Lindpocalypse
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 years, 10 months AGO
Joel Martin/Columbia Basin Herald Ellis Cody, left and Mary Ann Clemmer lead the Zombie Walk through downtown Lind on Saturday.
Joel Martin/Columbia Basin Herald Destiny Sheriff, right, turns Christi Eakin of Lind into a decaying corpse for the Zombie Walk Saturday, while Ellis Cody touches up his makeup in the background.
Joel Martin/Columbia Basin Herald P.J. Jacobsen, left, and Jamie Schmunk make up the lunatic-medical professional contingent of the Lind Zombie Walk Saturday.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | October 30, 2017 3:00 AM
LIND — The turnout wasn't huge for the Lind Zombie Walk Saturday and Sunday, but the folks who were there had a wild and gory time taking over Lind Town Park and shambling through the streets in search of edible gray matter. The Zombie Walk began with a parade Saturday and moved on to a paintball zombie-shooting gallery and two scary-but-family-friendly movies, finishing up with a cakewalk and trunk-or-treat for the kids Sunday evening.
The walk was the brainchild – so to speak – of Mary Ann Clemmer and her husband Ellis Cody. Cody had been involved in a haunted house in northern California for a number of years before coming to Lind. So when talk at a Lind Chamber of Commerce meeting turned to ideas for an October event, he said, “my hand was the first one up.”
His persona in previous zombie activities was that of a “trapper,” Cody said as he carefully applied his black-and-white makeup at a picnic table. “I keep the zombies where they need to stay.”
Not that there was any containing the younger set. A small mob of children ran, whooped and cartwheeled their way through the park in their gruesome finery. Meanwhile, Moses Lake artist Destiny Sheriff turned the adults into the walking dead, creating disturbingly realistic wounds and putrefied flesh. “It's just a hobby,” Sheriff said. “This is the first time I've done this for multiple people.”
Her human canvas of the moment, Christi Eakin of Lind, was outfitted as a cowgirl. She had originally planned to be either Annie Oakley or Jessie from the “Toy Story” movies, she said, but couldn't find all the necessary accessories.
Chamber president P.J. Jacobsen sat nearby costumed as a nurse, a pair of (plastic, thankfully) severed limbs on her lap, while Jamie Schmunk roamed the park in doctor's scrubs and carrying a bloody (also plastic) meat cleaver.
About 50 to 75 people turned out Saturday, many of whom arrived after the parade, according to Clemmer. That may not sound like a lot, but for a brand-new event in a town of fewer than 600 people, it's not a total bust either.
“We had planned for a lot more, but you never know with a little town who's going to show up,” said Jacobsen. “We had hoped to turn this into a tradition. It was a lot of work for just the few that came. But then your first year's always going to be tough.”
Clemmer was pleased with the results. “We did OK,” she said. “The kids really ate up their prizes and the paintball booth. They just really had a good time.”
Results of the costume contest and attendance figures for Sunday weren't available at Herald press time.
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
QUINCY — Quincy’s National Night Out was more compact this year, which worked out well, said QPD Sgt. Joe Westby, who’s in charge of event planning for the Quincy Police Department. “National Night Out is a big event, and the fact that we’re able to shrink it up is like a breath of fresh air,” Westby said. “If you're always doing the same thing, it's kind of nice to switch things up and see how it works.” National Night Out took place Thursday on the block of C Street next to the police station, a shift from previous years when it was held at Lauzier Park. The smaller space meant fewer emergency vehicles for children to explore, but it also meant less walking for attendees. Grant County Fire District 5 brought a fire truck, and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office had a patrol boat. Renew, the Grant County behavioral health agency, had a booth and so did Quincy Partnership for Youth. Veterans Operation Creation sang the national anthem, and the Quincy Animal Shelter brought kittens that piled over each other making friends with passersby. As before, the QPD served grilled hot dogs.
Quincy Police retirements leave big shoes to fill
QUINCY — There are some big shoes to fill at the Quincy Police Department. “We’re losing 48 years of experience between them,” Quincy Police Chief Ryan Green said at the retirement party for Capt. Jorge Trujillo and Det. Damon Powell Thursday. Trujillo, who grew up in Sunnyside, has been with QPD for 19 years, he said, coming on as a patrol officer fresh out of the military. From there he served as a field training officer, a detective and finally captain. “I consider him my left-hand man,” Green said. “He runs the operations side of the house … He knows the agency very well, and he knows the community.” Trujillo has some projects around the house to tackle now that he’s retired, he said.
Big fun on a small scale
Wheat Land Communities’ Fair opens Thursday
RITZVILLE — The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair isn’t as big or as flashy as some of the county fairs around central Washington, but the folks who keep it going like it just the way it is. “It’s somewhere you can go and get an old-time traditional feeling, and you’re comfortable letting your kids roam the grounds and experience all that it has to offer,” said Board Member Lori Williams. “It’s more of a feeling than (one) specific thing,” The fair starts Thursday in Ritzville and runs through Sunday. Starting Friday, the 56th Ritzville Rodeo will take place alongside the fair at the rodeo grounds. This year the entertainment budget was expanded, Williams said, to be able to offer more fun that’s covered by the cost of admission. For the kids, there’s face painting, balloon art, Lego crafts, races, contests and games. Children can also ride on a little train towed around the fairgrounds behind a tractor.