Cupid’s Market coming Feb. 8
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 7 months 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. | January 31, 2025 3:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — Love, as well as a whole lot of crafts and food, will be in the air Feb. 8 at the Moses Lake Farmers Market’s Cupid’s Market.
“I have 68 stalls and they’re full, with two vendors outside,” said Market Manager Chris Haguewood.
Cupid’s Market, which debuted in 2017, is one of five off-season events the farmers market stages to fill the time between the regular market’s closing in October and its reopening in May. It will take place in the Commercial Building at the Grant County Fairgrounds, where it moved in 2021 because the previous venue, the Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center, became unavailable.
The move seems to have been beneficial, as the Commercial Building offers a good open space. There was a possibility the market could outgrow that building and have to carry over into the 4-H Building next door, but Haguewood said there weren’t quite enough vendors to make that necessary.
“I’ve got 10 on the waitlist,” she said. “That’s not quite enough to sell another building.”
Of course, the fresh in-season produce found at the regular farmers market won’t be in quite such supply at Cupid’s Market, but there will be plenty of food and crafts. It’s an event for the whole family, Haguewood said.
“We have some face painters, some balloon-tying vendors and kids’ activities,” she said. “We have lots of bakeries, lots of Valentine's sweets.”
With gardening season rapidly approaching, the WSU Grant-Adams County Master Gardeners will have their plant clinic at the market as well, she said, dispensing advice and answering questions on all the intricacies of gardening.
“They’re very knowledgeable people,” she said. “It’s a great resource.”
Cupid’s Market
Feb. 8, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
Grant County Fairgrounds
3953 Airway Drive NE, Moses Lake
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
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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.

