The picture above shows a practice shot Paul Snoey took to see how his new filters worked for viewing the eclipse on August 21. In case you missed it, Paul will have his camera at the Methodist Church parking lot for people who want to view the eclipse.

By all  means DO NOT look directly at the sun. Paul has purchased 20 pairs of viewing glasses, and I think the library is providing a few, or you can buy them at the Salmon Creek Fred Meyer for $1.99.

The moon will hide the sun starting at 9:00 am.

On Monday morning August 21th, we are going to have a partial eclipse of the sun. Actually it will be 98.4% covered here in Ridgefield.  It will be 100% if you go to Salem but then there’s all that traffic. Paul Snoey has ordered some solar filters for his cameras and wants to take pictures.

The Methodist church on Hillhurst has invited people to use their parking lot to view the eclipse, and they invite others to view. The library has some viewing glasses for children available to see the eclipse but no scheduled activity.

These are the times:

Start of eclipse is at 9:06 am

Maximum eclipse at 10:19 am

End of eclipse is at     11:38 am

At the beginning of the eclipse the sun will be about 10 degrees south of due east and about 1/3 up from horizon to overhead. At the end of the eclipse it will be about halfway up the sky and further south of due east, so there should be a good view from most places in Ridgefield.

There are lots of warnings about not looking at the sun without eye protection and not taking pictures of the sun without protecting your camera.  If Paul can figure out how to do it, he plans on having his camera hooked up to a laptop for a good view.

The sultry days of summer are upon us. So saunter downtown for food, friendship and fun at August’s First Saturday. It’s a picnic! Bring your food, or buy some at Overlook Park.

Shop the used book sale, vote on your favorite pet photo, enter the watermelon eating contest and perform at the first “Ridgefield’s Got Talent” show.

Tonight is National Night Out. Come to Abrams Park for fun, food and friends. There will be all kinds of vendors, games, and many of your neighbors.

The photos are from last year’s event. See you there!

Ellie the Elephant and Raffee the Giraffe were painted on a small student chair by Jean Meyer. The delightful chair, with others, will be auctioned off at the CHAIR-ity benefit for the library building fund at a dinner at the Community Center on August 11.

Each unique chair has a story behind it, and would make a great gift for grandparents to give their young grandchildren.

There are still a few tickets left for this dinner auction – please contact me at 360-624-7359 or kathywinters179@gmail.com if you would like to attend. Tickets are only $20, and if you are a Friend of the Ridgefield Library, you get a $5 discount. Dinner will be pulled pork with accompanying items, prepared by Dave Palenshus of Bubba’s BBQ and Rick Browne the Barbecue Man.

It’s going to be a great evening in Ridgefield! Buy your ticket today.

Ridgefield’s Back to School Bash is scheduled for Saturday, August 26th, from 9am to noon at View Ridge Middle School. This event is a celebration of the start of a new school year and will have inflatables, games, snacks, as well as services that will aide students in their preparation for the new school year.

Services will include backpacks, school supplies, clothing for the whole family, haircuts, sports physicals and immunizations. This will be a free event and is being put on by Compassion 360 and several churches in the Ridgefield Community.

As we prepare for this event, the involved churches have held school supply drives, which have brought in a fair amount of what we need, but our biggest needs are backpacks for elementary and middle school kids, Ticonderoga pencils, Crayola markers, watercolor paint sets, glue sticks, pencil sharpeners. A full list of school supplies, our Amazon wish list, and how to donate financially can all be found at our website compassion360.org. If community members want to volunteer their time, there are many different volunteer options and volunteer registration can also be found at our website.