In an effort to highlight and preserve Yelm’s history amid the city’s centennial celebration, the Yelm Historic Preservation Commission will be the grand marshal of the Prairie Days Parade, Saturday, June 22.
The City of Yelm Parks and Recreation Department and the Yelm Chamber of Commerce selected the commission, which has been around for over 25 years, to lead the parade and throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Prairie Days Charity Mushball Tournament on Sunday, June 23, which begins at 9:05 a.m.
The commission manages the city’s historic preservation program with support from the Community Development Department. Members of the group include Gene Coulter, Sandra “Sandy” Story, Austin Gray, Jesse Kellems and LouAnn “Hap” Hansen. Their mission is to stand as a beacon of preservation, celebration and education for Yelm’s rich history.
“I was excited to find out. I think it’s fun. I love the history of Yelm, so the fact that it’s the 100-year celebration, and they’re having the Historic Commission do that, I think that’s pretty cool,” Kellems said.
Coulter, along with a couple of other Yelm residents, transformed the once-popular carnival in town into Prairie Days in 1971 after visitors began to lose interest in the carnival.
“The first year was great. Everybody in town turned out for it, and all the businesses got behind us. The Prairie Days princesses and queens were in pony carts,” Coulter said. “We decided in a meeting that we would have something to designate Prairie Days, so we came up with a button, and we had 50 of them for the members. Well, everybody that saw them wanted them, so we went and got 500 of them. They sold right away, so they had to get another 500.”
Gray said she hopes that the Yelm Prairie Days events and the exposure of the Historic Preservation Commission will inspire people to explore the city’s history and to become more involved in the community in which they live.
“You have to intentionally interact in your community. There’s a lot of people that work outside of Yelm, and so a lot of their time is also spent outside of Yelm,” she said. “Even when COVID was happening, I had talked about the co-op and people were like, ‘We have a co-op?’ People are so used to Safeway and all the things they know from outside of Yelm. Hopefully things like this and people seeing that we have a commission and such a rich history, maybe they’ll want to explore more where they live.”
Historic Preservation Commission members also helped manage the Yelm Prairie Historical Museum, which is currently closed and many of its items in storage while the City of Yelm searches for a more suitable location and structure to display historical artifacts. With the museum’s situation being in flux, the commission has worked on ways to still showcase items from the museum to the rapidly growing community.
“If we don’t keep the museum at least as a conversation or a topic, nobody is going to know about it eventually. Through hanging out with Gene and Sandy that know so much more, they’re teaching us, and then we’re gonna teach the next generation or else it will all just die,” Kellems said. “If that stuff didn’t happen, then Yelm wouldn’t be what it is today.”
Members of the commission believe that some of the most important aspects of Yelm’s history residents should explore are its history of pioneering, the relationship between the city and the local Native American tribes, and the progression of commerce from berry picking and irrigation decades ago to the vast array of businesses in Yelm today.
Gray added that the city’s diversity throughout its history must be appreciated as well.
“Yelm was successful because of its early diversity. I think that’s why it’s important for us to learn our history and understand that this has always been a very diverse, creative, wild group of people in the community,” she said. “It’s scrappy. Everything was about the community. Yelm is strong because of its diversity, and if we can get back to the community, we can learn that from the history of Yelm.”
Coulter said he is honored to be a part of the event that he helped to build.
“Back in the day, you saw these people coming down the street in a car or a horse and buggy, and you never thought you’d ever be a part of that. Then time goes by so fast that pretty soon, you are,” he said. “You’re respected, and I’m honored to do it. It’s gratifying.”
The Yelm Prairie Days Parade begins at 9 a.m. on June 22. According to Line Roy, the City of Yelm’s communications and recreation coordinator, the parade route will begin at the corner of Prairie Park and Yelm Avenue and will conclude on Washington Avenue and “push forward” to the end of Third Street.
