Four-day event features a variety of activities, including bed races, fireworks, and the annual parade, celebrating Woodland’s rich history and community unity
Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com
WOODLAND — Just moments after receiving her crown Thursday night, Nora Taylor, 2024 Miss Woodland, made her first proclamation:
“I, Queen Nora, do hereby proclaim that the 2024 Planters Days activities have officially begun.”
Planters Days is the longest continuously running civic celebration in the state. It started in 1922.
This year’s event kicked off Thursday and runs through Sunday. There are plenty of activities each day, with Saturday being the biggest draw. On Saturday, there will be frog jumping, bed races, and of course, the annual parade.
The carnival, including several rides, opened Thursday. A kids parade and then a pet parade were scheduled, too. Fireworks above Horseshoe Lake were scheduled for later Thursday night.
“It is so uniting to the community,” Taylor said of Planters Days. “It is incredible how close a group of people can become this time of year.”
She loves this year’s motto: All Together Now.
“It just makes me think of Woodland,” Taylor said. “Because that’s what we are. We’re all together.”
Princess Alexis Alplanalp and Princess Savannah Doughty are also on the Woodland royal court for Planters Days.
Alplanalp moved to Woodland from Las Vegas just last year.
“Immediately after I moved here, I felt Woodland was a fit for me,” she said, noting how welcoming the city was to her.
Prior to the coronation, Erin Thoeny, the 2023 Citizen of the Year, gave a history lesson on Woodland, with a salute to Adolphus Lee Lewis, who built a home near a river’s mouth. That river is now called Lewis River. Thoeny noted that many people believe the river was named after Meriweather Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame, but instead it is named for Adolphus Lee Lewis.
Woodland Mayor Todd Dinehart also had a proclamation for Planters Days, as well, noting that this event started as a community festival in celebration of the dike being built in 1921 to protect the city from flooding.
There are dozens of events scheduled from Friday through Sunday.
Saturday’s parade will begin at 11 a.m.
The annual frog jump is at 1:30 p.m. This is the 57th year of that event.
And the bed race competition, now in its 20th year, is at 4 p.m.
For a full list, go to the Planters Days website: https://www.planters-days.com/planters-day-events
Also read:
- Opinion: Were Republican voters just sleeping during the August primary election?
CCRP Chairman Matt Bumala says 60% of primary no-shows in the 17th and 18th districts were Republicans. - High school football: New coach prepares for long-term success at Prairie High School
James Young-Lewis, a Clark County native who graduated from Evergreen in 2009, became Prairie’s head coach in May after working as an assistant coach across various programs since 2015, joining Prairie’s staff in 2024. - Cost to battle 20 wildfires in WA has topped $200M
Twenty wildfires have cost Washington $207M in one month, more than two-thirds of what DNR spent all last fiscal year. - Opinion: WA Cares’ launch showcased care WA Cares did not provide
Gov. Ferguson showcased a caregiving arrangement at the WA Cares launch that the program had not paid for a single day of. - Former State Rep. Liz Pike provides update on husband Neil Cahoon
Neil Cahoon, a Camas resident, has undergone multiple surgeries including five on Aug. 15 after the Aug. 10 crash near La Center’s Daybreak Airport. - Opinion: Portland’s War on Cars Part 4 – A smarter automobile strategy to end gridlock
O’Toole argues fuel wasted in Portland-area congestion has sextupled since 1982, generating 250,000 tons of extra greenhouse gases annually. - $1,000 first prize for Camas Plein Air Art Event honoring Marquita Call on Sept. 26
Plein air artists compete Sept. 26 in Camas for $1,000 first prize honoring gallery founder Marquita Call.
