New Elks Lodge hosts youth hoop shoot
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 7 months AGO
The winners of Saturday’s Elks Hoop Shoot in Moses Lake. From left: Fabian Vargas, Boys 10-11 category; Preston Groth, Boys 8-9; Linden Wiltbank, Girls 10-11; and Brinly Wiltbank, Girls 12-13.
COURTESY PHOTO/DEBBIE DORAN-MARTINEZ
A young hopeful takes a free throw at the Elks Hoop Shoot in Moses Lake Saturday. The winners will go on to compete at the district competition in February, also to be held in Moses Lake.
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. | January 15, 2025 2:25 AM
MOSES LAKE — Four Moses Lake youths will advance in the Elks Hoop Shoot thanks to their free throw skills.
Fabian Vargas, Preston Groth, Linden Wiltbank and Brinly Wiltbank emerged the champions in their divisions in the competition held Saturday at Frontier Middle School, according to an email from Debbie Doran-Martinez, a member of the new Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge that formed in November in Moses Lake.
Saturday’s hoops shoot included boys in the 8-9 years-old and 10-11-years-old age brackets and girls 10-11 and 12-13 years old, according to Doran-Martinez. Those winners will move on to the district competition Feb. 1, which will also be held at Frontier Middle School, competing against players from Colville, Spokane, Omak, the Tri-Cities, Yakima and Walla Walla. The winners of that event will move on to the state competition in Olympia in February and take their shot for regionals in Nampa, Idaho in March and finally the national competition in Chicago in April. The BPOE pays for lodging, food and transportation for shooters and their families participating in out-of-town events, Doran-Martinez wrote.
The Elks Hoop Shoot began in Corvallis, Oregon in 1946, according to the Elks’ website. A former president of the national organization noticed that smaller boys were at a disadvantage in regular basketball competitions and decided to organize a free throw contest to even the playing field a little and extend participation to all players. The program went national in 1972 and became a regular part of the national BPOE in 1974, at which time it was expanded to allow girls as well.
“This is a great program that the Elks offer for youth in our community, and it is only one of many,” Doran-Martinez wrote. “Elks are known for their physical therapy programs for kids where therapists are able to go into the home and provide the needed services without any cost to the families. Elks also have a very robust scholarship program for Most Valuable Student with state and national awards each fall for high school seniors.”
More information about the BPOE at large is available at elks.org, and about the local lodge by emailing [email protected]. Anybody interested in helping the new lodge in Moses Lake get rolling is encouraged to reach out.
“You can be on the ground floor as we develop a new location and customized programming for our community,” Doran-Martinez wrote.
A young hopeful takes a free throw at the Elks Hoop Shoot in Moses Lake Saturday. The winners will go on to compete at the district competition in February, also to be held in Moses Lake.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.