Space Burger booth to open next week
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 5 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. | March 10, 2025 3:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — Space Burgers are back. For a few days, anyway.
The Moses Lake Lioness Club will open its Space Burger booth March 21-23 at the Grant County Fairgrounds, Lioness Michaelle Boetger wrote in an email to the Columbia Basin Herald.
The Space Burger is one of Grant County’s most enduring traditions, a flying-saucer-shaped toasted sandwich of ground beef, shredded lettuce and a special sauce. It made its debut at the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962, and when that was over, the Moses Lake Lioness Club acquired the machines used to make them. They’ve been a big seller at the Grant County Fair ever since.
“Since 1964 the Lioness Lions Club of Moses Lake has given back over $1,000,000 to the Moses Lake community,” Boetger wrote. “That’s a lot of Space Burgers!”
For many years, the fairgrounds hosted an annual three-day Spring Fair in April that featured some of the same attractions as the August fair, including carnival rides, vendors and food. The Spring Fair ceased to be in 2012, according to the Columbia Basin Herald’s archives, but the Lioness Club continued to open its booth for one weekend every spring.
“We do probably half as much in sales (in the spring) as we do at the fair,” said Lioness Club Secretary Sarah Bullinger. “That's a pretty substantial amount. We get a lot of the people calling, (asking) ‘Can we get 75 Space Burgers? We’ll be there at 11 to pick them up.’”
Space Burgers will be available Friday and Saturday, March 21-22, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. There is no charge that weekend to get into the fairgrounds, where a youth livestock show and an RV show will also be taking place. The Lionesses are hoping to coordinate next year’s Space Burger weekend with the Columbia Basin Home and Garden Show, which took place this year Feb. 28-March 1, Bullinger said.
Some of the proceeds from the Space Burgers will benefit Care Moses Lake, Lioness Michaelle Boetger said via email. Care Moses Lake serves the community by making up 200 free sack lunches every week for those in need, supplying food to New Hope/Kids Hope, Youth Dynamics and the Boys and Girls Club, according to its website.
“The rest goes in to cover expenses, and then whatever is left over goes back into the community as well,” Bullinger said. “We put it into our donation account, and when people reach out for a donation, we use those funds for that.”
The Lioness have funds available for other community organizations, Bullinger added. Organizations interested in receiving assistance from the Lioness Club can submit a request to the club at P.O. Box 21, Moses Lake, WA, 98837.
Space Burgers come hot off the machine at the Lioness Club’s booth at the Grant County Fairgrounds.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.