Hoptoberfest in October

Honoring Octoberfest, the two week beer festival in Munich, Germany, the East County Rotary Club is sponsoring Hoptoberfest 2012 .  This festival is featuring craft brews from Dick's, Fish Tale, Manny's, Mac & Jack's and many more.

Ocean Shores Quinault Beach Resort and Casino is hosting Hoptoberfest on Saturday October 20th from Noon to 10pm.  Stop by anytime during the festival to sample seasonal craft beers, food and hear live entertainment provided by Jackie Mitchell and Humptulips. 

The Mary Hill and Nicole's Red wineries will be represented as well.

Tickets will be available at the door as well as online at hoptoberfest.org.

Mardi Gras Night in Ocean Shores

When you hear of a Mardi Gras Night you know you are in for a treat and a fun-filled party.  Mardi Gras has a rich history that some say began in the US when the French explorers celebrated the holiday in New Orleans in 1699.  

If you do not own a time traveling machine, and cannot go back to this first Mardi Gras, there is an alternative. 

Saturday night, October 20 at 5:30, travel out to the Ocean Shores Convention Center to celebrate Mardi Gras Night.  Hosted by the Ocean Shores/North Beach Chamber of Commerce, Mardi Gras Night has all the trimmings of a celebration not to be missed. 

Tickets are on sale at the Chamber main office for $35, and all proceeds are going to help support the chamber and the work it does for our beach communities. 

Included in the evening festivities will be a live auction with local radio personality Luceman and weekend travel packages will also be available for bidding.

Enjoy delicious Creole and Cajun food including jalapeno corn bread, blackened salmon, and sweet potato souffle, while you dance with the Ocean Shores Pirates to Zydeco music from Charlie Baer's collection.  At the conclusion of the evening, the Business of the Year award will be bestowed on one of the monthly winners throughout the year.

10th annual Mushroom Festival

Webster dictionary defines a mushroom as

"an enlarged complex above ground fleshy fruiting body of a fungus ...

that consists typically of a stem bearing a pileus; especially : one that is edible". 

Sound yummy? 

To a mushroom enthusiast it sounds like the amazing Mushroom Festival at Lake Quinault Lodge

happening this weekend October 19-21. 

This yearly event is in its 10th year,

 and is packed full of events all weekend long that will make any fungi lover rejoice.

Beginning with a  welcome reception that includes a wine and cheese social to mix and mingle,

guests of the mushroom convention can enjoy chainsaw sculptures in the shape of mushrooms

 made by Jeff Coleman, and lectures from Dr. Steven Trudell and Heather Risher.

Saturday is the day for guided tours to forage, identify and collect native mushrooms including; chanterells, oysters, king boletus and chicken of the woods.

 

Demonstrations are happening all weekend, with cooking tips and recipes, a grow your own edible mushrooms class and lectures on the types of mushrooms that you can find here in the PNW.

Saturday ends with fungi-bingo

and all weekend long vendors will be peddling their mushroom goods.

Schedule of events Here.  Official website Here.

Debut Concert Comes to 7th Street

You have heard whisperings, it is showing up on your Facebook feed and you love the name of the band.  Now here we are to give you all the up close and personal information you need to be at the right spot on the 20th of October.

A live recorded Debut Concert at 7th Street Theater for Roy Reinertsen and The Oarsmen at 7 p.m. is where you need to be this Saturday night.  If you need more convincing check out these videos here, and here!

Roy Reinertsen is a Bluesy-Folksy-Country singer who also happens to play an amazing acoustic guitar.  Born near Pullman, Wa, Roy grew up playing in the school band, however it wasn't until High School that Roy picked up a guitar and the rest was history.  Those first guitar chords he learned because of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, but Roy is also inspired by the songs of Woody Guthrie, Bukka White, Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, and Bob Dylan as well as by the places he has lived and traveled though over the years. He has lived all over the pacific northwest including Portland, Seattle and Aberdeen, but traveled extensively through Europe, Canada and Korea.  Roy and the band currently live in Olympia, Roy with his adorable dog Bart.  Roy's day job is a full time nurse at a retirement community in Lacey, but his passion is and will always be music as he plays at local festivals and fairs around Puget Sound, including our own Lake Sylvia Festival in Montesano.

Recorded last year was Roy's first studio Album entitled Roy Reinertsen, and he is hoping that the upcoming debut concert will give him the push he needs to become a full-time mainstream musician.  His songs are one part heartbreak, one part fun and most importantly they tell a story.  What is so unique about this debut concert that began as a Kickstarter campaign is that Roy will not only be performing his solo routine, which consists of songs from his first album, but The Oarsmen will be joining him and playing songs from their upcoming album of the band.

The special guest of the evening is none other than Kelsey Bergey of Bergey Voice Studio. A contralto and voice instructor and a personal friend of GoGo Grays Harbor, you can learn more about her here. She will be lending her amazing voice singing arias, expressive melodies for a solo artist, in Italian, French and English.

