous for this letter. As the mayor of Waitsburg, and from the bottom of my heart, I thank each and every one of you for a job well done. Thanks for your outstanding efforts! Three thousand people from 47 states and six countries now know exactly who we are and where Waitsburg, Washing­ton, is located.

We are so proud of our com­munity and the friendliness of our citizens. We truly are a city of exceptional people willing to share or finestyle of living.

Way to go, Waitsburg!

Walt Gobel,Mayor of Waitsburg