Lighting up the town
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 10 months AGO
The downtown holiday tree in Sinkiuse Square comes to life at last year’s tree lighting ceremony and street party. This year’s event is Nov. 15.
FILE PHOTO
Ivory Ruiz does crafts at a table set up at last year’s Downtown Moses Lake Association holiday tree lighting.
Participants toast marshmallows at a previous Moses Lake holiday tree lighting. There will be heaters set up around Sinkiuse Square for this year’s event to hold back the chill.
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 7, 2024 3:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — The holiday tree in downtown Moses Lake will blaze up bigger and brighter this year.
“In years past, we’ve had a tree that was 16 feet tall,” said Mallory Miller, director of the Downtown Moses Lake Association, which sponsors the annual tree lighting event. “This year we have a tree that is going to be 24 feet tall.”
The tree lighting, which is Nov. 15 this year, has served as Moses Lake’s kickoff to the holiday season for many years. The DMLA also decorates the downtown core for the season; members and volunteers were out in the early hours of Tuesday morning changing banners and hanging wreaths on light poles, DMLA President Denise Kinder said.
The commercial-grade lights on both the big holiday tree and the trees lining Third Avenue are new this year, a donation from Spokane Teachers Credit Union, Miller said. They’ll stay up through February to make the winter a little less dreary.
The actual tree lighting ceremony will be at 5:45, but festivities begin at 4 p.m. at Sinkiuse Square, with hot cocoa, free photos with Santa and Christmas music spun by DJ Dale Roth. Children are invited to take part in a scavenger hunt through downtown businesses.
“There's going to be an item hidden in each business, and the kids have to go in and find the item and then bring it to the front desk or register of each store to get a stamp,” Miller said. “And then the business owner can either hide it again in the same spot or in a different spot.”
Participating children have until the next day to finish the hunt, and those who do will be entered in a drawing for a basket of goodies from downtown businesses, Miller said.
The celebration is the DMLA’s way of highlighting local businesses for the holiday shopping season, Miller said. With Thanksgiving, and consequently Small Business Saturday, coming so late in the month, it’s good to get a jump on the shopping and to remind people that what they want might be available in one of the small businesses that make up downtown Moses Lake.
“People don't realize that there are smaller shops with (local owners),” she said. “Sometimes it might be more expensive, but you're supporting a local family rather than a corporate box store.”
Ivory Ruiz does crafts at a table set up at last year’s Downtown Moses Lake Association holiday tree lighting.
Participants toast marshmallows at a previous Moses Lake holiday tree lighting. There will be heaters set up around Sinkiuse Square for this year’s event to hold back the chill.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.