The Art of Brewing Coffee Manually with Phuong Tran, owner of Lava Java in Ridgefield.

Join us for this hands-on workshop and demonstration on how to brew the perfect cup of coffee using Chemex, French Press, and a Hario pour-over. Taste-testing is included.

Registration is required for this workshop. Please sign-up on the events calendar at www.fvrl.org. This program takes place: Saturday, January 12 at 2:00 p.m. at the Ridgefield Community Library, Saturday, January 19 at 10:30 a.m. at Three Creeks Community Library Wednesday, February 13 at 9:30 a.m. at the La Center Community Library.

These workshops are open to the public and are offered at NO cost to participants. Space, however, is limited, so please register at the FVRL site under the library offering the time and date of the workshop that best fits your schedule. Call the Ridgefield library, (360)906-4770, if you have any questions.

If you put up Christmas decorations outside your home or business, it would be nice if you monitored them frequently. Having candy canes that are in all angles of disarray and blow-up figures that are collapsed is not a good look, and certainly not the way we want Ridgefield to look.

I didn’t take any pictures, but there are a couple of very tacky looking decorations that need to be re-done.

The current Ridgefield representative for Clark County Arts Commission is Barbara AW Wright, and her term ends December 31, 2018. Liz Kolling, the co-owner of Ridgefield Arts Space, will be Barbara’s replacement on the CCAC. The city will announce her appointment at the City Council meeting on December 20th. The meeting starts at 6:30 at the Ridgefield Community Center and everyone is invited to come and support Liz in her new role.

Please join us again this year in helping the residents of the Ridgefield Living Center. We have a giving tree inside the Old Liberty Theater/Season’s Coffee. The residents have 3 wishes, mostly basic necessities, on each tag. We are a bit late in getting information out, so we ask to return the tags by December 17th. We also have some envelopes if a cash donation is easier for you, then we will do the shopping.

Thank you Ridgefield for your generosity.

Stacy Robinson and Melanie Abrams of Berkshire Hathaway are sponsoring a “Friends & Family Christmas Party, December 15th from noon to 3 pom at 1900 South 2nd Place, and the public is invited.

There will be free crafts, cookies and cocoa, games and raffle prizes as well as free Santa photos. Questions? 360-953-1341 or 360-784-4550.

This speech from Paul Harvey was written in 1965. It’s prophetic and very scary.

There are still a few spots left in my Christmas Card Workshop, Monday, December 3 from 9 to 11 am.

All levels are welcome – we’ll have ideas for everyone and all materials are provided. This is a benefit for the Ridgefield Library, and all money collected goes to the library. Cost is $45, or $40 for members of the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. Call to reserve a spot today! 360-887-2160 or kathywinters179@gmail.com.

Class size is limited.

My name is Niki Cantrell and as your new local lender, I wanted to take the time to introduce myself to the community. My family now has five generations born and raised in Ridgefield. My brother owns TLC Towing and my dad, Lee Wells, is on the City Council. This last January, I opened the Camas, WA branch of First Centennial Mortgage and now have proudly opened the downtown Ridgefield branch at 418 Pioneer Street.

What brought us to First Centennial Mortgage was their core values. They focus on the customer experience more than filling their own pockets. They don’t spend the money that customers worked hard for on marketing or having high rise offices. Keeping our overhead low allows us to have lower fees than our competitors. It’s been said we’ve got the Nordstrom service with the Walmart pricing!

As the market is shifting, not everyone is. We at First Centennial Mortgage have not experienced it. In the interest of our customers we compared rates to a few other mortgage companies and found ourselves consistently less expensive across the board. To you as the borrower, this means that by using First Centennisl you can keep your costs down and keep your loan process local.

A little about me. It has been a long-time goal of mine to bring my business to the community I grew up in. I have worked in this industry for 14 years and have over 30 years in customer service. Coming to First Centennial Mortgage, I found a family-oriented company that loved the idea of expanding into my hometown. So we have now opened our second branch in the Pacific Northwest in only nine months. My goal is to always make myself available to provide education as well as support in achieving personal and financial objectives.

We have an amazing staff here and would like to get to know everyone in the community! Please come stop by for your free mortgage evaluation, a personalized preapproval plan or to just say hi! I can be reached at 360-601-4054.

My Epson printer has finally given up after years of hard use, and I have ink cartridges to give away. They fit the Epson Stylus Photo R260, 280, 380 / RX580, 595, 680 / Artisan 50. I have all the colors, and most of the cartridges are high capacity and were purchased within the last month. Total value of the cartridges is almost $160.

You can have them for nothing by calling 360-887-2160 or emailing me at kathywinters179@gmail.com.

If you would like to donate a percentage of the value to the Friends of the Library it would be much appreciated.

The photo above is the ballot box located just east of the freeway.  It’s in the middle of the cul-de-sac just North of Pioneer Street by the restaurant and gas station.  Ballots can be deposited until 8 PM this evening.  Mail in ballots need to be postmarked with todays date to be valid.  Ballots need to be in the Ridgefield post office by 5 PM today.  People with mail delivery need to have their ballots in the mail box before the regular delivery time.

I have created a brochure listing volunteer activities in Ridgefield. If you work with new-comers in our community, you might want to get a copy. There are some on display at the library, City Hall, and in the spinner at the Sportsman’s. I can also email you a copy.

If you have a volunteer organization that’s not listed, send me information about it and I’ll include the data when the flyers are re-printed. Please include a description of your activities, meeting place, and contact information.