Warden celebrates Community Days
Warden Community Days Grand Marshal Gary Olson waves to the crowd from his 1964 Cadillac convertible during the Warden Community Days Parade on Sept. 5.
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald
Members of the Warden High School football team celebrate Warden Community Days from the back of a parade float.
Members of the Warden High School football team celebrate Warden Community Days from the back of a parade float.
An old Ford fire truck with Grant County Fire District 4 participates in the Warden Community Days Parade.
An antique tractor pulling an antique cart carrying members of the Warden Community Church during the Warden Community Days Parade on Sept. 5.
An antique tractor makes its way up Main Avenue in downtown Warden during the 2022 Warden Community Days Parade.
A pair of boys with soap bubble guns march up Main Avenue in downtown Warden during the 2022 Warden Community Days Parade on Sept. 5.
Children get ready to grab candy tossed by participants as the 2022 Warden Community Parade slowly begins to make its way up Main Avenue in downtown Warden on Sept. 5. The parade was the first Community Days parade held in Warden since 2019.
Volleyball teams face off in Volunteer Park at the beginning of the Warden Community Days volleyball tournament held on Monday, Sept. 5.
Miss Othello Rodeo 2022 Lexi Hagins rides her horse Eddie along Main Avenue in downtown Warden during this year’s Warden Community Days Parade on Monday, Sept. 5.
WARDEN — Gary Olson always wanted to be the grand marshal of the Warden Community Days Parade.
“I was hoping I could do this before I died, that I could be grand marshal one day,” he said as he stood on South Main Avenue following the parade last Monday. “It was a great honor.”
Olson, owner of Gary Olson Construction as well as a small cattle ranch and hay farm near town who settled in Warden following a tour in Vietnam, also said the parade gave him a chance to show off his 1964 Cadillac convertible.
“The last year they made it with fins,” he said.
This little community of roughly 2,500 in the southeast corner of Grant County staged its first Community Days celebration this Labor Day weekend since 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted state officials to cancel fairs and festivals, close businesses and send children home to study in front of laptop computers in an effort to stop the spread of the disease.
Parade participants gathered on Railroad Avenue near the Grant County Fire District 4 station and marched south along Ash Avenue before turning right and marching back up Main Avenue. Among the folks taking part in the parade were Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, and Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, on horseback, as well as candidates for county elected offices, the Warden Police Department, a full display of Grant County Fire District 4 vehicles — including a classic Ford fire truck — local farmers on antique tractors, the Warden High School football team, WHS cheerleaders, Miss Rodeo Othello Lexi Hagins and an armored vehicle and patrol SUV with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.
The parade, along with a volleyball tournament in Volunteer Park, capped off three days of celebration that began on Sept. 3, with a fun run at Warden Elementary followed by a car show and a talent show, followed in turn by a community picnic in Volunteer Park the evening of Sept. 4.
“It’s so much bigger than we anticipated,” said Meghanne Amundson, one of the organizers of this year’s event. “And we needed it. It’s been a long couple of years. It’s great to be able to gather together and do these things again.”
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbianasinherald.com.
