Kalama Community Fair

Haydu Park is on Kalama River Road, eight-tenths of a mile east of Exit 32 off Interstate 5, on the right at Norris Pit Road. It has three baseball and softball fields, three soccer and football fields, a horse arena, tennis and basketball courts, a concession stand, a 3,600-square-foot expo building, and walking trails along several thousand feet of the Kalama River. For three days each July the Kalama Community Fair takes over the park. The 2026 fair ran July 16 to 18 under the theme “Blue Jeans & Country Dreams.” Its first morning brought thunder, lightning, and rain. The fair announced it was on schedule, told visitors to “grab your boots (or your sunglasses—we’re hoping for both!),” and opened the gates at noon.

Three days at Haydu Park

The fair opens at noon each day, and the beer garden opens with it. The fair’s own history gives its usual run as noon to 11 p.m. Grandpa Chuck’s train, a trackless ride, runs all three days, along with pony rides, bounce houses, a kids’ arcade alley, demonstrations, vendors, and an axe-throwing range kept by Lewis River Axe Throwing. Animals are shown in the barn, and entries fill the Exhibit Hall. The 2026 call for entries asked for baking, canning, quilting, woodworking, painting, photography, flowers, and fresh garden vegetables. No dogs are allowed in the park unless they are entered in a fair event.

The food stands in 2026 sold Thai, Mexican, and Filipino dishes, hot dogs, Korean corn dogs, pulled pork with macaroni and cheese, extra-large loaded baked potatoes, giant grilled cheese sandwiches, ice cream, coffee drinks, and lemonade. Each evening from five to seven a Community S’mores Table stood outside the Expo Building. It was new in 2026, and the Rough & Ready 4-H group, the Kalama Lions Club, and Kalama’s Boy Scouts each looked after it for an evening.

Each day has its own name and program. Thursday is Kids Day and Queen Coronation Day. It begins at 11:30 a.m. with a flag ceremony by VFW Post #10435 and the Boy Scouts, and in 2026 Janessa Cornell sang the national anthem. Story-time, free games, a balloon artist, a watermelon-eating contest, and free popsicles followed, and then Maxine’s Fashion Show by the Rough & Ready 4-H group. The fair calls its chicken chase “famous.” It starts at 3 p.m. daily in the Arena Area and is open to children 12 and under.

Friday is Senior Day. In 2026 it brought a Reptile Roadshow, pie diving for children and then for adults, an adult hot dog eating contest, and the Mullet, Beard, & Mustache Contest, whose prize is the Joe Dirt Award. On Field 3 the city workers played the first responders in the 811 vs 911 softball game. The Karaoke Showdown ran on the Main Stage until ten, with singers competing for a cash prize.

Saturday is Military & First Responders Day. It starts in town with the Kalama Chamber of Commerce parade on Main Street at 11 a.m. Back at the park there is the Fireman’s Money in Pool Scramble in the Playground Area and a performance by the Kalama High School Cheer team and its Mini Cheer Campers. The Community Pie Tasting Contest is held in the Exhibit Hall. In 2026 it was won by Paige and Shelley, who took home a ribbon and a gift certificate to the Antique Deli. Live music over the three days came from Nehemiah Brown, the Kalama High School Blues Band, Daylin DePriest, the Funk Junkies, and The Average Joes Band. A DJ closes each night on the Main Stage.

Shortcake at eight o’clock

At 7 p.m. on Thursday the fair crowns its queen on the Main Stage. Rayleigh Bowers was crowned in 2026. An hour later the Fair Court holds a reception in the Exhibit Hall and serves free strawberry shortcake. The court also runs a raffle, drawn Saturday evening. The 2026 prizes included a zero-turn riding mower, a beef box from Kyllo’s Kows, and a pair of handcrafted cornhole boards.

The fair’s history says the coronation dates to 1969, the year its roster lists Deanna Parcel. The same roster names an earlier queen, Diana Schoonover, in 1967, and it has no record for 1965, 1966, 1968, or 1987. In 1976 the court was made up of Bicentennial Princesses: three Kalama senior citizens, Elva Guetzloe, Alda Ruth, and Elizabeth Boatman, and three Kalama High School girls, Jeannie Guetzloe, Sandy Lehman, and Karen Stewart. Ann Bradford was queen in 1993 and acting queen in 1994. Katrina Rick-Merten is listed for both 2019 and 2021, because there was no fair in 2020. The fair says the list is still being compiled.

Strawberries in Cloverdale

The shortcake comes from an older celebration. In Cloverdale, a community just outside Kalama, Finnish immigrant families grew strawberries, up to 700,000 quarts a year by the fair’s account, and they gathered at the end of each harvest. That gathering grew into the Kalama Strawberry Festival. The sources give different starting dates. HistoryLink says the festival was first celebrated in June 1938. The fair’s history gives 1929 in its text and 1939 in a heading.

The festival had parades and dances, outboard-motorboat races, a “fat man’s race,” and water fights. A queen and her court presided over the Queen’s Ball. The centerpiece was a strawberry shortcake 22 feet long. A strawberry blight and changing interests ended the festival in 1951. It was revived in 1990 for Kalama’s centennial and again in 2015 for the town’s 125th anniversary. HistoryLink says the 2015 shortcake was baked by the Hole-e-Rollers Bakery in Longview. The fair records it as more than 16 feet long, serving about 1,300 people.

From the Grange to the river

Kalama residents remember a loosely organized fair in 1953. It had 4-H, FFA, and horse events, and flowers were shown at the Grange on Vincent Road, which is now the Kalama Baptist Church. The food was at the Kalama School. The Kalama Community Fair was officially founded in 1965 to honor the town’s farming and rural life and to show local talent, crafts, and agriculture. In 1968 it moved to the north end of downtown. It later moved to the fairgrounds next to Kress Lake, where it stayed through 2014. Over the years it has held lawnmower races, the Krisco Klassic, horse shows, and chicken chases. The gate charge is small, and the money goes into the next year’s fair.

In 2015 the fair moved to Haydu Park, which the Port of Kalama provides. The park is named for the Haydu family, who owned the land and gave $100,000 toward the project. The port paid for the rest from port revenue. When it opened it was the first large park built in Cowlitz County in more than a decade. In December 2015, less than a year after the opening, the Kalama River flooded. The water washed out fences, knocked out the irrigation, ruined the ball fields, and covered the $4.5 million park in mud and silt. The park was repaired, and the fair has been held there each July since.