Bulls, broncs and biscuits
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 2 months AGO
Volunteers man the chow line at the Cowboy Breakfast last year. This year’s breakfast is Friday.
FILE PHOTO
A roping contestant tries her best to take down that steer at last year’s Cowboy Breakfast. This year’s breakfast is Friday.
Volunteers man the chow line at the Cowboy Breakfast last year. This year’s breakfast is Friday.
Running the barrels is a rodeo event in the Pee Wee Stampede at the Cowboy Breakfast.
A family of mountain goats stand atop Mount Aeneas in the Jewel Basin on Saturday, July 27. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
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. | August 7, 2024 1:20 AM
MOSES LAKE — The Grant County Fair is a big deal in Grant County, and it’s only fitting that it should have a proper introduction. That happens the Friday before the fair, which this year is Aug. 9. The breakfast, hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Moses Lake, will be from 7 to 10 a.m. at Sinkiuse Square next to the post office.
“A lot of people who work in Moses Lake come and eat before they go to work,” said Dayna Dent, who’s coordinated the breakfast for the Kiwanis for the last three years.
The Cowboy Breakfast has been going on for 25-30 years, according to Kiwanian James Shank. The menu will include biscuits and gravy, sausage, scrambled eggs, coffee and juice for $17 per plate.
Up until a few years ago, Michael’s on the Lake supplied the ingredients for a pancake breakfast and Kiwanis members cooked the food on the spot, Shank said. When Michael’s decided it didn’t want to continue, the Kiwanis Club cooked at the senior center for a couple of years, Shank said, and this year Top Gun Concessions & Catering will bring the food to the park.
Top Gun found biscuits and gravy much easier logistically than pancakes, Dent said.
“Do you have any idea how heavy those (pancake) grills are?” she said.
Serving and cleanup will be provided by volunteers from Kiwanis, Dent said, assisted by some young people from Key Club, the Kiwanis’ high school branch. Dale Roth Productions will supply the music and announcements. Members of the Moses Lake Roundup Rodeo Association will set up the panels and banners the night before and the tables in the morning.
While attendees are enjoying the breakfast, they can also watch the Pee Wee Stampede stick horse rodeo, which lets kids 9 years old and younger compete in roping a stationary steer head, staying on stick horse bucking broncs, racing those same wooden steeds around barrels and competing for the prestigious title of Little Miss Moses Lake Roundup.
“People love (the stick horse rodeo),” Dent said. “It gets a lot of families involved too.”
In theory, the Cowboy Breakfast is a fundraiser, Shank said, but with the rising cost of food in the post-COVID-19 era, it breaks even. It’s mostly a fun community event now, he said.
The Kiwanis Club’s main fundraiser is a booth at the Agri-Service Demo Derby from Aug. 13-14 and the Moses Lake Roundup Rodeo from Aug. 16-17. There, they offer hot dogs, German sausages and nachos, all of which can be smothered in chili and cheese, popcorn and lemonade. That brings in about $15,000 a year, Shank said.
All the monies raised go back out into the community, Dent said, for projects by organizations like the Boys and Girls Club or Care Moses Lake.
The Cowboy Breakfast brings about 200-300 people to Sinkiuse Square most years, Shank said, which is a great way to get the community together.
“One of the reasons I love living in Moses Lake and raised my family here was because of the sense of community that we have, and opportunities like this to really connect with the community, put aside politics and come out and enjoy each other,” Shank said.
A roping contestant tries her best to take down that steer at last year’s Cowboy Breakfast. This year’s breakfast is Friday.
Running the barrels is a rodeo event in the Pee Wee Stampede at the Cowboy Breakfast.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Endless battle
Noxious Weed Control Board works to keep invasive plants under control
MOSES LAKE — Some of the nastiest plants in Grant County were the topic of a class led by Jay Johnson, a consultant with the Grant County Noxious Weed Control Board, Tuesday. The Noxious Weed Control Board, as its name would suggest, is tasked with keeping weeds under control in Grant County. That’s not a small job; the board’s website lists 129 species of noxious weeds that are found around Grant County. A noxious weed is defined as an invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat, according to the Noxious Weed Control Board. Washington state law requires that these weeds be identified and their spread kept to a minimum, if not completely eradicated. “We’re one of those agencies a lot of people don’t really understand,” Johnson said. “We’re a county office and … our funding is tax-based assessment. When you get your tax bill and you look down at all the expenses that you pay for, there we are.”
BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
Moses Lake author encourages women to look beyond church culture norms
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