April 7 First Friday to honor Camas history

From prunes to paper, this month’s First Friday event in downtown Camas will celebrate everything that went into making Camas what it is today.

The Downtown Camas Association’s history themed First Friday off at 4 p.m. Friday, April 7, with a chance to sit down with Camas historian Virginia Warren, have a complimentary tea and listen to Warren tell stories about the Camas of yesteryear. The “Tea With Virginia” event will take place from 4 to 5 p.m. at Caffe Piccolo, 400 N.E. Fourth Ave.

The First Friday event coincides with the Camas Public Library’s 100th anniversary celebration. The Second Story Gallery, located on the second floor of the library (625 N.E. Fourth Ave.) is showcasing its two-month “A Century in the Books” history display through the end of April and will host a gallery reception from 5 to 8 p.m. during the First Friday festivities. Visitors will be able to take a walk through the library’s history — from its establishment on April 4, 1923, when the library was a collection off 150 books inside Thayer’s drugstore, to the first storytime in January 1948, the first online card catalog in 1992, and the grand opening of the renovated library in May 2003.

To honor the library’s milestone, the First Friday event’s passport activity — which gives visitors a chance to win prize baskets — will be a “Guess About Camas” trivia game focused on the history of the Camas Public Library. Participating businesses will have the questions (and answers) for this trivia game and visitors can pick up and drop off their “Guess About Camas” passports at the Fuel Medical Group building, located at 314 N.E. Birch St. Passport participants will be entered in a drawing for prize baskets donated by local merchants.

First Friday visitors who want to see Camas history up close can join in a history walking tour, led by Clark County Historical Museum Director Brad Richardson. The walking tour begins at 6 p.m. Friday, inside the Fuel Medical Group lobby.

Other history themed activities planned for the “Spring into History” First Friday include a chance to make paper at the Georgia-Pacific paper mill’s interpretive lobby at 401 N.E. Adams St.; a history “game course” featuring a GP toilet paper toss, Camas cornhole, a history-themed plinko game and the “Camas prune drop,” a game that honors the prune-producing history of Camas’ Prune Hill neighborhood. Visitors should also keep an eye out for paper dresses and outfits — a nod to Camas’ papermaking history – created by local artists.

Other First Friday activities include a ribbon-cutting at 5 p.m. for The Pink Room Boutique, located at 233 N.E. Sixth Ave.; crafts and “toilet paper pong” for children at LiveWell Camas (417 N.E. Birch St.); after-hours shopping and dining throughout the downtown area; and art gallery receptions at 411 Art Collective (inside Lara Blair Photography at 411 N.E. Dallas St.), Attic Gallery (421 N.E. Cedar St.), Camas Gallery (408 N.E. Fourth Ave.), Pike Art Gallery (302 N.E. Sixth Ave.) and Second Story Gallery (inside the Camas Public Library at 625 N.E. Fourth Ave.).

Library continues ‘Century in the Books’ celebration

Camas Public Library staff have planned activities throughout 2023 to celebrate the library’s 100th anniversary, including an actual birthday celebration that took place earlier this week, on Tuesday, April 4, and featured live music and dancing.

Upcoming events to celebrate the library’s birthday include:

• The “Memory Library,” which is collecting stories about the Camas community. The library will ask a new question each month and people of all ages are encouraged to record their answers at the physical “Memory Library” booth inside the Camas library’s Fourth Avenue lobby, or to record their stories from home using a computer. For more information, visit cityofcamas.us/library/page/memory-library;
• Virtual Trivia Night, Centennial Edition, set for 7 p.m. Saturday, April 8, will focus on the library’s 100-year history and is open to all ages. For more information, visit cityofcamas.us/library/page/virtual-trivia-night-centennial-edition;
• A “100th day” celebration for children in grades kindergarten through fifth grade will take place on the 100th day of 2023, at 4:30 p.m. Monday, April 10, inside the library’s second-floor meeting rooms;
• Cook the Book, set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, in the library’s Meeting Room B, is for adults who want to try their hand making recipes from a cookbook. The April “Cook the Book” event will feature recipes from the 1920s to honor the library’s founding in 1923;
• The Forgotten Front: Bradley Richardson, the executive director of the Clark County Historical Museum, will present research from his doctoral dissertation, “The Forgotten Front: Gender, Labor, and Politics in Camas, Washington, and the Northwest Paper Industry, 1913-1918” and will talk about “the forgotten mayor of Camas” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 26, inside the library’s second-floor meetings rooms; and
• History Speaks: “Will the 2020s Roar Like the 1920s?” At 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 19, in the library’s second-floor meeting rooms, historian William Woodward will talk about the lessons we can learn from the 1920s and discuss some of the similarities between the 1920s and the modern-day ’20s.