Buy a Birdhouse - Put a Bell Back in the Tower!

2014 marks the 120th Anniversary of Redmen Hall.  The school was dedicated at a picnic on July 4, 1894.  To commemorate this event and to raise funds for a new bell in the bell tower, Redmen Hall is offering limited editions of hand-painted craft birdhouses for a minimum $10.00 sponsorship.  Help bring the "ring" back to Skamokawa!  Available at the Wahkiakum County Fair on Friday and Saturday and at Redmen Hall.

Final Weekend of Legacy of the Columbia River Fisheries Exhibit!

The last day to view the "Legacy of the Columbia River Fisheries" exhibit is Sunday, August 10.  After that, the exhibit will be traveling to WSU.  Along with the award-winning exhibit, artifacts from local collections are on display.  Don't miss out!  Visit Redmen Hall this weekend!

SAVE THE DATE! 2014 Annual Wine Tasting and Auction!

Our Annual Wine Tasting and Auction event will be held Saturday, September 13, 2014 from 6:30-10:00pm!  Tickets will go on sale next week at Redmen Hall, Bank of the Pacific, Skamokawa Resort Store, and Elochoman Marina.  Presale ticket prices are $25/couple and $15/single.  If purchased at the door, prices will be $30/couple and $20/single. 

This year, we will be offering rides on the Wahkiakum Trolley from Elochoman Marina (5:30pm) and Vista Park (6:00pm).  Round-trip tickets are $5.00.  Seating is limited, so get your tickets right away!

This is a can't-miss-it event!!!

Legacy of the Columbia River Fishery Exhibit Now Open!

On June 28th, Redmen Hall reopened with a gala celebration for its 120th Anniversary!  Board Vice President Pam Emery's thoughts on the opening weekend:

"We put the finishing touches on the Net portion of the exhibit just before the door opened, excited to share history of the Columbia River Fisheries.  Goodies, savory treats, punch and coffee greeted each visitor.  There was a steady stream of visitors (30 total) admiring the 14 panels of the “Legacy of the Columbia River Fishery” (mounted by Keith Hoofnagle and Jill Hatier) and a steady crowd to watch fisherman and expert net mender Kent Martin show how to mend a hole in a fishing net.  Precise measurement of mesh size  and handling of the net mending needle are extremely important. Kent said the first nets were linen and the women knitted them. The best linen was from Ireland and Scotland. 

Gary Emery demonstrated how to hang cork on a net and attach a net to a cork  line.  Both Kent and Gary learned the art of fishing, hanging and mending net as teenagers.  In fact, it was Kent who taught Gary! Included in the net history portion of the exhibit were a needle filling machine, different kinds of nets for fishing smelt, blue back, and salmon, various tools of the trade, gaff hook, kerosene running lights, mending needles, a stencil of Peacock Fishing Co. to label boxes, lead molds, and historic ledgers of fishing drift rights, buoy floatation kegs to mark the ends of nets, and several pictures of fishing over the decades. We hope you will plan to attend this “award winning” exhibit on now until August 10th. 

Contributors to the net mending and fishing antiques portion were: Kent Martin, Gary Emery, Gary Bergseng, Fred Ostling, and Greg Prestegard. All from fishing families."

The Legacy of the Columbia River Fishery exhibit will be at the Hall until August 10th.  The demonstration was for opening weekend only.  Come and see this wonderful exhibit before it travels to another location and to shop in the gift shop stocked with the wares of local artisans!

Kent Martin and Gary Emery

Local artifacts

Local artifacts

Local artifacts

Come to the Party! June 28

   "Friends of Skamokawa at Redmen Hall would like to welcome everyone   to our grand re-opening celebration on the weekend of June 28th and   29th. We will be celebrating the completion of our foundation   repairs, and as it turns out, the 120th year birthday of Redmen Hall. 

The Hall was dedicated to the community on the 4th of July in 1894 as the community school for Skamokawa.

Our festivities will  include an exhibit of flags from the history of the Hall, our famous  exhibit by Irene Martin and Keith Hoofnagle - "Legacy of the  Columbia River Fishery", a net-mending demonstration by Kent Martin  and Gary Emery, gill-netters whose families have been associated with  the Hall since its beginning.

 Members of the Martin and Emery families went to the  school in the early days, were members of the Improved Order of  Redmen in the building's next life and were involved in the  restoration of Redmen Hall as the current 'River Life Interpretive  Center'. We will have music and refreshments and the Hall will be  open from 12 noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th. 

We hope to see you all.

                            Friends of Skamokawa Board and Staff

p.s.- the Fisheries Exhibit will continue until August 10th."

Grand Reopening of Redmen Hall June 28!

Redmen Hall will be reopening on Saturday, June 28th from noon to 4pm!  The "Legacy of the Columbia River Fishery" exhibit will be on display, including two new frames and local artifacts.  From 1:30 to 2:30pm, there will also be a net-mending demonstration.  Refreshments will be served!

Redmen Hall will also be open on Sunday, June 29th from noon to 4pm.  The regular schedule will resume on Thursday, July 3rd--open Thursday through Sunday from noon to 4pm--for the rest of the year.

Hope to see you there!

Work Party Saturday, June 14th - 10am to 3pm

We will be moving back into the offices and setting up the Hall on the 14th of June and will be open to the public on the last weekend of June. We need to clean up all of the accumulated dirt and dust and move everything back to normal. There will be a pot luck lunch at noon. Please bring food for 4-5 people and RSVP by phone or email if you can help on that day. 

Thank you for your continued support and patience!  You are all very much appreciated! 

PS  In addition, I am putting together a work party on the 12th and 13th of June to paint the offices.  If you would like to help, please let me know and I will send you more details about that project.