Annual Parkersville Day to ‘make old things new again’

Heading into its third year, the annual Parkersville Day event, held at Parker’s Landing Historic Park in Washougal, is perfecting its formula to make old things new again.

“We really love the basic elements of the event, so we’ll keep those going,” said event organizer Susan Tripp. “But it’s also fun every year to have something new. We have so much history to pull from, so we’re excited about that. Maybe after five or 10 years, we’ll start over, when the kids (who are attending now) are older and have experienced it. But right now, we’ve got a lot of ideas.”

The third annual Parkersville Day event, to be held from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 1, at Parker’s Landing Historic Park in Washougal, will debut two new features — a square-dance demonstration by the Vancouver-based Happy Hoppers club, and Good Humor ice cream served from an old-fashioned pushcart, complete with an umbrella.

The event will also feature a variety of returning activities, including storytelling; historic games; park tours; a student art contest; and a performance from the Washougal High band.

“The history is so interesting, and it’s really so important, not only to the state of Washington, but to the folks that live in Washougal and Camas,” Tripp said. “The event is designed to bring attention to the park, which is lovely on its own. But we really want to engage people in the history. Local history is designed to inspire you as well as help you to learn from past experience how to make the best of your experience today.”

Sam Robinson, the vice president of the Chinook Indian Nation Tribal Council, will bring his 31-foot canoe, ‘Itsxutis’ (Black Bear), to the event for a second consecutive year. He’ll also open the event with a traditional Chinook blessing song.

“His criteria for bringing the canoe was to have 12 able-bodied volunteers prepared to carry it from its trailer to the grass,” Tripp said. “It is quite a feat to move this vessel. Getting to have the opportunity to see and touch it, and hearing Sam’s talks, is a highlight of the event for all ages.”

Two of Parkersville Day’s main features — the storytelling and the art contest — feature different aspects of local history each year. This year, the art contest will feature works that display Columbia River travel history, and the storytelling will spotlight the discovery of the Columbia River and the ensuing impacts to the development of the Washougal-Parkersville area.

The art contest entries will be judged in elementary, middle school, and high school age groups, with ribbons and prizes being awarded to first-, second-, and third-place winners in each age group. Awards include an artist’s wood carved boat treasure box for coins, jewelry, and other small valuables, and artwork ribbons.

“There are so many different types of crafts the students can explore, including canoes, buffalo skin bull boats, plank bateaus, pirogues, late 1700s schooners, mid-1800s ferries, and late-1800s to early-1900s paddle boats and steamboats,” Tripp said. “I’m excited to see what they come up with.”

The history of river travel will also be incorporated into the storytellers’ tales. After discovering the Columbia River in 1792, American captain Robert Gray named it after his schooner, the Columbia Rediviva. A few months after hearing Gray brag about his finding and showing his map to other traders at a trading post, British captain George Vancouver sent a naval officer, William Broughton, to explore the river and claim it for the British.

“This is relevant because when David Parker arrived in 1844, the British were at Fort Vancouver,” Tripp said. “They arrived and made the fort the headquarters for the Hudson’s Bay Company, which was built in 1824-25. The key factor was that all the settlers that arrived at the fort, who were basically sick and starving to death, were given supplies and taken care of by (trader, doctor, and fort manager) John McLoughlin, and then sent south of the river.

“But during that time, David Parker settled north on the north bank, and not only did he settle, he built a dock and started a ferry service, which allowed commerce to happen and things to grow. We’ll talk a little bit about the British and the American conflict when David Parker arrived, because it’s relevant. But then we will cycle back to this last grand event that took place in 1880, which was also the year that Washougal became a town. And it was a turning point, because when Washougal became a town and a new dock was built, Parkersvillle began to decline.”

For more information about the event and Parker’s Landing Historical Park, email ParkersLandingHistoricalPark@gmail.com or visit facebook.com/ParkersLandingHistoricalPark.