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Sometimes living in the small towns of Lewis County really does feel like a Hallmark movie.
Last Friday, for instance, I joined a few dozen other festive, bundled-up folks in a carol singalong organized by the Centralia Downtown Association. Surrounded by beloved old friends and friendly new faces, we raised our voices together in song in the Pine Street Plaza. As we fa-la-la’d, a group walked by after disembarking from the Amtrak train. I wondered what they thought of this bit of small town Americana, alive and well. One of our local librarians walked by; I greeted her by name.
We then walked down the city sidewalks (busy sidewalks) singing “Joy to the World,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and many more festive favorites.
Our impromptu choir wound our way through restaurants and pubs, the arcade and the toy store. (What kind of small town still has this kind of living, thriving downtown? Ours does!) We got a whole lot of smiles and thumbs up as we belted out our holiday cheer.
My favorite reaction was in Let’s Play Something, where a couple of little kids couldn’t stop grinning as we sang for them. (I might have danced a little as I played along on my light-em-up ukelele. I love an appreciative audience.)
The singalong will return this Friday, Dec. 19, starting at 5:30 at Pine Street Plaza. It’s a rain-or-shine experience, although flooding would probably postpone it. Maybe it’ll snow!
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Of course, some of our best small town experiences this month have been the Christmas parades and tree-lightings, including those in Centralia, Chehalis and Napavine. I’ve heard nothing but enthusiasm, awe and gratitude for the cheer of those activities.
I know it takes countless hours of work on the part of organizers and participants to bring these fun events to our community.
Thank you to the people who bring these great times to our small towns. You are the reason we can have such nice things.
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Of course, amid the holiday festivities we have also had serious flooding in our region. While Lewis County escaped the worst-case scenario and the major damage that hit other parts of our state, we still saw near-record flooding on the Cowlitz River and some high-rising water in areas of the Chehalis watershed.
The first heavy burst of rainfall sent water up high in localized areas along China Creek in Centralia, the Chehalis Avenue Apartments, around parts of the Newaukum River system and under exit 72 at Rush Road, among other places. (The drainage situation at Rush Road needs attention. Water pools up and simply can’t drain from that low point, even when there are unflooded areas a few hundred feet away where the water could go... if it could only get from one side of the road to the other.)
Water also pooled up along 20th Street in Chehalis. Photos began circulating on social media of the parking lot full of water at the Chehalis Middle School.
At that time, Chehalis School District Superintendent Rick Goble was speaking at an educational conference in the Los Angeles area.
Watching images of the water rise, Goble and decided he needed to be home. With no airplane ticket available at a moment’s notice, he rented a car and immediately drove the thousand-plus miles to get back to Chehalis. Growing tired, he caught a few hours sleep in a hotel.
“I don't think it's a secret that our superintendent is a very humble, quiet servant-leader, and he didn't share this with the board, but somebody else it shared with me,” said Chehalis School Director Kelsi Hamilton, who told the story at Tuesday night’s school board meeting. “Unbeknownst to all of us, our superintendent decided to rent a car and drove through the night to get back to the district to help his very capable team.”
In good times and bad, the people of our communities, from neighbors lending a hand to those serving in positions of leadership, come together. It makes life here strong and good.
As the carol proclaims, “it’s the hap-happiest season of all...” not just at Christmas, but year-round in our small towns.
Brian Mittge is a community enthusiast who has written for The Chronicle since 2000 as a reporter, editor and columnist. He can be reached at brianmittge@hotmail.com.
