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Local event promoter
creates Shelton-based
bartender competition
By NATALIE JOHNSON
While hanging around
his favorite Shelton bar one
evening, local event pro-
moter Eric Smileuske was
hit with a shot of inspira-
tion.
Smileuske, or Smiley as
he likes to be called, and
his wife were sitting at the
bar at Steven's Fine Dining
in downtown Shelton when
they started brainstorming
about bringing a bartender
competition to Shelton.
'¢You see a lot of bar-
tender competitions in New
York or L.A. where they
have a much more urban
crowd," Smileuske said.
"This will be something
that's new to the area, but
it will be a lot of fun."
The event, The Bar-
tender's Bottles and Bash,
is scheduled for 8 p.m. on
Thursday, July 21 at the
Pavilion at Sentry Park in
Shelton. Already, Smile-
uske has done a lot of work
to set up sponsors, partici-
pants and entertainment,
but for him it's just another
day's work.
"I came up here from the
East Coast in 1995 with the
casino business," he said.
"I've done a lot of events at
the casinos I've worked at,
and it just seemed like this
would be a fun thing to do."
With his company, All
Access Event Productions,
Inc., Smileuske has already
confirmed participating
bars like Steven's, which
will also cater the event,
the Town Pub and the Log
Cabin, and booked the Var-
mints to play during the
competition.
"We started looking for a
local location, and the pa-
vilion was open, so we said
there you have it," he said.
The competition should
include 10 bartenders from
Mason and Thurston coun-
ties, with two alternates.
Five of the participating
bartenders will come from
sponsor bars, which will
sell tickets and play a role
in the advertising of the
event, Smileuske said.
While the mention of a
bartending competition of-
ten brings to mind daring
stunts with bottles of liquor
Journal photo by Natalie Johnson
Eric Smileuske is organizing a bartender competition at the Pavilion to take place this summer.
flying through the air, Smi-
leuske said that this com-
petition would be a more
practical test of the skill of
the participating bartend-
ers.
"We're looking at speed,
accuracy and originality,"
Smileuske said.
Bartenders will be given
a list of drinks to make and
will be tested on their speed
and accuracy. Then they
will have an opportunity
to show their creativity by
mixing a drink of their own.
The bartenders will be
judged by people who know
their drinks, Smileuske
said.
"One of our liquor reps
is a judge, one of our beer
reps is a judge, then we'll
have a local celebrity as
well -we're working on that
part," he said.
Smileuske has not yet
started taking applications
for the bartender spots, but
said that qualifying for the
drawing to be a contestant
or alternate from the non-
sponsor bars is easy.
"The only thing you need
to qualify to get in is be an
active bartender," he said.
Winners of the competi-
tion get to walk away with
more than bragging rights,
Smileuske said.
"We'll pay the top three
bartenders $250, $150 and
$100 and then the sponsor-
ing bar will be $250 itself,"
he said.
Tickets should go on
sale soon and the event
is for people 21 and over.
For more information, or
updates on the event, visit
aaeventproductions.com or
e-mail smiley@delsol.net.
Elderly Shelton man
found dead in ditch
By KEVAN MOORE
An 8!-year-old Shelton man was found dead in
a water-filled ditch on the afternoon of Saturday,
March 5.
Donald R. Aldrich, 81, was found lying in the
water-filled ditch alongside railroad tracks that
run near the abandoned ITT research lab build-
ings off Harvard Street in Shelton.
Mason County Coroner Wes Stockwell said
that an autopsy was performed Tuesday on Al-
drich.
Stockwell said that Aldrich was a client of Ex-
ceptional Foresters Incorporated which assisted
him with some of his daily living routines, but
that Aldrich was mostly independent and lived by
himself in a residence near Walker Park.
Aldrich was likely walking home at the time of
his death and had been in the ditch for some time
less than 24 hours before his body was discovered
by the passing watchman, Stockwell said.
PUD 3 continues to struggle with copper theft
By NATALIE JOHNSON
A Mason County PUD 3
staff member discovered an
unwelcome surprise on °45
of their power poles in the
city of Shelton last week.
On each pole, a section of
the copper ground wire had
been snipped off, leaving
the poles ungrounded, PUD
3 Manager Wyla Wood said.
"It is a potential safety
issue obviously," Wood said.
"It has been appropriately
reported to the police."
Several copper power
meter bases were also sto-
len, Wood said.
The copper was most
likely stolen to sell for
scrap metal, PUD 3 staff
said.
Copper thefts have also
hit crews at the PUD's
Johns Prairie Operations
Center work site.
Nicole Brown, a repre-
sentative from OAC Servic-
es, the company overseeing
the work done on the site,
said that a security guard
had been hired and fencing
would soon be installed to
deter future theft.
PUD staff could not
give a concrete estimate
on how much this theft
will cost the utility. Op-
erations Manager Bob
Smith said that the labor
expended to repair the
power poles will cost far
more than the copper.
Journal photo by Natalie Johnson
PUD 3 crews
are making
repairs, like this
one, to copper
ground lines on
45 power poles
in Shelton, after
the wires were
cut and stolen,
presumably to sell
for scrap metal,
PUD staff said.
/
Shelton-Mason County Journal-Thursday, March 10, 2011 - Page A-3