George toasts Presidents Day

GEORGE — The town of George turned out to honor the past and look ahead to the future.

The town's traditional Presidents Day celebration was a little busier Monday than in past years, as coordinators combined a number of events, including the George schools' Winter Carnival fund-raiser, complete with duck drop, giant presidential birthday cake and George Community Hall's annual fund-raiser benefit dinner and a concert.

"We're getting good community support, really amazing attendance, so I'm thrilled," said Debby Kooy, facility and events manager for the community hall.

The combination of different events made preparation much more complicated, Kooy said, butshe felt things were moving smoothly enough to consider doing it again next year.

"We can do a mass effort for just the benefit dinner, a mass effort for Presidents Day and another massive effort for the coffeehouse, or we can just do one day and exhaust ourselves thoroughly," she said. "I think everybody that's helping is pretty positive about the idea of continuing it."

Members of the George community and the Quincy Rotary Club stood outside in the wind for a few moments at 2 p.m. to mark the dedication of the new Rotary Pie Pavilion, a new structure built by the rotary to house the town's annual giant cherry pie during its Independence Day and anniversary celebration.

Rotary president Mike Kniep explained he felt a need for the structure, and asked how his club could help.

"The club was very supportive, it's our first project in George and we hope the community can enjoy it for years to come," he said. "It's ultimately going to have water, electricity and lights, and it will be used for evening functions, early evening picnics, family gatherings. It's open to the community for general use throughout the year."

Quincy resident Jessica Williams usually brings children from her mother's day care to celebrate the holiday. This year, she had Joeselyn, 7; Gisselle, 4; Corina, 7 and Mireya, 10, in tow.

"We like it because they get to come and play games," she said. "They really enjoy the cake, because it's big."

George resident Sam Krautscheid said he's been in attendance at the Presidents Day celebration since he was in second grade — this year, he brought his daughter and son, Anika, 6, and JJ, 3.

"Come out, cut the cake and we've always helped with it," he said, noting his mother and sister were down helping out in the kitchen. "It's about community. There's some silent auction stuff to raise some money here for the hall. Hopefully we can do some improvement so it's more handicap-accessible."

This was longtime Soap Lake resident Dorothy Downing's first time at the event.

"I think it's a wonderful feeling of a community that works together to do this kind of thing, and the participation I think is quite good," Downing said.

Goldie Nolan lives 4 miles north of George, and has been coming to the celebration ever since the town was dedicated. She spoke of knowing town founder Charlie Brown and living in town for 54 years.

"We meet a lot of our friends here," she said. "I've helped bake and frost the cake, and bake the cherry pies. I think the town would die if it didn't have some celebrations like that, and I love the Presidents Day. It's very important."