The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Before the last votes for the recent city elections were in, Mayor Walt Gobel and the members of his caucus determined that the coming year would be different from their first.

Waitsburg residents overwhelmingly voted Gobel and the current council back to office, preferring continuity over change. Challengers Bart Baxter and Greg McVey received support from some quarters, but overall, voters decided to give the incumbents another year to continue on their path.

Many of them believe this council has paid attention to the right priorities: fiscal responsibility, building on infrastructure improvement projects began by the previous mayor and council such as levy strengthening, street maintenance and other initiatives that are essential to our quality of life here.

But we want to commend Baxter and McVey for throwing their hats in the ring. Their candidacy showed a welcome willingness to serve the community and contributed to the discussion about what's best for Waitsburg in the coming years.

As we mentioned before in this column, we have been encouraged by both candidates' (Baxter and Gobel) interest in helping promote travel and tourism to our community .

One of the main thrusts of Baxter's vision for Waitsburg was a better use of the Fairgrounds, something Councilman Scott Nettles advocated as well during his first year on the council.

Now, the mayor and the council want to make that a focus for their second year, while continuing to ensure that critical services to residents and the city's fiscal health remain in good shape.

Stimulated in part by all the uncertainty surrounding the future of horse racing, the community has awoken to the potential of the fairgrounds as a site for much more than the annual event everyone hopes will continue next year.

Of course portions of the facility are already used for other activities, such as the annual pig roast (now in its 26th year), the junior livestock show, the rib feed, salmon bake and so on.

And we're not sure where all the Cycle Oregon visitors would have camped last year if it hadn't been for the fairgrounds and all its facilities.

But with the exception of the big cycling tour, the other activities do not really use the facility to the fullest extent possible, and even Cycle Oregon's was different from the uses for which it's most suitable: alternative (non pari-mutuel) horse racing events, rodeos, sheep-dog trials - anything that requires a track or demonstration space in front of the grand stand.

To explore the better and more frequent use of the fairgrounds, Mayor Gobel has proposed the formation of a council/community committee to dedicate time and energy to developing a long-term vision for one of this community's biggest assets in drawing income-generating events and activities to Waitsburg.

One of the changes they are exploring is the removal of the grass in front of the grandstand to allow for demonstration events such as rodeo competitions inside a large corral like the one at the Columbia County fairgrounds.

Western events involving horses would be the most natural starting point for more use of the fairgrounds. With its track, stables and other horse-related facilities, the fairgrounds was made for this purpose.

Equine activities are also in keeping with Waitsburg's proud history of the Days of Real Sport, and it's one of the reasons travelers from all over the region and the big cities on the coast like to come: to get a flavor of a cowboy culture still very much alive in the Touchet Valley.

In short, we strongly encourage this direction and hope local residents will actively participate in the city's "visioning" for the long-term use of the fairgrounds.