Ephrata to light Christmas tree Friday
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 9 months AGO
Ephrata residents will step out to get their Christmas celebration as a community started on Friday with a tree lighting get-together that afternoon as the sun sets.
FILE PHOTO
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. | November 22, 2023 1:30 AM
EPHRATA — The Ephrata Chamber of Commerce will kindle a new tradition Friday, with the first official Downtown Tree Lighting.
“We decided we wanted to get the town lit up ahead of time and Thanksgiving weekend is an awesome weekend to do it,” said Chamber Executive Director Rita Witte.
The tree in question is the tall evergreen — nobody seems certain exactly what kind it is or how long it’s been there — outside the Ephrata Recreation center at 112 Basin St. SW. Sunset is at 4:14 p.m. that day, and the tree lighting will take place shortly after that at 4:30.
Ordinarily the tree is lit up during Bells on Basin, the town’s Christmas parade and celebration, which this year is Dec. 9. Basin Tree Service gave the tree a haircut for the occasion, Witte said, and Grant PUD and the city of Ephrata will hang up the lights this week.
Since this is the first time Ephrata has held a separate tree lighting, there’s not a whole lot planned, Witte said. For future events, she’s hoping to get a choir and maybe some vendors, but this year it will be hot chocolate, some music and a large dollop of good community cheer.
“Next year, we'll see what happens,” she said. “For right now, I'm hoping that people will be downtown and will come down and help us light it up. That'll be fun.”
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.