Summit to bring together regional community advocates
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 months, 2 weeks AGO
The Wenatchee Convention Center will host the Thriving Together Summit Wesnesday.
FILE PHOTO
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. | October 20, 2025 3:00 AM
WENATCHEE — The Thriving Together Toward Tomorrow summit will bring together people from across North Central Washington on Wednesday with a single goal – to make the communities they live in better, according to Thriving Together NCVW Director of Network Development Veronica Farias.
“Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of residents across North Central Washington,” Farias said.
The summit will focus on a set of principles known as the Vital Conditions Framework: Belonging and Civic Muscle, Thriving Natural World, Basic Needs for Health and Safety, Humane Housing, Meaningful Work and Wealth, Lifelong Learning and Reliable Transportation. Those things are what’s necessary for communities to thrive, according to Thriving NCW’s website.
“The annual gathering brings together community members, leaders, different partners from across the region,” Farias said. “The purpose is to celebrate our successes, reflect on our shared vision and explore the opportunities that we have to strengthen not only the local efforts that are happening, but lifting up the regional capacities that we also have to leverage.”
The keynote speaker will be Becky Payne of the Rippel Foundation. Payne served over 20 years at the Centers for Disease Control and designed a national plan for equitable recovery and resilience after COVID-19 based on the Vital Conditions framework, according to the summit’s schedule. After Payne’s presentation, the summit will break up into numerous smaller sessions.
“I think the highlight in the heart of the summit would be the afternoon breakouts and tabletop conversations that we have,” Farias said. “I think there's up to 11 different conversations that will be happening at the same time, and folks are able to self-select into these different table topics. We've laid these out in five different themes: Environmental and Regional; Systems Advocacy and Systems Change; Storytelling and Impact; Housing and Long-term Solutions; and Growing, Belonging, Celebrating.”
This is the second year Thriving Together NCW has held the summit, Farias said. Last year it was in Chelan; this year it’s at the Wenatchee Convention Center. Thriving NCW serves Grant, Chelan, Douglas and Okanogan counties, as well as the Confederated tribes of the Colville Reservation.
“Our goal is to uplift the voices that make up our community, and particularly those who are doing great work in our communities,” Farias said.
Thriving Together Toward Tomorrow
8 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday
Wenatchee Convention Center
121 N. Wenatchee Ave., Wenatchee
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
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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.