Fair entertainers rule the stage
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 months, 3 weeks AGO
Elvis impersonator Danny Vernon sings “Bossa Nova Baby” from the movie “Acapulco Fun” at the Othello Fair Thursday.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Juggler Paul Isaak keeps three balls aloft while teetering on a unicycle at the Othello Fair Thursday. Isaak has been juggling professionally for more than 35 years, he said.
A Juliana piglet and a miniature horse take a break between visits from children at the petting zoo at the Othello Fair Thursday.
Danny Vernon as Elvis and his wife Marcia as Ann-Margret finish their first set Thursday with a flourish.
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. | September 15, 2025 1:20 AM
OTHELLO — Elvis Presley passed away in 1977, despite the occasional tabloid rumor to the contrary. But the man singing “Jailhouse Rock” at the Othello Fair on Thursday made a believable substitute.
“I just loved Elvis,” said Danny Vernon. “(I) found my father’s records when I was a kid, and there was so much to listen to. Movie songs were fun because there’s always a different theme: you’re racing a car, or you’re in Hawaii or in the army.”
Vernon was part of the entertainment lineup at the Othello Fair Thursday, which included Penelope the Clown, Reptile Isle, balloonist Cody Williams and juggler Paul Isaak. Some of them performed on the two stages at the fairgrounds, and some roamed around the grounds. Most of them had at least two performances every day.
Vernon has been performing as Elvis for 25 years, he said, frequently accompanied by his wife and backup singer Marcia. When he’s not playing county fairs, he does car shows, casinos, street festivals, private parties, even funerals.
“Saturday night after I leave here, I’m going to officiate a wedding,” he said, dropping into his Elvis voice. “‘Do you promise to don’t be cruel and not have suspicious minds?’ Some people like to have me as a real officiant or sometimes like a rededication.”
Isaak winced a little when he said he’d been juggling professionally since 1988.
“Please don’t do the math,” he said. “I don’t want to think about it. I (took) a year off after school to just do something goofy for one year. It’s been a long year.”
Isaak’s show featured a lot more than just keeping balls in the air. He started with a single ball, demanding that the audience “ooh” appreciatively, then worked his way up to effortlessly tossing three around while riding a unicycle almost as tall as himself.
Across the midway, Kristina Nicholas Anderson of Cocolalla, Idaho, had set up a petting zoo with miniature horses and pigs, chickens and an enormous tortoise.
“All the animals are my personal pets,” Nicholas Anderson said. “This is my chance to share them with everybody. I just sort of hang out as the animal slave.”
The crowds during the middle of the day Thursday weren’t really crowds; the numbers were expected to swell in the evening as people got out of work and school. Isaak had perhaps a dozen at his show; Vernon’s first set had only two or three at times. It wasn’t the smallest audience Vernon had ever played, Marcia said; he’d once performed a full set at a bar with just one patron.
“He went up to this guy after an hour and a half to say, ‘Thank you for enjoying my music,’” she said. “And the waitress said, ‘Don’t bother. He’s deaf.’”
Juggler Paul Isaak keeps three balls aloft while teetering on a unicycle at the Othello Fair Thursday. Isaak has been juggling professionally for more than 35 years, he said.
A Juliana piglet and a miniature horse take a break between visits from children at the petting zoo at the Othello Fair Thursday.
Danny Vernon as Elvis and his wife Marcia as Ann-Margret finish their first set Thursday with a flourish.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.