Indianola Days 2012 happening July 21 & 22 plus Stunt Night!
Imagine this beach filled with LOTs of people, dogs and sandcastles.
I have a feeling there are people out on the Internets wondering when Indianola Days is this year. Now you know, it’s July 21 & 22 (with Stunt Night on Fri. July 20). Saturday is the sand castle contest (no professionals please) and the famous salmon bake dinner. Sunday brings the oh-so-cute pet parade, and a shiny car show (I think — I’m not the official source of details). This is a local affair, a semi-secret festival of fun for Indianola residents and their friends and family. But they don’t check your identity papers, so if you’re an out-of-towner you may be able to sneak in. If you’re lucky you’ll be there, and the sun will be shining on us all.
Not to be missed is Stunt Night on July 20, it’s most charming talent show you’ll ever see. Many were disappointed that Stunt Night didn’t happen last year, so surely there is pent up Indianola talent waiting to show itself. Details about participating in Stunt Night, volunteering for Indianola Days and getting tickets for the Salmon dinner are in the Breeze (mailed to IBIC members) and posted on the three Indianola bulletin boards (that’s actual bulletin boards, not the new fashioned electronic bulletin boards). If you are an Indianola resident and inspired to show your talent at Stunt Night email stuntnight@98342.org By the way Indianola Days is organized/sponsored by the IBIC (Indianola Beach Improvement Club). Hooray for the IBIC and all it’s dedicated volunteers!
May 5th brought us a Super Moon. That’s when the moon is full and comes in close proximity to Earth. It looks bigger and brighter than usual. That evening I went with a friend to the beach to watch it rise. It was a beautiful clear evening and the Moon was spectacular. Along with the big full moon came very low tides that day and the next several. The minus tides were conveniently timed around noon and the weather was warm and sunny, perfect for folks to go explore the tidal zone. Crabs, moon snails, sea stars, tube worms, anemones were exposed and wishing it wasn’t so warm and sunny. But for the humans it was perfect beach combing conditions. The Indianola dock was completely exposed.
It’s the almost the end of March and it’s 43 degrees. We’ve had rain 22 days this month. (According to our very nearby Indianola weather station). Oh we’ve had a few “sun breaks”, but I’m ready for the real thing. The bees are anxious to get to work, and all this wind and rain is cramping their style. Mine too.
It’s high season in Indianola, you wouldn’t know it by the weather. But hey we can’t sit around waiting for good weather, it’s summertime now, gray, rain or shine. Indianola Days is this weekend. There’s lots happening Saturday and Sunday. Sadly no Stunt Night was scheduled, maybe next year. It’s hard to find info online about our charming Summer celebration, so I thought I’d post the schedule of events here.
Sand Castle Contest — low-tide is minus 2.1 ft at around 11 am, judging is at Noon. This isn’t one of those fancy sculpture contests with trucked in fancy sand and pros doing the designing. This is locals having a blast on the beach, coming up with crazy ideas and getting down and dirty building their creations. So join in the fun or come on down and take a tour. It lasts until high tide washes it away.
Steve Kikuchi Fun Run & Walk — 9:15 sign-up, 9:30 kids begin 1/4 mile run, 9:45 adults begin 2 mile run.
Where is Indianola? OMG you don’t know?
Here’s a link to Indianola, WA on Google Maps.
Beach and pet parade photos above are from 2010 Indianola Days (it was warm and sunny!). All info is from the July 2011 issue of the Indianola Breeze.
The honeybee hives are close by and when it’s warm enough for them to leave the hive I can usually find a few feeding on the pretty pink blossoms of red-flowering currant, Ribes sanguineum. I dug out our old Nikon Coolpix 4500 and captured this macro shot. I love that camera, it’s slow, but is great for capturing bugs on flowers. Naturally the hummingbirds love this plant as well. About two years ago I planted three bare root sticks of red flowering currant I got from the Kitsap Conservation district annual native plant sale. Actually I planted ten sticks around the property. At the time they did not look very impressive. But the three nearest my studio have thrived, become monsters actually, this year the were covered in blossoms and are pushing 6 ft tall.
Posted in: gardening, native plants, wildlife.
We spent three awesome days on the Washington coast. Winter sunshine is a rare commodity on the coast, but we lucked out. Temperatures were below freezing. Each morning the beach rocks and driftwood had a frosty coating. We just bundled up and headed out, exploring Oil City and the Hoh Rainforest in the Olympic National Park. We stayed in La Push at the very comfy Quileute Oceanside Resort. It was good to see how the small, remote communities of Forks and La Push have thrived with the attention from Twilight fans. Winter is definitely not peak season, but many folks were around because of the holidays.
It’s always humbling to be around big nature: the ocean, huge trees, waves, rocks and rivers. I highly recommend a wintertime visit, just don’t forget your woolies.
View through a huge spruce drift log root ball.
Hoh Rain Forest moss in the sun!