The dead live on in memory at the Moravida Festival
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 10 months AGO
Dancers with Danzas Multiculturales perform in traditional costume and skull face paint at the Moravida Festival Saturday at the Grant County Fairgrounds.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Crystal Hitt, left, and Vira Ortiz visit an ofrenda at the Moravida festival Saturday at the Grant County Fairgrounds. The ofrendas are shrines set up to remember family members who have passed on in the traditional Mexican Día de Muertos celebration.
Julie Whitworth and her children Elle, 7 and Everett, 4, look over an ofrenda at the Moravida Festival Saturday. Many children came to the event in their Halloween costumes.
Singer Mari Vela performs at the Moravida Festival Saturday.
The communal altar at the Moravida Festival held flowers, candles and photos of the deceased.
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. | October 31, 2024 3:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — This world and the next came together Saturday at the Moravida Festival at the Grant County Fairgrounds.
This is the third year the fairgrounds has held the festival, said Fairgrounds Coordinator Rebecca Martinez, and although she didn’t have verified numbers, she said it appeared to be the best-attended.
The event is based on the traditional Mexican Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, usually celebrated in the first couple of days of November, when families remember those who have passed on and keep their memory alive. Local families brought flowers, candles and photos of their deceased loved ones for a communal altar, and some families had put out larger displays, called ofrendas, in memory of their family members.
“It's a day that they really (hold sacred) for their loved ones that they lost,” said Maria Avila, who was visiting an ofrenda in memory of her niece, who passed away in a car accident last year. “They eat all day with them in their grave sites or homes, they set up big shrines for them. In Mexico, this is huge. They have parades and the whole city set up for Day of the Dead.”
“This was the first year that we filled the entire building and all the shelves that are available,” Martinez said. “We had to add some last-minute tables just to be able to accommodate everybody that wanted to put up an ofrenda.”
Besides the shrines, there was a continual schedule of entertainment in the 4-H building, including singers, musicians both local and traveling. The Mount Vernon Mariachi y Folklórico made the trip over from the west side to perform, and Kataleya Garcia of Quincy performed as well.
The Ag Building held a variety of craft vendors, and there were food vendors and children’s games in the field outside.
Planning for the event began back in the spring, Martinez said. Her seven-person committee reached out on social media for families who wanted to memorialize their loved ones and contacted some who had also participated in past years.
“We're just happy that we've been able to keep it going and provide this great cultural event for the community,” she said.
Moravida Committee
Anita Reyna
Alexandrea Hipolito
Guillermo Hermosillo
Noemi Garcia
Jerry De La Rosa
Lupe De La Rosa
Madeline Sánchez
Crystal Hitt, left, and Vira Ortiz visit an ofrenda at the Moravida festival Saturday at the Grant County Fairgrounds. The ofrendas are shrines set up to remember family members who have passed on in the traditional Mexican Día de Muertos celebration.
Julie Whitworth and her children Elle, 7 and Everett, 4, look over an ofrenda at the Moravida Festival Saturday. Many children came to the event in their Halloween costumes.
Singer Mari Vela performs at the Moravida Festival Saturday.
The communal altar at the Moravida Festival held flowers, candles and photos of the deceased.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.