Hashtag decanting: Washington’s wine industry furthers its cause through social media Thursday, opening its tasting room and tweaking its Twitter accounts.

The #WAWine event has scores of participating wineries, including quite a few in NCW, passing out samples and documenting the 5 to 8 p.m. event through Twitter and Facebook. If you use Twitter, just enter the #WAWine hashtag to follow along. On Facebook, it’s facebook.com/tasteandtweet for photos, messaging and status updates.

All 50 NCW tasting rooms in the Cascade Valley Wine Country collective are in on the party. The organizing website for the event is wawine.eventbrite.com.

Swim for a world record: In hopes of setting a world record for the world’s largest swimming lesson, swim areas at Chelan and Ephrata will be opening at 7 a.m. Thursday.

Viki Downey, head lifeguard and swim instructor at the Manson Parks and Recreation Department, called The Worm to say that the city pool in Ephrata and Slidewaters in Chelan will be participating in the event, which is sponsored by water safety and training organizations, including the Association of Pool and Spa Professionals, International Swimming Hall of Fame, International Swim Instructors Association and the World Waterpark Association.

“The idea is to raise awareness that swimming lessons save lives,” Downey said.

The pools in Chelan and Ephrata were the only ones in North Central Washington to register for the event by the May 20 deadline, according to Downey and the website worldslargestswimminglesson.org. More than 10,000 children are expected to participate, according to the site.

Why 7 a.m.? That’s in our time zone and other pools in other time zones are coordinated with that time. Anyone wanting more information can call Downey at 670-5330.

With honors: A Wenatchee High School graduate who died while doing foreign development work was honored May 7 by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Dale J. Gredler, 42, graduated from WHS in 1985 and went to work for the U.S. Agency for International Development in 2001. He was assigned to Indonesia first, then Almaty, Kazakhstan. He was en route to the U.S. from Kazakhstan to obtain medical treatment when he died of heart failure Jan. 27.

Gredler was among three deceased foreign aid workers honored by Clinton May 7 at a memorial ceremony held by the American Foreign Service Association. His name — along with those of Victoria DeLong, a Foreign Service officer who died in the Haiti earthquake, and Terry Barnich, a diplomatic worker killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq — was added to a State Department memorial plaque. A video of the memorial can be viewed at state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/05/141626.htm.

This week’s Worm was compiled by World reporter Jefferson Robbins. Reporter Dee Riggs contributed to this worm column. Have a tip? E-mail newsroom@wenatcheeworld.com.