Story and Photos by Ben Watson
Beginning on Saturday morning, the first-ever Centralia Summer market graced the streets of downtown Centralia. With crafts and food galore, people were able to shop and eat at places they usually don’t. Some of the featured food trucks/booths included Chaddy Daddy’s, Taco Jo’s, Rockin’ Rolls, Dandy Vittles, and many more.
South Locust and Broadway was full of excitement and livelihood. Kids played on bouncy houses, parents shopped, and strangers met strangers to make friends. The market, alongside the farmer’s market, turned out to be a big success and created a sense of community that sometimes isn’t felt in a town like Centralia.
When asked about the success and future of the event of the market, Centralia Mayor Kuder said, “It is absolutely awesome. We have a huge crowd, we have a lot of vendors, a lot of food trucks. Everybody I’ve been talking to has said this is absolutely great for downtown Centralia. There has been an overwhelming response that we should do this more often, so we will start looking at how often we can do it because there’s a lot to putting one of these events together. we’re all for doing more of these to bring people downtown to show their wares.”
Around noon, the event came to its peak. Mayor Kuder, alongside Councilman Jeff Castellari, gave a proclamation announcing that July 24th was officially Latavia Maines Day. Latavia Maines is a young woman from Centralia who has accomplished incredible feats in the world of sports, going as far as finishing 11th in the final round of the Olympic trials. Latavia is very esteemed in the world of athletics, a champion in the sport of shout-put. More details will be available in our other article specifically viewing Latavia’s accolades and the mayor’s proclamation.
