First-time exhibitor, 12, wins big at fair
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year AGO
Kayson Hull, 12, of Quincy, shows his prize Holstein Juliet, with the ribbons the two of them won at the Grant County Fair.
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 25, 2025 3:15 AM
QUINCY —Twelve-year-old Kayson Hull of Quincy cleaned up at the Grant County Fair, walking away with seven ribbons, all for one cow. What’s more, this is Kayson’s first time showing an animal at the fair.
“Yeah, I’m shocked too,” he said.
Kayson’s Holstein dairy cow, Juliet, won Grand Champion for junior class, Holstein Senior Calf Grand Champion, Dairy Junior Champion, Dairy Reserve Junior Champion, Grand Champion Fitting and Showing, Best of Show Dairy and the big one, Supreme Dairy, according to the Grant County Fair’s listings.
“My cow did it all, pretty much,” Kayson said.
Some of that is true, explained Kayson’s mom Kristina Hull. Juliet comes from a registered herd and her breeding gave her the sort of physical characteristics, like a straight back and deep ribs, that play well with judges. But Kayson’s efforts played a big part in fitting and showing, she said.
“Fitting and showing is all judged on how he clipped the cow, how clean he kept her, how clean he kept her stall, and then how much she respected him in the ring. So no, that was all him.”
“What’s really odd is that she won the supreme champion as a 1-year-old,” Kayson’s dad Eric Hull said. “That never happens. Usually, it's the older cows that win it. They're so much bigger, they’re so much more developed.”
Juliet was a little cranky about holding still for a photo Thursday, Kristina said.
“She was tied up to a stall for a whole week with only this much rope to move, and (since) she's been back, she is loving her freedom. She’s like, ‘I don’t want to do that again.’”
Kayson is a fourth-generation dairyman, his parents said, and Juliet came from his grandfather’s dairy farm southwest of Quincy.
“We’ve had her since she was around three months, and she’s 11 months now,” Kayson said.
“We're so excited for Kayson, and he did such a good job taking care of that animal,” Eric said.
Kristina and Eric Hull both come from farming families, and they’re making renovations to the dairy farm to start a creamery and make their own cheese, Eric said. Kristina’s father, now retired, had a long history of exceptionally clean milk production for a large dairy company, and the Hulls want to take it to another level.
“We’re in the middle of construction,” Kristina said. “We just turned in our paperwork, and so we’ll hopefully be certified in two months.”
“It's really hard to make it as a dairyman when you're selling to a big co-op,” Eric said. “We're really excited. We're hopefully going to help our kids get to experience the dairy, but we're going to sell our own milk direct to people we know, to our neighbors … We want our kids to have that and to experience that.”
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.