Community Briefs for Aug. 22, 2019

Second Story Gallery seeks artists

Second Story Gallery in Camas is accepting applications from artists who would like to display their work in 2020. The deadline for applying is 5 p.m., Friday, Sept. 13.

The application form can be found at secondstorygallery.net.

The accompanying guidelines for artists are required reading, offering details on how to exhibit. Submitting an application requires a signature to indicate that these details have been reviewed.

Also part of the application is a request to submit five digital photos of works of art for jurying. The board of governors uses this process to fill the calendar openings from February 2020 through January of 2021.

Following the Sept. 13 deadline, the gallery’s board of governors goes to work making the selections. Applicants can expect to be notified later in the fall, possibly as late as December.

Shows in recent years have included traditional paintings but also photography — sometimes on metal plates or canvas; cut paper silhouettes; sculpture and fabric art.

The nonprofit gallery, located upstairs in the Camas Public Library, is known for offering rotating exhibits that showcase local artists. The high-traffic space boasts a professional hanging system and directional track lighting also found in some of the world’s most famous art museums.

Second Story Gallery participates in the First Friday events sponsored by the Downtown Camas Association. Gallery volunteers work with each featured artist to unveil a show on the first Friday of the month with a reception that is free and open to the public. Live music has become a component of each reception.

The selected art remains in display for the month and occasionally stays in place for two months. The gallery is open to the public during regular library hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Artists will find more information on the gallery’s web site under “How to Exhibit.” Forms are also available at the Service Desk at the library at 625 N.E. Fourth Ave., Camas. Completed applications, including five art samples, can be submitted through the web site or returned to the library’s service desk by 5 p.m., Friday, Sept. 13.

Washougal, Camas schools prepare for new year

The 2019-20 is just around the corner, with Washougal schools starting Tuesday, Aug. 27, and Camas schools starting Tuesday, Sept. 3.

In Washougal, bus routes and bus schedules, which can change year to year, are now available via Skyward. Students should be at their bus stop five minutes before the scheduled pick-up time, and families should expect short delays on the first day of school as students and drivers get settled into their routine.

Washougal school offices opened Aug. 13, and are now open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

There are a few new vaccine requirements this year. All children attending sixth grade must show proof of: tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (Tdap) vaccination if they are 11 years old and it has been five years since they received a tetanus-containing vaccine, like DTaP or a tetanus-diphtheria (Td) booster. All students who just finished fifth grade will need to receive the Tdap vaccination prior to starting sixth grade. Students who do not receive the required immunizations or provide exemption information will be excluded from school starting on Oct. 9.

The Washington State Legislature recently removed the personal and philosophical option to exempt children from the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine required for school and child care attendance. Medical and religious exemptions are not affected by this new law, which went into effect in late July. For students who previously had personal or philosophical exemptions, families will need to provide updated immunization paperwork before the first day of school on Aug. 27.

For more information, visit washougal.k12.wa.us/back-to-school-information/ for Washougal students or camas.wednet.edu/ for Camas students.

Gause parking project completed

A parking and circulation project was completed this summer at Gause Elementary School (GES) in Washougal to enhance student and staff safety while increasing parking capacity.

These improvements were one of the final projects to be completed using funding by the voter-approved 2015 capital facilities bond.

“Gause Elementary is excited to start the school year with a major redesign of the front of the school for safer and more efficient student pick-up and drop-off,” GES Principal Tami Culp said in a news release issued by Washougal School District (WSD). “We are also grateful for the extended north parking lot to provide more adequate parking for our families and community for the school day and events.”

The Gause Elementary Circulation Project added a drive lane in front of the school with a pull-out lane that allows families to drop students off in the driveway rather than on the street. This will reduce congestion along 34th Street during peak pick-up and drop-off times, according to the news release.

In addition, the north parking lot was expanded to accommodate additional vehicles and to create a loop for cars to more easily enter and exit without drivers needing to do a three-point turn at the end of the lot. The parking area includes crosswalks for pedestrians to increase safety and trees to make the area cooler in the warmer months.

“Student safety is a priority in the Washougal School District, and these renovations align with the improvements needed to ensure the safety of our students,” Culp said. “We wish to thank the Washougal community for the dollars provided by the bond for these features to Gause. I would like to invite the community out to Gause to see the investment they have made in our school.”

