Almira Country Fair coming Saturday
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 11 months AGO
Cars line Fourth Street outside the Almira Community Center at last year’s Almira Country Fair. This year’s fair is Saturday, and the car show has been moved to Elm Street next to the park.
COURTESY PHOTO/ALMIRA COUNTRY FAIR
Sharon Andersen, left, and Helen Ladwig of the Wheat Country Quilters sell quilt raffle tickets at last year’s Almira Country Fair. This year’s event is Saturday.
Attendees at the Almira Country Fair Saturday can vote for their favorite sidewalk chalk art.
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. | September 27, 2024 3:30 AM
ALMIRA — The Almira Country Fair will be an all-outdoor event this year, according to JoAnn Eagle, one of the organizers, to keep activities from being spread out too far.
“We were playing (beanbag toss) a block away from some of our other activities, and then there were kids’ activities in the park,” Eagle said. “It just kind of puts everybody in the same location.”
The fun starts at 7:30 a.m. with the Fire Department Breakfast, according to the fair’s online schedule. Registration for the parade starts at 9 a.m. and entrants can line up for staging at 9:30 at Almira Lions Memorial Park. The parade itself starts at 10 a.m.; first the kiddie parade and then the big (well, big for a town of 300-ish) parade on Third Street between Main and Locust streets.
Across the park on Fourth Street, there’s a car show. Registration starts at 8:30 a.m., the show itself starts at 10, and the winners will be announced at 2:30 p.m. Registration for the Lions Club beanbag toss tournament begins at 10 a.m. and the tournament starts at noon.
Vendors and food will be available on Elm Street at the south side of the park, including offerings from Hillside Catering from Okanogan and Almira’s own North Ridge Farms. There will be bouncy houses, a climbing wall and bubble stations as well as a chalk station, where attendees can vote for their favorite sidewalk art. And Wheat Country Quilters raffle tickets will be available for $1, with the money going toward scholarships for local students.
The Almira/Coulee-Hartline Grid Kids football game will coincide with the fair that day, Eagle said.
“They had to work pretty hard to get (it) scheduled,” Eagle said. “A lot of times, if a family had to travel to Odessa or Moses Lake, then they missed most of the fair. But if they’re here, they only have to watch the game, and they can participate in the rest of the fair.”
The Almira Country Fair is completely run by volunteers, Eagle said, and sometimes they burn out, as happened in 2019, according to the town’s website. A new group of volunteers stepped up and saved it that year, Eagle said.
“When you’re a small town, it’s the same people who do everything,” she said. “The Lions Club, the fire department. (But) we actually have quite a few younger families that have moved into town with elementary kids and want to be a part of everything. And that’s been a huge piece of excitement … (They come) because we have an awesome school. The numbers are small, lots of individual time.”
Sharon Andersen, left, and Helen Ladwig of the Wheat Country Quilters sell quilt raffle tickets at last year’s Almira Country Fair. This year’s event is Saturday.
Attendees at the Almira Country Fair Saturday can vote for their favorite sidewalk chalk art.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.