Serious silliness
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years AGO
Eight-year-old Alexis Trinidad of Quincy, left, assists magician Louie Foxx with a card trick at the Grant County Fair Thursday.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
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 20, 2024 1:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — Sometimes you just know early on that you want to spend your life doing card tricks.
“I saw a show when I was 5, and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world,” magician Louie Foxx said. “I decided that was going to be my job.”
Foxx was at the Grant County Fair last week doing three shows a day. He’s been to our fair a few times in the past, alternating years with the North Idaho State Fair in Coeur d’Alene, he said.
Foxx’s website describes him as the consummate kid who never grew up, and that’s the sort of energy he brings to his show. He does his illusions casually, almost offhandedly; no cape, top hat and wand for him. Besides the card tricks – using oversized decks that require a lot of dexterity to handle – several of his illusions involved long pieces of colored paper or strings. One trick had him pouring out what appears to be water from a paper cup, until you realize that it’s a single strip of paper, and the cup disappears with it. He designated one audience member at a Thursday afternoon show as his personal wastebasket, and every time a trick resulted in a large amount of paper left over, he would bestow it on that spectator, who took it with good humor.
For all his silliness, Foxx is apparently well respected in the prestidigitation business. He holds two Guinness World Records, and the Society of American Magicians voted him the Best Stage Magician and Best Close-up Magician in Minnesota in 1996, according to his website. He’s also appeared on the TV show “America’s Got Talent,” he told his audience Thursday.
“I was on season six of that show,” Foxx said. “On my last appearance on the show, the judges were Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel. Piers Morgan said I was an utter waste of time, Sharon Osbourne said I was fantastic, and Howie Mandel said I'd be perfect for Moses Lake. People ask, ‘How far did you make it in the show?’ I'm like, ‘Almost to Ritzville!’ So close to my dreams.”
Foxx grew up near Vancouver in the little town of La Center, he said. He does the fair circuit from the end of April through October, and in the off-season works cruise ships, comedy clubs and corporate events.
Foxx’s interest in show business is apparently genetic. His daughter, who’s 20, graduated college in June and promptly ran away with the circus, he said.
“She’s (doing) three shows a day,” he said. “She gets put in a straitjacket, wrapped up in 50 feet of chain, and – in theory – gets out.”
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.