Festival, visit by Japanese wrestlers

There are two public events coming up that should be a lot of fun, and both will be lot more fun if you participate.

There will be a Christmas Festival at Hund Memorial Park in Mattawa this Friday, Dec. 18. It will start at 5 p.m. and end about two hours later.

This will be a brand new festival, and everyone in South County is invited. I plan to be there with my camera so that I may splash some of you on the pages of the Sun Tribune.

The Mattawa Police Department and Grant County District No. 8 are the prime movers behind A Mattawa Community Christmas Celebration. According to Police Chief John Turley, the celebration will get under way with a lighted Christmas Parade at 5 p.m.

That will be followed by activities in the park. Those will include a visit by Santa Claus with goodies for the smallest visitors.

Like most new festivals, this one is likely to get off to a slow start, but that needn’t be. If you attend, then the entire community will be there, and the festival will be big.

The other big public event coming up will happen right after New Year’s. A 16-person delegation from Japan will arrive in Royal City the afternoon or early evening of Jan. 4 for a cultural exchange centered around high school wrestling.

The 12 all-stars from Japan will wrestle 12 all-stars from the Columbia Basin the evening of Jan. 6. Other than that, the Japanese boys and their leaders will be living with local families and touring the area to learn about America from the time they arrive to the time they leave on Jan. 7.

Royal High wrestling coach Randy Miller and his son Darrin, Royal’s 170-pounder, had this experience last year, but they were the visitors, along with a Washington State all-star team.

Randy has been working diligently ever since to make the exchange in Royal happen. He has rounded up numerous volunteers for the matches, money to support the costs and host families to accommodate every member of the Japanese delegation

Although the evening of Jan. 6 will focus on wrestling, it will likely start with some ceremony, as it did in Japan. It will cost you only $5 (12 and under free) to get in, and it may be best spent $5 for you this year.

Randy put this together for all of you. It would be a great show of thanks to attend. Just think, these Japanese boys will return home to tell their people about the people of Royal City, Washington, small town America.