Spring Fest approaches
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 years, 3 months AGO
The 2022 Moses Lake Spring Festival drew the biggest crowd in the event’s history, organizers said. This year’s festival is May 25-28.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Ten-year-old Melanie Macomber of Moses Lake glances down to her parents for support as she makes her way up the rock-climbing wall at last year’s Spring Festival. This year’s festival is May 25-28.
The Moses Lake High School cheerleaders – the last to wear the Chiefs uniform – march down Third Avenue in last year’s Spring Festival Grand Parade. This year’s festival is May 25-28.
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. | May 15, 2023 1:30 AM
MOSES LAKE — It’s an annual tradition in Moses Lake, the town’s biggest festival of the year, and it’s coming up again.
The Moses Lake Spring Festival happens every Memorial Day weekend, which this year is May 25-28. Last year’s festival, as life returned to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic, had the highest attendance in the festival’s 43-year history, according to organizers.
The goal, said Sean SallisSallispresident of the committee organizing the festival in a January Columbia Basin Herald interview, is “to provide so much stuff that you’ll never get to do it all.”
The fun begins Thursday at 3 p.m. at McCosh Park, with food and craft vendors of all kinds, according to the festival’s website. The Rainier Shows carnival opens at 4 p.m. at Lions Field across from the park. Thursday is also Buddy Night at the carnival, with armbands two for the price of one. The cost for an armband is $25 before May 24, and $35 after that.
Thursday will also feature a doughnut-eating contest sponsored by Corner St. Donuts and the “Back to the ’90s” lip-sync contest. First prize for the contest is $500, according to the release. Prospective contestants should pre-register at the festival’s website.
Friday the park will open at noon, and the carnival will open at 2 p.m. The beer and wine garden will be open from 4 to 11 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
One of the biggest draws of the Spring Festival is the musical entertainment. Friday evening will be headlined by two free concerts, by 1990s rap stars Tone Loc and Montell Jordan.
Saturday will be a busy day, with a fun run, 3-on-3 basketball tournament and car show. The Moses Lake Farmers Market will be set up at the park that morning as well, with fresh produce, goodies and crafts.
The Centennial Amphitheater stage will host a wide array of homegrown performances: local dance groups, martial arts demonstrations and the Mrs. Washington Pageant, according to the release.
The Kiddie Parade begins at 6 p.m. in Sinkiuse Square, according to the release. Youngsters of all ages are invited to walk the few blocks of the parade. Costumes are encouraged and there will be prizes for the best get-ups.
The Grand Moonlight Parade kicks off at 8 p.m. This year’s grand marshal will be Rick Koba, a Moses Lake native whose family business, Frank’s Market, has been a fixture in Moses Lake since 1951. Saturday will wind up with a free concert by Moses Lake band Free Beer Nuts.
The festival’s last day, Sunday, will continue the 3-on-3 basketball tournament and there will also be a cornhole tournament starting at noon. There will be another free concert Sunday as well. Vanilla Ice, also a rap star of the 1990s, takes the stage at 8:30.
More information can be found at www.springfestivalinmoseslake.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/springfestml.
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
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Quincy Police retirements leave big shoes to fill
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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.