Button design leads to ride in style

Published 4:40 pm Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Sequim Gazette staff

The unofficial kickoff for the 116th Irrigation Festival brought a welcome treat for Greywolf Elementary fourth-grader Blake Wiker, 10. Blake designed the official button for the festival, May 6-15, and was awarded a limo ride and lunch for himself and six friends.

Shawnna Rigg, festival products chairman, said 141 students in first through fifth grades at Greywolf and Helen Haller elementary schools participated, the most ever in the contest.

Blake said he spent a lot of time on his carousel drawing and that it was awesome seeing his design on a button.

Before eating the lunch at El Cazador restaurant provided by sponsor Liz Parks, owner and designated broker for Re/Max Fifth Avenue in Sequim, the group spotted a bald eagle near the Dungeness Spit, then rode down Washington Street in a limo, waving to everyone on the way.

To benefit and promote the festival, fifth-graders will sell the buttons for three weeks beginning Feb. 15. Top sellers receive prizes.

Rigg said the turnout this year was great and she encourages more classrooms to turn the design contest into a project.

The Irrigation Festival royalty pageant is Saturday, Feb. 26. The festival kickoff dinner is Saturday, March 26, at 7 Cedars Casino.

For more information, see www.irrigationfestival.com.