The GES project was approved by the WSD board of directors in January 2018. It was paid for with excess funding resulting from excellent fiscal management of the 2015 $57 million capital bond. This project had been identified as a needed safety improvement during the 2014 Long Range Capital Facility Planning process.

Historical museum to host exhibit on local ports, rivers, roads

Clark County Historical Museum will hold a public reception for its newest exhibit, “Currents of Progress: Clark County Rivers, Roads and Ports,” at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5. The evening will commence with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting, and conclude with a First Thursday presentation at 7 p.m. on the medical practices during the Lewis and Clark expedition.

“Within the body of the community, the ports, rivers, and roads serve as the bloodstream of commerce, culture, and industry,” said Brad Richardson, executive director of the Clark County Historical Museum. “The concept that ports deeply impact every facet of our lives and community is at the core of this new exhibit.”

“Currents of Progress” is a family-friendly and educational exploration of Clark County’s rivers, roads and ports. By using interpretative panels, historical objects, interactive stations and county-wide partnerships, visitors will discover and engage with the narrative and living history of these systems in Clark County and Southwest Washington.

Topics featured in this exhibit include Native American Nations and their relationships with the waterways; Hudson’s Bay Company; early transportation; the establishment of the ports of Camas-Washougal, Vancouver and Ridgefield; the impact of World War I and World War II; and the state of our ports today.

Objects representing this history will also be on display. Key objects include items from the Standifer and Kaiser shipyards, a large ship’s wheel from a Columbia River ferry, a ceremonial shovel used for the groundbreaking of the 1917 Interstate Bridge, and objects on loan from the Port of Vancouver and Tidewater Transportation and Terminals.

For a hands-on experience, the exhibit also features knot-tying, a telegraph simulator, a semaphore flag station, and a selfie station featuring a tugboat captain’s chair.

“Currents of Progress” will be open through 2023. This exhibit is sponsored by the City of Vancouver, Port of Vancouver, Port of Camas-Washougal, Port of Ridgefield, and Tidewater Transportation and Terminals.

General admission for the opening reception is $5; seniors and students are $4; children under 18 are $3; and the evening is free with a CCHM membership. Refreshments will be available.

For more information, visit cchmuseum.org, or contact the museum at 360-993-5679 or by email at events@cchmuseum.org.

Fort Vancouver to host Campfires & Candlelight event

Fort Vancouver National Historic Site will host its annual, free Campfires & Candlelight event on Saturday, Sept. 7. This free event is the national park’s largest living history event of the year.

Beginning at 4 p.m., Sept. 7, the “Timeline of History” leading from East Fifth Street to the gates of Fort Vancouver will be the site of several camps filled with costumed reenactors sharing the history of the site. As visitors walk closer to the fort, they will be transported further and further back in time. Along this stretch, Living History Group NorthWest will host a World War II camp, other volunteers will portray World War I, and the First Oregon Volunteer Infantry will host a Civil War-era camp. Other camps populated by National Park Service volunteers will represent the site’s Oregon Trail and Hudson’s Bay Company history.

At 5 p.m., Sept. 7, the gates of the reconstructed Fort Vancouver will open. Inside the fort, reenactors will recreate the night of Sept. 26, 1844. On that night 175 years ago, a massive wildfire that had sparked to the northeast of the fort was moving towards the fort, and would eventually come within 300 feet of the fort’s walls. Visitors will be able to interact with volunteers portraying specific characters who were present on that night, and will learn not just about the story of the fire, but also about other important issues from the time period.

Fort Vancouver and the Timeline of History camps will be open to the public until 10 p.m., Sept. 7, offering a rare chance to see the fort after dark, and see buildings lit by candlelight, as they would have been in the 19th century.

“Campfires and Candlelight brings first-person interpretation of the history of the fort site, and it’s our pleasure to bring it to our community year after year,” said the fort’s chief of interpretation, Aaron Ochoa. “The theme for our 2019 event … is very relevant today, with increased threats of wildfires throughout the region. This threat was very real for the Hudson’s Bay Company, too, as is portrayed in this program about the site’s history.”

Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is at 1001 E. Fifth St., Vancouver.