Tickets are available at Brown Paper Tickets online and Grays General Store.  Tully's Coffee will be working on promotions and 7th Street Theater is putting on the production.  It is sure to be a wonderful evening, and remember it will be recorded live and the live production will be for sale after the show.  Come out and support local music and musicians while you dance the night away to great live music!

Music Monday: Ballad of Skinny Roy

Winterizing your Home

Being first time homeowners this winter has forced me to think 'like a homeowner' as fall and winter approaches.  This piece of property that I am working to own is something I truly want to take care of so that it will continue to house my family for the next thirty-something years. 

While the rain has started in this morning (and this girl is very happy about it!), there is still plenty of time to prepare you home for the coming months, why not start this weekend?

Gutters/Downspouts

If the thought of cleaning out your gutters conjures up images of cartoony people falling backwards off ladders, you watched alot of Looney Toons as a kid, and think again because it is a relatively simple task that can save you a ton of hassle later on.  Cleaning out your gutters will most definitely stop that annoying drip drip drip noise that happens when it rains and you are trying to sleep but you cant because all you can hear is the rain falling in the clogged gutter. (I have very vivid memories of this from my childhood apparently!)  Clean out the gutters using your hose to spray water down the downspouts to clear away dirt and leaves and general gunk.  Leaf guards on the gutters or extensions on the downspouts can help to direct water away from the foundation, which is a good thing.

Seasonal Equipment
Have you ever stopped to consider that we have season specific equipment to work on our homes?  We do, you certainly don't mow your lawn in the winter, unless of course you live in California.  We don't shovel snow in the summer, unless you live in Alaska!  So drain the gas from your mower, clean and dry your summer garden tools and store in a safe place for winter.  The flip side of this is tuning up snow blowers and sharpening snow shovels and buying sand and de-icer. (Unless of course you believe the world is ending...)

Pipes/Foundation
Plumbing can be a silent terror in a home that can cause extra trouble in the winter when water freezes.  The first thing you should locate is the water main, so that in an emergency you know how to shut off the water to your home.  After you use your hose to clean out your gutters, drain and disconnect from the faucet.  Then, my favorite part of this, use foam covers with zip ties to cover the faucets to insulate and prevent freezing!  Just yesterday my husband and father climbed under our new home to wrap some pipes and put flashing around the vents on the foundation so we are ready for winter.

Seal decking, fences and driveways to prevent mold and cracks.
All woodwork could use some protection before the wind and rain hits so seal it up!

Clean Fireplace or Furnace
Growing up my parents had two types of fireplaces in our home, a pellet stove and a wood burning stove.  This is the first home that I myself have has a fireplace and while it used to be wood it is now propane and making sure both are clean is a top priority.  We just bought our home this year, and while we inspected the chimney to make sure it wasn't going to fall off the roof and wasn't cracked, we have no idea if it has been properly cleaned in the past twenty five years.  If the chimney hasn't been cleaned for a while, call a chimney sweep to remove soot and creosote.
In addition to all the cleaning:

      -Buy firewood or chop wood. Store it in a dry place away from the exterior of your home.
      -Inspect the fireplace damper for proper opening and closing.
      -Check the mortar between bricks and tuckpoint, if necessary.

Happy Winterizing Grays Harbor!

Traditional Salmon Bake

I don't know about the general public here on the harbor, but this writer has never really been in the know about fishing.  Cooking fish however, has recently become quite fun for our family, as the fishermen in my life have been providing lots of material to cook with.  When this fun event crossed my email boasting the title, "Traditional Salmon Bake", I was more than a little intrigued and had to instantly walk my fingers across Google search and do a little digging to find out exactly what a "traditional" salmon bake entailed.  To start with, did you know that there is a specific way to filet the salmon in order to cook it in the traditional style?  It is true!  Check out the image below.

Split your salmon down the back, remove the bones and voila!  A beautiful slab of salmon ready to cook...but not on the grill and not in the oven.   

The coastal Native Americans did not have the modern tools we use today and instead would roast the meat by fire.  They would prop fish between skewers with the belly to the flame and slow roast the filet to savory perfection.

This is how you will find the salmon cooking at the Community Hall at Schafer State Park this Saturday, October 13.  The salmon feed starts at 1 pm and is sponsored by FOSLS, The Friends of Schafer and Lake Sylvia State Park.  Discovery Passes are available at Schafer during the event and attendees are also encouraged to join FOSLS for just $15.  If you decide to join, the $15 buys you a free dinner with your membership.  Non-members are welcome as well and a $7 donation is encouraged.

Salmon and all the 'fixins' will be provided, but potluck additions are also welcome.

               (360) 789-9953  www.TheSchaferStateParkTeam.org