Ralph Fries, Smoke and Reflections featured at Pioneer Project at Okanogan County Fair

BREWSTER – Former Brewster resident and South Okanogan County historian Ralph Fries served up early pioneer stories along with the refreshments at the annual Pie Socials he has hosted since 2006 at his family homestead or at Brewster High School.

This weekend, Fries will introduce his extensive history of South Okanogan County pioneer life at a new venue when he participates as a featured guest in The Pioneer Project in the Commercial Building at the 71st annual Okanogan County Fair from Thursday, Sept. 6, through Sunday, Sept. 9. Also appearing as part of The Pioneer Project will be the Smoke and Reflections display of 2014 Carlton Complex and 2015 Okanogan Complex wildfire stories, photos, art, and artifacts compiled by the Okanogan County Long Term Recovery Group (OCLTRG)

OCLTRG debuted Smoke and Reflections last July on the fourth anniversary of the Carlton Complex wildfire in the Rising from the Ashes Recovery Reunion and Celebration that invited victims and volunteers to a week-long observance of events.

In 2006, Fries began compiling stories and photos about homesteads and pioneers in South Okanogan County within a 15-mile radius of the homestead of his grandfather, Ulrick E. Fries, author of the book “From Copenhagen to Okanogan.” That same year, Fries began hosting an annual Pie Social on the family homestead, a tradition that continued through 2014, when the Carlton Complex wildfire destroyed his work in progress to that date.

Fries reconstructed the exhibit from computer archives and for the past two years had held the display and Pie Social at Brewster High School. BHS is not the custodian of Fries’ extensive collection of South Okanogan histories that the administration hopes to incorporate into the school’s history curriculum.

In 2016, Fries was the 12th BHS alumnus since 1915 to be inducted into the school’s Wall of Fame. 

Fries and BHS will bring some three dozen 4x8-foot poster boards of material mounted on easels made in the school shop to the Fair this week. Stories and photos will document early homestead families, pioneer women, and local Native Americans among other subjects.

Other Pioneer Project participants include the Old Oroville Depot Museum, National Archives, and the Okanogan Language Preservation Program.

New to the Fair this year is Horse Nation, the National Indian Relay Races that will compete at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8, and 11 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 9, at the north end of the fairgrounds.