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May 8, 2025
Instructor Sarah Ratcliff, clockwise from left, works with students Sonny Lapeze, 5, Jack Davis, 3, and Weston Lumley, 4, during art class Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at Opus School of the Arts in Camas. The school recently expanded into a second, adjacent building and now offers a “one-stop shop” for Camas-area families seeking youth arts classes in music, theater, dance and fine art. (Taylor Balkom/The Columbian)

Opus School of the Arts expands

A Camas business known for its music lessons is quickly becoming a “one-stop shop” for youth art classes in east Clark County.

May 8, 2025
Crowds gather at the Downtown Camas Association’s 2024 Camas Plant and Garden Fair in downtown Camas. This year’s fair, set for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, will feature nearly 100 vendors selling a huge array of plants, flowers, vegetable starts and garden art. (Courtesy of the Downtown Camas Association)

Camas Plant & Garden Fair returns to downtown this Saturday

One of the Downtown Camas Association’s most popular springtime events, the 26th annual Camas Plant & Garden Fair, will fill downtown Camas streets with a huge array of plants, vegetable starts, fruit trees, flowers, planters, garden art, outdoor furniture and everything a person might need to spruce up their gardens this year.

May 8, 2025
Suzanne Grover displays her love of Washougal with a chalk drawing during the 2018 Washougal Art Festival. (Courtesy of Rene Carroll)

Mural to honor late Washougal city employee and her art

After Washougal artist Suzanne Grover died from lung cancer in May 2023 at the age of 53, Janice Ferguson wanted to do something to honor her longtime friend’s contributions to Washougal as an artist and longtime city employee.

May 8, 2025
The Columbia River snakes through the Columbia River Gorge, seen from the Cape Horn lookout in May. The Columbia River Gorge Commission oversees the national scenic area. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian files)

Gorge agency funding restored

When the Washington House and Senate stripped all funding for the Columbia River Gorge Commission from their proposed budgets during heated negotiations at the end of March, the future looked bleak for the bistate agency. But on Monday, the agency learned that its funding had been restored — or at least some of it.