City Briefs

City downtown homeless forum scheduled for Oct. 11

The City of Shelton has scheduled a community forum on homelessness from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 11 in the Shelton Civic Center.

Some of the nonprofit groups that partner with the city will give presentations, and residents can share their thoughts.

The city's new task force on homelessness, which includes members of the council, business owners, Mason County Commissioner Sharon Trask and others, met Tuesday to hear from a Jefferson County commissioner to talk about what's worked for that county.

The group's last scheduled meeting is set for Oct. 11, before the community forum, where it will produce two short-term goals, two intermediate goals and two long-term goals. Those goals will be presented to the city council.

Shelton Bluegrass festival in July drew 1,500 people

About 1,500 people attended the Kristmas Town Kiwanis' 17th annual Bluegrass from the Forest festival July 29-31 at the Mason County Recreation Area off Johns Prairie Road in Shelton.

Mark Ziegler, a member of the group and also the city's director of parks and recreation, on Tuesday presented a report on the event to the Shelton City Council.

Ziegler said the attendees included 210 people who stayed in local motels, hotels and bed-and-breakfast businesses.

Camping on the site were 180 people, he said.

The spectators included 101 people from outside the state, including fans from South Dakota, Maine and Puerto Rico, Ziegler said,

"Bluegrass has a following," Ziegler said. Many of the fans also play bluegrass music, he said.