Sims and 11 mayors will open root beer garden at King County Fair

2005 Archived News

Good clean fun at the King County Fair will begin with an ice cream social hosted by King County Executive Ron Sims and Enumclaw Mayor John Wise.

Sims and Wise will be joined by mayors from 10 South King and North Pierce County cities to officially open the Thomas Kemper and Dreyer’s Root Beer Garden at the King County Fair. The ice cream social will be from noon to 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 20 and will include a root beer float building contest judged by five and six year olds.

A minor’s answer to the Kiwanis-hosted beer garden, the root beer garden is being run by the Kiwanis Key Club, a group of high school students that raise funds for educational and youth activities for kids on the Enumclaw Plateau. Tongue-in-cheek regulations governing the garden include “those 21 and over must be accompanied by a minor.”

Mayors planning to attend the social include Auburn Mayor Peter Lewis, Buckley Mayor John Blanusa, Black Diamond Mayor Howard Botts, Issaquah Mayor Ava Frisinger, Kirkland Mayor Mary Alyce Burleigh, Maple Valley Mayor Laure Iddings, Medina Mayor Mary Odermat, Normandy Park Mayor John Wiltse, Tukwila Mayor Steve Mullet and Yarrow Point Mayor Jeanne Berry.

Root beer floats will be $1 throughout the fair with proceeds benefiting the Kiwanis Key Club and the King County Fair. Dreyer’s donated 500 gallons of ice cream to the root beer garden and Thomas Kemper donated unlimited kegs of root beer.