Warden Community Days coming this weekend
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year AGO
The Warden High School mascot, the Cougar, cheers in the back of a flatbed truck during last year’s Warden Community Day parade.
FILE PHOTO
Children try to catch oversized bubbles at Warden Park at the Warden Community Days last year. The Bubble Fairy will return this year on Labor Day.
The Seattle Cossacks will defy gravity on wheels at Warden Community Days.
Warden High School cheerleaders perform on the streets of Warden during last year’s Community Days Parade.
Volunteers grill burgers at last year’s Warden Community Days. Almost everything that goes into the festival is donated and done by volunteers.
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 5:36 PM
WARDEN — If you happen to have an inflatable costume – maybe a T-rex, or a cow, or a cartoon character – sitting around in the closet, Monday will be the perfect time to unearth it and try it on. Warden Community Days is introducing an inflatable costume race to the Labor Day festivities this year.
“Basically, you put on these inflatable costumes and run through a small obstacle course,” said Renay Jorgensen, chair of the committee that organizes Warden’s annual festival. “One of the gals that I work with actually ordered a flying eagle costume … My boys had a bull rider costume.”
Warden Community Days is a local tradition for Labor Day weekend, starting with a car show on Saturday. On Sunday, the Community Days committee will serve up hamburgers made with beef donated by AgriBeef and Simplot will supply hot french fries for a free community dinner. Singer Anjelina Kittrell, a Warden High School alumna, will perform at the car show and the dinner, Jorgensen said, as will Anything Goes.
Monday begins with the Community Days Parade at 11 a.m., starting at First Street and Ash Avenue. The parade will go down Ash, turn right on Sixth Street and again on Main Street, and finish up at First and Main.
Grand marshals for this year’s parade are John and Helen Preston, according to a post on the Warden Community Days social media page.
The inflatable race, plus stick horse races for the children, will follow the parade at 11:30 a.m., and in turn will be followed by a performance by the Bubble Fairy. There will be musical entertainment from Kittrell, Amariah Pruneda, Folclórica and Banda Plebilloz, according to the committee. The Seattle Cossacks motorcycle drill team will perform as well.
Warden Community Days traditionally includes a volleyball tournament, Jorgensen said. That will begin first thing in the morning and go all day, she said.
“So far there's three teams, but a lot of teams will wait until the day of to sign up,” Jorgensen said. “Usually there's about nine-plus teams.”
There will also be a bean bag toss tournament, and this year the committee has introduced a 3-on-3 basketball tournament.
This year’s festival is a little bittersweet for Jorgensen, she said, as she’s stepping down from heading the committee.
“It's really important to get new ideas,” she said. “Sometimes if you get somebody that's in there for years and years and years, you don't want it to get stale.”
Warden Community Days
Aug. 30-Sept. 1
Volunteer Park
Children try to catch oversized bubbles at Warden Park at the Warden Community Days last year. The Bubble Fairy will return this year on Labor Day.
The Seattle Cossacks will defy gravity on wheels at Warden Community Days.
Warden High School cheerleaders perform on the streets of Warden during last year’s Community Days Parade.
Volunteers grill burgers at last year’s Warden Community Days. Almost everything that goes into the festival is donated and done by volunteers.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.