TONASKET – Okanogan County Sheriff Rogers will be speaking at the next Tonasket Chamber of Commerce meeting, to be held on Tuesday, Sept. 14 with sheriff candidate Dave Yarnell scheduled to speak at the following meeting, to be held on Tuesday, Sept. 28.

During the short meeting held on Tuesday, Aug. 10, the organization heard several announcements from member Peter James, who was representing three different organizations.

First, James told the chamber that Green Okanogan is now recognized as a non-profit corporation in Washington State and already has 20 members signed up. The corporation’s first planned is to tear down the old Noël building and to recycle as much of the building as they can. He said the corporation is also working on buying a building which they can use as a city recycling center and that Green Okanogan is playing with the idea of seeing if they can purchase the old Chief Tonasket building for this purpose.

Representing Okanogan Neighbors, James next talked about the upcoming Okanogan Family Faire. He said the dates for the faire have been set as Friday, Oct. 8, Saturday, Oct. 9 and Sunday, Oct. 10. Several improvements have been made to the faire grounds throughout the summer, including the building of new access roads to prevent traffic buildup on the highway, the building of two new ticket booths with computer access and the installation of a new septic system to allow for the storage of more water on the site. Attendees to the faire will also be able to purchase their tickets online this year in order to allow more people to enter the faire faster.

Finally, representing the Okanogan Democrats, James announced that the annual Democratic Picnic will be held on Sunday, Aug. 22 in Conconully Park with Clyde Cordero and Cindy Gagne there to speak. He added that the picnic is a potluck and that it would start at noon.

In other chamber community announcements, members announced that the Tonasket Natural Foods Co-Op will be holding a yard sale/flea market on Saturday, Aug. 28 at the Community Cultural Center and will be taking donations of items on Wednesday, Aug. 25. Also, the Okanogan River Garlic Fest will be held on Friday, Aug. 20, Saturday, Aug. 21 and Sunday Aug. 22. Lastly, Herb Wandler announced that the grand opening of the new hospital addition has been pushed back a week to Wednesday, Sept. 22 and will be held from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.