CONCRETE — Out are snakes and road kill at this year’s Cascade Days celebration. In are cats, dogs, rabbits, jellies, jams and Tootsie Clark, who ran for queen of the event decades ago and lost.

Clark opens the gate to the North Cascade Pass each year, but is probably even better known for the cinnamon rolls she bakes and brings with her. As the grand marshal for Saturday’s Cascade Days parade, she’ll open the annual weekend celebration that takes place in Concrete.

Clark said she is 89 years old but admits to lying about her age — a lot. She is nervous about being marshal but not nearly so timid as she was during her teenage bid for queen, in the 1930s or ’40s.

Her father Richard Buller was running for county commissioner then and insisted his daughter run for queen, which was judged by the number of fundraising tickets the candidates sold.

“I am bashful. I couldn’t sell tickets,” Clark said. “I would walk up to a store and knock on the door, and they would come to the door and I would say ‘You don’t want to buy these tickets, do you?’ Needless to say, I didn’t become queen.”

She has still never been in the parade and was uncertain during a recent interview what the grand marshal gets to do.

“I do want to know if I can throw this candy out,” Clark said, referring to the stockpile of sweets she acquired for the parade. “I don’t know whether that is proper.”

Propriety isn’t usually a concern at Cascade Days, which last year attracted a snake to its Pet Pride Show. Only furry friends have been invited to this year’s pet contest, and the road kill cook-off, which failed to attract any entries last year, has been traded for a homemade jam and jelly contest.

Still, things are sure to get messy during the watermelon and hands-behind-the-back pie-eating contests, both to be held Sunday afternoon at the Town Park.

The ever-changing lineup of competitions is a hallmark of Cascade Days, organizer Judie Legg said.

Legg stuck her face in a chocolate pie for last year’s competition. This year, she is organizing the new jam and jelly contest and the pet contest, now in its second year.

To compete in the jam and jelly contest, cooks just need to bring their homemade creation, the recipe and an entry fee to Town Park on Sunday, Legg said. The recipes of all the competitors will be compiled in a cookbook, to be printed at a later date, she said.

“Freezer jams are welcome,” said Legg. “It just cannot be store-bought. It has to be homemade.”

This year’s pet contest is limited to cats, dogs and rabbits, Legg said.

“We must have had 25 or more (animals) that entered (last) year,” she said. “I even had somebody that brought a snake over, and I have a fear of snakes.

“I don’t know what talent a snake would have. Obviously somebody has a love for snakes. It just isn’t me.”

Pets and their owners can earn points throughout the event. Those with the highest totals win, Legg said.

One way to earn points is by dressing up — owner and pet — for this year’s Cascade Days theme: Cementing our future.

Asked what that would look like, Legg said: “I don’t know. I don’t know. I haven’t got a clue.”

Cascade Days Saturday and Sunday Aug. 15-16

Concrete

Cost: Most events and live entertainment are free; some contests charge a fee.

Information: http://www.cascadedays.com or 360-853-7867.

Saturday, Aug. 15

All day: Food and craft vendors, information booth, Green on the Green at Town Park

All day: Quilt show, Baker River Woodworks, 45880 Main St.

9-11 a.m.: Parade lineup, west end of Main Street

11 a.m.: Parade, along Main Street

Noon: Centennial dedication, Main Street

12:30 p.m.: Parade awards, Main and Baker streets

12:30-4 p.m.: Classic car show, Main Street

12-5 p.m.: Birdsview Brewery beer garden

1-2:30 p.m.: Firemen’s muster, Town Park

1-4 p.m.: Kids’ activities, games and cake walk, Town Park

1-4 p.m.: Fish tank, Town Park

1-5 p.m.: Entertainment (Unmistakables and friends)

2:30-4:30 p.m.: Log show, Town Park

5 p.m.: Duck race, Main Street

5:30-6 p.m.: Soap Box Derby, Main Street

6-6:30 p.m.: Bed race, Main Street

7-11 p.m.: Cascade Ramblers, American Legion

Sunday, Aug. 16

All day: Food and craft vendors, information booth at Town Park

10 a.m.: Entertainment (Off Kilter and friends)

1 p.m.: Pet pride and talent show, Town Park

2 p.m.: Pie-eating contest, Town Park

2:30 p.m.: Watermelon-eating contest, Town Park

3 p.m.: Jam and jelly judging, Town Park

3:30 p.m.: Raffle and button drawing, Town Park

5 p.m.: Forgotten time capsule unveiling

Elliott Wilson can be reached at 360-416-2147 or at .