Break out your bling-bling and your eggs.

Its the 75th (diamond) anniversary of the Winlock Egg Days three-day festival, and with the theme of Winlock Egg Days and Diamonds Forever Winlock is the place to be this weekend, clad in all your diamond jewelry, of course.

We have all kinds of fun stuff happening, said Egg Day royal court organizer Nettie Jungers.

Netties husband, Mike, a former auctioneer, has been the voice of the Egg Day parade for the past 13 years.

Nest Best company donated dozens and dozens of eggs and will be giving out at least 75 dozen during the parade, she said. These are coupons for eggs, however, not cartons.

Thats to keep people from throwing them at me and Mike when we are downtown MCing, Jungers said with a laugh.

A refrigerated truck at the town events center plaza on Kerron Avenue by the railroad tracks (where the Winlock Farmers Market is held each weekend) will redeem the coupons for the actual eggs.

The Egg Day parade has a large number of entrants already booked, according to Dean Hendrickson, parade chairman. We have 80 plus, he said. Hendrickson, 79, has been involved with Winlock Egg Days in some fashion or another for 40 years. I just got started and didnt know quite when to quit, he said. I have to keep busy and this keeps me busy and then I have my slack time, and that is good enough for me.

He noted that, as usual, Egg Days will have quite an offering of activities and events for everyone to enjoy over the course of the three-day celebration.

We have the coronation Friday night at 7 p.m. in the Winlock Middle School gymnasium, he said. Then, of course, on Saturday we have the parade at 11 a.m. and (before that) the American Legion breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m. in the Community Building. We have airplanes fly over to start the parade. And we have stuff going on all day. There is a carnival in town with vendors in the carnival area and the plaza downtown, across from the big egg. We have egg salad sandwiches served after the parade at Winlock Miller Elementary School cafeteria.

And what would a parade be without royalty and honorary officials? Grand marshals this year are Gary and JoAnn Parkison. The Parkisons have been actively involved with the Winlock community since they first moved here in 1965. JoAnn worked in the Winlock school cafeteria for many years, and the couple helped start the first food bank in Winlock.

A special visit is planned by former Winlock royalty Joyce Wise Senechal, the 1938 Winlock Egg Day Queen. Senechal was 24 when she became the second Egg Day Queen, and celebrated her 97th birthday on Feb. 23.

Winlock Egg Day princesses in the running for this year include Brianna Lowery, 15, and Rachel Archer, 16. Coronation for the 75th Winlock Egg Day Queen will take place at the Winlock High School auditorium on Friday at 7 p.m. Entry to the coronation and dance will be a can of food, which also enters the visitor into a chance at door prizes. The theme for the dance is Diamonds are a Chicks Best Friend which is in keeping with the Winlock Egg Days overall theme: Winlock Egg Days and Diamonds Forever.

For Misti Mayo, a new and active member of the Winlock Egg Day planning committee and self-appointed secretary, living in Winlock and participating in Egg Days is a special treat and no one should miss the celebration this weekend. A 20-year Air Force veteran, Mayo first moved to Winlock in 2006 and jumped into Egg Days with both feet, designing the Egg Day program this year.

I look at Winlock and all of the people who have lived here so long, and the history here, she said. This is all put on by a volunteer force and if we dont support these small-town activities, it will all go away and that would be sad. It is important for (visitors this weekend) to come to Winlock and experience and support an American way of life. This was all started from the egg industry and that is what started America the small businesses.

She added with a laugh, Im a veteran and Ive traveled the world and Ive never really put down roots in a little, small town that had a big egg. I just really appreciate what Winlock has to offer and it is already near and dear to my heart.

Victoria Stewart is a freelance writer and photographer. She can be reached at creative01writer@yahoo.com.