| Winchester
Days set for Saturday
Country Sunshine is the theme for the Saturday, July 7 Winchester Days Celebration Things will get under July 7 with the Cowboy Breakfast serving from 6:30 to 9 a.m. at the Winchester Community Center. The menu will be pancakes, ham, scrambled eggs, coffee, juice. The breakfast is “all-you-can-eat” with a cost of $7 for adults, $3 for children six and under. The breakfast is sponsored by the Museum of Winchester History. At 8 a.m. the Run in the Woods 5k fun run/walk sponsored by the Winchester Days Association will leave from The Gateway. Entry fee is $25 including a T-shirt and $15 without the T-shirt. Parade Sign-in will start at 8 a.m. at the basketball court by the Community Center with the Parade starting off at 10:01 a.m. Parade judging will take place from 9:15 to 9:50 a.m. Following the parade there will be the Kids Games and then an egg toss with a $50 prize for youth 0-11 and a $100 prize for those 12 and up. A Pig Roast will start serving at noon featuring barbecue pork sandwiches with all the fixings with proceeds benefiting the Volunteer Fire Department. The Quick Response Unit auction will be held at the parade announcers stand. A Softball Game will be held at the ball field starting at 2:30 p.m. (bring chairs). A Street Dance featuring “Rough Cut” will start at 5 p.m. on NezPerce Ave. (the main street) sponsored by Lake City Dining with cold adult beverages available for purchase. *Craigmountain Seniors will be hosting a homemade pie sale in its center and the local FFA will be selling homemade ice cream. Fireworks will go off over Winchester Lake starting at dusk. There is a $5 entry fee to park in Winchester Lake State park unless you have a pass or are staying at the park. Pentzers are grand marshals This year’s Winchester Days Grand Marshals are Richard and Connie Pentzer. 
Like most long-time residents of the area, Richard and Constance Pentzer have been attending Winchester Days for a great many years. Richard was raised on the family farm north of Winchester. His grandfather, L.D. Pentzer, brought his family from Kansas in 1899. They stayed in Spalding while he p[roved up the homestead near the first location of Winchester. Since that time, there have been Pentzers working the land as the farm passed on to sons and grandsons. When not farming, Richard is very involved in the Winchester Community Church, serving as a church elder for many years. He was a supervisor with the Lewis County Conservation District for 20 years. He enjoys firearms and hunting. Constance (Connie) came to the area from Washington in 1977 to serve as the communication disorders specialist for the Highland, Culdesac and Lapwai school districts and was also CD consultant for the Nez Perce Head Start program. She later worked in the administration for that program and became the first teacher for the Craigmont/Nezperce Head Start. The library world called Connie and for 15 years she was with the Prairie-River Library District serving as its director for several years. Life went full circle when she returned to the Highland School District in 2007. She recently retired from Highland having been its librarian, digital learning coordinator and junior high English Language Arts instructor. Genealogy is a passion for Connie and she enjoys researching for anyone, not just those who are related to family. She also quilts, does other needle arts and volunteers with the Ilo-Vollmer Historical Society. Richard and Connie will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary in October of this year. They have two sons, Tom is a fourth year medical student at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in Yakima and Mitch is a classics professor at Emory University in Atlanta, where he teaches Latin and Greek. The two will be recognized at the Honors Night on Friday, July 6 following the Talent Show that starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Winchester Community Center. They will be featured in the Winchester Parade at 10:01 a.m. on Saturday, July 7. |
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