Welcome to FYI98642.com

Welcome to FYI98642.com, the Ridgefield blog. This is my first posting on the Columbian website, and I thought I’d take a few minutes to tell you something about the history of the blog.

I started a weekly e-newsletter about events and people in Ridgefield over three years ago. From a small beginning, it eventually went out to almost 700 people. Not bad for a town with only 4700 residents!

For a long time I had wanted to make the newsletter prettier by including photographs, and I also found that by publishing only once a week I was missing events that occurred between issue.

Hence – the blog format. Now I can add updates daily and become a real source of information for people in the area. An unexpected bonus was the calendar feature, where I list all the events going on in our small town. And there are so many!

We’re a very active community – many people compare Ridgefield to Mayberry because we have such an hometown feeling.

We have an active City Council, business association, Lions Club and many other organizations that band together to produce our many civic activities.

The 4th of July parade draws visitors from all over western Washington, the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge draws about 100,000 visitors a year, and citizen volunteers put on the Birdfest and Bluegrass celebration every October. The Old Liberty Theater brings world-class entertainment to town, and First Friday is celebrated throughout the year. Then there’s the Lions Club Super Auction the first Saturday in April, the Garden Club Plant Sale in May, The Ridgefield Art Association Show and Sale in May, the Memorial Day service put on by the American Legion, Heritage Day in September, Hometown in December…and so on.

I invite you to read more about the people of this little town that I love by checking out FYI98642.com and perhaps getting involved in some of our activities.

I welcome your comments.

Kathy Winters
kwinters@q.com