Heavy duty fun
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 5 months AGO
About 1,000 people turned out for Touch a Truck in Moses Lake last year. This year’s event is April 26.
COURTESY PHOTO/MARIANA OLSON/MOMCO
A group of youngsters checks out a Genie lift at last year’s Touch a Truck. The annual event allows children to get up-close and personal with a variety of machines.
A small child gets to play a big equipment driver at last year’s Touch a Truck in Moses Lake. While all the details haven’t been settled, this year’s mechanical playground will include construction equipment, first responder vehicles and farm machines.
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 12, 2025 3:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — Last year’s Touch a Truck event was the biggest ever, according to Brittney Ketterer, one of the organizers of the event.
“We had over 1,000 attendees,” Ketterer said. “It’s one of our favorite events.”
This year’s event, which will be April 26, will be the fourth annual Touch a Truck. It’s held in the almost four-acre field behind Moses Lake Presbyterian Church, and it’s a chance for small children to not just touch but climb all over big machinery. Ketterer was cautious about listing the vehicles and equipment that would be there this year because sometimes things change between planning and the actual date, she said, but there will be first responder vehicles, construction and excavation equipment, farm machinery and the odd-looking vehicle that’s been in the news so much lately, a Tesla Cybertruck.
“My kids laugh at me because I call them ‘trash cans,’” Ketterer said. “They’re obsessed with cybertrucks … We have a tow company coming with flatbeds. We have a couple of different service trucks, and I’m working on some surprise trucks.”
About 10 different activity stations are already lined up, Ketterer said. The Grant County Health District will be there to talk about car seat safety, and The Home Depot and the library will have craft stations. There will also be face painting and a photo booth.
Parents and children alike get hungry in the middle of the day, so there will be food vendors on site as well: Tami’s Hawaiian Grinds, Blacky’s Smokin’ Sweet, El Charro Birrieria, Kally’s Cotton Candy and The Favored Farmhouse.
The first hour will be especially for children who are sensitive to noise, bright lights or sudden motions, Ketterer said. That was a very popular option last year, she said.
“We were so busy,” she said. “We had a line starting at 9:30, and from 10 to 11 we didn’t allow any sirens, any horns or any lights to go. … In our group, we have a lot of moms that have kids with sensory issues, so we make sure to accommodate for that, and we understand that it is more common now than it used to be.”
For similar reasons, no animals except actual service animals will be allowed, Ketterer said, because some children are afraid of dogs.
Along with the trucks and such, there will be a raffle, Ketterer said, with six different gift baskets, including a family movie night basket, a spa and beauty basket and a family game night basket. The latter was a huge hit last year, Ketterer said.
The event is put on by the Moses Lake chapter of MomCo, formerly known as MOPS, or Mothers of Preschoolers. The name was changed when the organization went international, she said. Because MOPS doesn’t always translate well into other languages. MomCo was founded in 1973, according to its website, to encourage and equip mothers of young children. It’s a Christian faith-based organization, but it’s not affiliated with any particular church or denomination. The Moses Lake group meets twice a month at Moses Lake Presbyterian Church.
“We are still a mom community standing behind each other and making sure that all moms know if they need anything, we are always here for them,” Ketterer said. “When I had my youngest, I fell into postpartum (depression) really bad. It was during COVID when we moved here, and then I found MOPS, and it's been amazing. I have found actual true friends with MomCo I can call when I'm upset and they're like, all right, let's go get coffee, let's get together, let's do a play date.”
The non-judgmental atmosphere of MomCo is a big draw, Kettterer added.
“If you show up with poop on your shirt, or throw-up, they’re like ‘Yup, been there. Want a baby wipe?’” she said.
Touch a Truck is the fundraiser, but it’s not a very expensive one. The raffle and the admission fee of $5 per head are the only things attendees pay for. All the machinery is brought in on a volunteer basis, Ketterer said. The food is for sale by various vendors, but parents are welcome to bring their own food as well.
“That's why we have activity booths rather than vendors,” she said. “Because we don't want parents (who are) coming to enjoy family time with their kids being hit up by vendors, ‘Hey, do you want to buy this? You want to buy this?’ We want them to be able to ... have an actual family day and sit out on the grass at the Presbyterian Church and have lunch with their family and look at trucks and take fun pictures in our photo booth. We just want it to be a fun, family-filled day.”
Touch a Truck
10 a.m.-2 p.m. April 26
Quiet hour 10-11 a.m.
$5 per person, babies under a year old free
Moses Lake Presbyterian Church
1142 W. Ivy Ave.
https://bit.ly/MLTouchaTruck25
A group of youngsters checks out a Genie lift at last year’s Touch a Truck. The annual event allows children to get up close and personal with a variety of machines.
A small child gets to play a big equipment driver at last year’s Touch a Truck in Moses Lake. While all the details haven’t been settled, this year’s mechanical playground will include construction equipment, first responder vehicles and farm machines.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.