Washington State rest areas are not only nice places for the road traveler to stop, but refreshment is often part of the experience thanks to clubs and organizations volunteering free coffee and cookies to raise funds for a cause. There's usually a jar for donations and most folks do leave a bit of something, though it's not required.
So it was not a surprise to me when we stopped at the Schrag Rest Area heading east on I-90 to find folks serving coffee and cookies. I tend to like to take in everything, so when I saw a notice on the jar that donations would help the (1904-built Bank Block) Harrington Opera House restoration, I couldn't help but ask about it. I'd never heard of Harrington.
That's when I met Billie Herron, treasurer for the Harrington Opera House Society. She was kind enough to give me a flyer which I managed to misplace (sorry Billie), but I remembered they had a website. It's http://www.harrington-wa.com/opera - do take a look. My photo of the building is above (notice the cloud cover on that day) but the website has a larger one that gives more of a view.
Billie, I don't know what I was thinking when I didn't take a photo of you. Always like to highlight folks who volunteer for the good of the community.
My husband really hates to tool around the country with me, but I talked him into taking the 40-mile circle from Ritzville to Sprague with Harrington in-between so I could see the town. As we drove through the rolling hills of dry-farm winter wheat fields clothed in a spring coat of green and two-story farmhouses on the way to town, I felt like I was in a Norman Rockwell neighborhood.
The town was in a bit of disrepair as they were getting new sidewalks. But it left its impression on me. It's another town founded when the railroad came west. The tracks go through town, historic homes sit around the neighborhoods and large grain bins in town give a feel reminiscent of our early American culture. A small park sits in town with a covered brick barbecue for community picnics. It's a small town. In 1950 the population was 545 people. Though the US Census population count is not totalled for 2000, right now it looks like the present population may be 426 for the town.
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