Street party
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 3 months AGO
Schoolchildren walk in the Youth Parade to kick off the 2024 Sage-N-Sun Festival. This year’s festival is June 13-14.
FILE PHOTO
Friends gather in the beer garden for some shade, an adult beverage and a few laughs during last year’s Sage-N-Sun festival.
Retro band Outta Control will be among the performers for “Take Back the Tracks” Friday at Sage-N-Sun in Ephrata.
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. | June 5, 2025 1:00 AM
EPHRATA — There are a few new things at the Ephrata Sage-N-Sun Festival this year.
“We’re bringing back our 3-on-3 basketball tournament,” said Brittney MacLeod, director of the Ephrata Chamber of Commerce. “We’re adding a Kid Zone, which will include a dunk tank. There’s a petting zoo and a couple of different things for kids to do.”
The basketball tournament, which will run both Friday and Saturday, has been on hiatus for a number of years, MacLeod said.
“We’re excited to bring it back and add a youth aspect to draw families downtown and keep them downtown for the weekend,” she said.
Sage-N-Sun is one of the oldest institutions in Grant County, having started out as the Sagebrush Olympics 115 years ago. The two-day festival will take over downtown Ephrata in front of the courthouse, MacLeod said, with 10 food vendor booths and about 30 craft vendors.
The festival actually kicks off Thursday, June 12, with the youth parade.
“It’s great,” MacLeod said. “The schools bring all the kids down and they get to walk in the parade. All of our youth sports kids walk through the parade. It’s always fairly busy.”
Live music is a big part of Sage-N-Sun. Friday’s theme is “Take Back the Tracks,” with bands reliving the 1970s-90s. Outta Control takes the stage first, followed by Mad Moxie and headliner Altered ’90s.
Saturday morning starts bright and early with the 35th annual fun run. Registration begins at 6:45 a.m. at Ephrata Middle School, and the runners take off at 7:45.
The Grand Parade starts at 11 a.m. at Ephrata High School and makes its way down C Street to Sixth Avenue Southwest, then turns and heads back up Basin Street, finishing where it started.
“The Grand Parade has been getting bigger and bigger,” MacLeod said. “It usually takes an hour for our parade to run its route.”
This year’s grand marshal is Pam Leseman, owner of Pita Pit in Moses Lake and Ephrata.
“Beyond her entrepreneurial success, Pam has dedicated herself to community service,” the Ephrata Chamber wrote on social media. “She has been deeply involved in volunteer work with the Catholic school and has served as a Make-A-Wish grantor for 11 years, helping fulfill the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses.”
Leseman grew up in the Royal City area, she said, and moved around a lot before settling with her family in Ephrata in 1990.
“I try to do whatever I can for the community,” Leseman told the Columbia Basin Herald. “When somebody needs help, or to use my building, whatever I could do.”
Saturday’s musical lineup has a more countrified flavor, with a “Rock the Roots” theme. Mariachi Imperio Real starts off the performances, followed by Days of Honey, The Funk, Genevieve and wrapping up with the headliner, Copper Mountain Band.
“We’re trying to connect with our country roots for the headliners on Saturday,” MacLeod said. “We had a really good turnout and really good feedback from our headliners last year.”
“It’s a great festival,” Leseman said. “They go all out with it to make a family fun time.”
Friends gather in the beer garden for some shade, an adult beverage and a few laughs during last year’s Sage-N-Sun festival.
Retro band Outta Control will be among the performers for “Take Back the Tracks” Friday at Sage-N-Sun in Ephrata.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.