55th Ritzville Rodeo begins tomorrow
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year AGO
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 28, 2025 1:43 AM
RITZVILLE — The folks watching the rodeo will sit a little more comfortably this weekend.
“We have brand-new grandstands,” said Ritzville Rodeo Board Member Julie Hartz. “We’ve been working on those all summer. Everybody has a pretty good tan that worked on them.”
Those grandstands will fill up this weekend for the 55th Ritzville Rodeo, a homegrown affair that packs lots of fun into a small area. Ritzville’s is an open rodeo, meaning that anyone can enter and it’s not part of the PRCA or NRPA circuits. The Ritzville Rodeo is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, which means some of the Friday contestants can make it to other, larger rodeos Saturday, Hartz said.
This year, there will be two different specialty acts Friday and Saturday, Hartz said. For several years, the Wild Card Trick Riders, a group of local young women, have awed the crowds with their laws-of-physics-defying riding tricks. But those ladies have a prior commitment Friday, so standing in for them will be the Wild Bunch Trick Riders. The similarity of names isn’t a coincidence; both groups were created by the McMillan family, which also supplies the animals for the rodeo. The Wild Bunch riders are the younger counterparts to the Wild Card riders, Hartz explained. The older riders will perform Saturday.
Saturday’s festivities start at 3 p.m. with the Ritzville Rodeo Queen Contest, followed by the Stick Horse Barrel Races for the children.
“We put little barrels up in the green grass in our amphitheater, so anybody can grab a stick horse and run the course,” Hartz said. “Our announcer he's on the PA, and any of the queens can come and help out and do little prizes.”
The Western Washington Mounted Shooters will give a short demonstration of horseback shooting during Saturday’s rodeo as well, Hartz said, as a precursor to their longer show Sunday, the Wheat Land Shootout.
“They weave in and out and … shoot balloons,” Hartz said. “They have different obstacle courses and they do it at speed.”
The rodeo has a beer garden both nights, according to the schedule, and Saturday night, the Desert Highway Band will perform classic country at the beer garden.
“They played here a year ago,” Hartz said. “They’re really good.”
Ritzville Rodeo
East Templin Road, Ritzville
Next to Wheat Land Communities Fairgrounds
Friday, Aug. 29 and Saturday, Aug. 30 7-9 p.m.
A member of the Wild Card Trick Riders takes a horseback stand at last year’s Ritzville Rodeo.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.