SummerFest Royal Reunion

ROYAL CITY - Behind the scenes, volunteers are working hard to bring SummerFest Royal Reunion, the celebration of 50 years of graduating classes from Royal High School, to a reality.

The first graduating class from Royal was 1965. At least two graduates, LaMar Gilbert and Dave Miller still live in the area.

Louise Anderson has taken on the task of Friday's registration. Registration will take place at the Royal Middle School gymnasium from 4-6 p.m. on Friday, July 10. It's expected to be hectic.

"I'll need some help," Anderson said.

Cara Hoyt, chairperson and member of the RHS class of 1989, took the fall months to post about 3,000 graduates to the Royal City SummerFest Facebook site. The hope was that a friend would tag them, and notification would be complete.

"We didn't know the addresses," said Hoyt, who noted that a 10-week ad was also placed in the Royal Register with hopes that parents or family would notify graduates who have moved from the area.

About 800 additional people have joined the group for notifications. Some classes have a leader who is following up with personal contact.

"We would like more people to step up to that task." Hoyt said. "We really want everyone to have the opportunity to attend."

The Royal School Board voted back in the summer of 2014 to make school district facilities available for Friday evening. The barbecue will be served out of the RHS cafeteria and the Sock Hop with 50 years of songs from the hit parade will be enjoyed on the lawns between the cafeteria and the middle school.

"We know that most people will just want to visit with old friends," Hoyt said.

There will be some fun activities like Name that Tune, a little competition with the limbo stick and a light show, in addition to a fireworks show that will be the largest in Royal City history.

The school has also committed to the use of a school bus on Saturday to do some school tours. Exact times will be published in June.

"We are hoping that Ken Kallenberger will agree to give snippets of Royal City history on the bus ride," Hoyt said.

Kallenberger was the first RHS principal and served for a long time. He has been chosen to be the grand marshal of the grand parade.

Parade Chair Julirae Castleton (class of 1986), is hoping to see some class floats, especially from the 10-, 20-, 30-, 40- and 50-year class reunions.

There are a number of teachers, administrators, coaches, and school support personnel who made a mark on student lives and are expected to attend.

"Dr. Lee Bauer and his family have RSVPed, in addition to others," Hoyt said.

Bauer and his wife were superintendents of Royal and Wahluke respectively. They had three daughters who graduated from RHS.

Castleton is working on updating the www.rcsummerfest.org website and adding an option for purchasing BBQ tickets, memory t-shirts through paypal on the website and for making reservations for the free breakfast on Saturday morning.

"People need to help us and make plans because we don't want to run out of food," Castleton said.

Georgene Ricker of the Royal Golf Course says she received two reservations for RV spots last week for the reunion. The Golf Course is opening a section of grass for overnight camping for a limited number of spaces in addition to their RV camping site.

You may call the golf course for those reservations (346-2052) and also to register for the Saturday night GlowBall Golf Tournament, which is a new event, and also to reserve tee times for the rest of the weekend.

The night of the Glow Ball Tournament, there will be a social evening at the Royal City Community Center at the golf course from 6-8 p.m. There will be visiting, a potluck and music from Slag Callahan and Gavin Rose - easy listening acoustical guitar.

Other options for overnight stay are the MarDon Resort, the O'Sullivan Sportsman Resort, the two State Parks at Wanapum and also O'Sullivan, the Desert Aire Motel, the Cave B accommodations, and other area motels.

Mattawa students attended RHS until 1988 when Wahluke High School opened.

Saturday activities in the Royal City Park are many: Run Royale 5K and 1 mile for the benefit of Linda Hebdon; a quilt exhibition; a pickles, pies, and preserves contest; karaoke contest; mariachi; dancing horses; all day stage entertainment; ping pong drop; vendors and food booths all day; six blowup toys with a $3 armband all day; and a Saturday night band, Conjucto Admiracion, from 6-10 p.m.

Sunday is reserved for individual class get-togethers.