3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2017
Climbing permits sold
out at Mount St. Helens
Associated Press
VANCOUVER, Wash. —
The sun has finally arrived
in the Pacific Northwest, but
permits to climb Mount St.
Helens have already sold out.
The Columbian reported
that permits to climb to the
volcano’s 8,363-foot sum-
mit are sold out until at least
Sept. 27, as are the first two
weekends in October — the
final month of the season.
The U.S. Forest Service,
which oversees the volcano,
releases a set number of per-
mits per year. Those are sold
by the Mount St. Helens
Institute through an online
vendor.
Ray Yurkewycz, the insti-
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Climbers moved quickly for
permits to Mount St. Hel-
ens, shown here in 2010.
tute’s executive director, says
in the last few years, about
half of the season’s roughly
39,000 permits are sold on
the first day they’re available.
He says the demand is
increasing.
In 2011, about 13,800
climbing permits were sold.
Last year, the total was just
over 20,000.
Combatants with the Society for Creative Anachronism battle each other at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds Saturday
as part of the Grand Thing in Astoria.
Marietta
Virgillo
May 30, 1941 - June 25, 2016
A GRAND OLD TIME
You came into my life
on the fi rst days of spring,
and three months later,
you were wearing my ring.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
By COLIN MURPHEY
The Daily Astorian
All the pageantry of the Middle Ages — includ-
ing colorful costumes, the aroma of campfires and the
cacophony of metal striking metal from traditional black-
smithing — was on hand last weekend as the Society for
Creative Anachronism pitched its tents at the Clatsop
County Fairgrounds for the “Grand Thing” event.
And then there were the sounds of men and women
beating each other with sticks.
Re-enactors from around the region paraded around
the fairgrounds in period garb, performing acts of medi-
eval equestrianism, while others made jewelry and trin-
kets for sale. About 50 highly trained men and women
put on armor and helmets in preparation to do medie-
val-style combat. And while the mock combat just one
small part of what the organization does at the Grand
Thing, it definitely draws the largest crowds.
According to the society’s website, it can take years
of training before fighters are allowed to participate in
combat events. Those range from one-on-one matches
to melee events, in which dozens of bodies collide in
a chaotic ballet of violence and bedlam, complete with
a symphony of rattan swords clanging off helmets and
body armor echoing off the surrounding walls.
This was the 12th annual Grand Thing event in Asto-
ria, which is designed to celebrate Norse and Celtic
culture.
A June wedding we had,
and you made me so glad.
Soon children we had at a comfortable pace,
we added four total to the God’s human race.
A combatant prepares to do
mock battle.
A participant demonstrates me-
dieval blacksmith techniques.
As time passed us by, we lost our fi rst son,
the taking of him by the water was done.
Th e three kids still living gave love to us all,
it always was there for us, well into life’s fall.
Marietta my wife and mother of four,
her love always given to children and more,
has gone to her rest and left us behind,
is waiting in heaven for us still to fi nd.
I know that one day my time will come due,
and then I’ll be with her again and her love oh so
true.
I could never have done better when she came my
way,
God gave me his best on our very fi rst day!
Our 55 years have come and have gone,
so happy you made me, still singing your song.
I’ll love you forever, you know that I do,
I’ll love you forever, I swear that it’s ture!
Jim Virgillo
Clad head to toe in armor, combatants do mock battle Astoria.
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