Small Town America 4th of July - Clatskanie, Oregon

1. The Patriot, 2. My First Ride, 3. The Log Walk, 4. Whee!!!!, 5. Ribbit..., 6. On the Bandstand, 7. Logging Contest, 8. Magic Carpet Ride

I love small town 4th of July celebrations and our small town just doesn't do it. We have a wonderful fireworks display over the Columbia River, but during the day our town has rolled up the sidewalks and there is not a single thing going on. We've had such a chilly, gray summer that I told Riff I wanted to go in-land somewhere to get a little bit of warmth. We started doing some on-line research of the little towns in the Willamette Valley and came up with a couple of good choices. I remembered Adrienne posting about her town's celebration last year, so contacted her to find out more and came up with a few other possibilites in the valley, but nothing as "small town" as I wanted to get.
Riff suggested that I check Clatskanie, which is in Columbia County just up highway 30 about 30 miles from us. I didn't expect to find anything so was very pleasantly surprised to find out about "Heritage Days". Seems that Clatskanie has a long celebration that started a week or so ago and goes through this 4th of July weekend. Festivities include a parade, a trout derby for the little kids, a logging contest, a petting zoo, a carnival, music on the bandstand and food vendors. Yeah! Just what I was looking for and not far away, but far enough from this crazy cold coastline that it is a good 15 degrees warmer there. We had a wonderful day, a bit of sun and fun and back to Astoria in plenty of time for a nap before the fireworks.

I don't know a whole lot about the town of Clatskanie. We drive through on our way to Portland or points east and on the east edge of town is our favorite coffee stop. They have a really nice, huge city park on the banks of the Clatskanie River which is where all the festivities were held. The kids have driven over several times because Clatskanie has a really nice covered skateboard park that the kids enjoy going to know and then. It is located in the same city park, which has to be several acres in size. Historically wise, Clatskanie was platted in 1884 and is a mill and logging town with a population of around 1500 or so. Another small town that is cute and well-kept for the most part. I hear there is a yarn store that carries locally spun and dyed wool. I must stop in there one day soon...

If you are in our neck of the woods around Independance Day, I highly recommend a lazy day in the park in Clatskanie for the perfect small town celebration.