Hands-on history
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 months, 3 weeks AGO
The Youth Heritage Project, a free four-day historical and cultural exploration for high school-age students, will take place in Ellensburg this year. The Washington Trust for Historical Preservation, which sponsors the event, is accepting applications until May 6.
COURTESY PHOTO/WASHINGTON TRUST FOR HISTORICAL PRESERVATION
Students learn to braid a rug with traditional materials at last year’s Youth Heritage Project. This year’s project will explore alternative energy and history in the Ellensburg area.
Students give their presentations at the Washington Trust for Historical Preservation’s Youth Heritage Project last year.
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. | April 15, 2026 3:20 AM
MOSES LAKE — Some students in the Columbia Basin will get a chance to experience history at close range this summer. The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation is accepting applications for its four-day Youth Heritage Project, which will be July 13-16 in Ellensburg this year.
“We go to different places in the state every year … and do a deep dive into a place,” said Moira Nadal, director of preservation for the WTHP. “We … want the students to have a chance to get to know a place. They could be in a classroom anywhere, (but) walking around, spending time in a place, doing site visits, those are really important.”
The Youth Heritage Project is free of charge; the Foundation provides lodging, meals and transportation to the sites. With volunteer teachers serving as guides and mentors, they’ll learn about the relationship between historic and cultural preservation and alternative energy, according to an announcement from the Foundation, and visit museums and a wind farm. They’ll also have time to explore Ellensburg itself.
“(There) may be a walking tour, or an architectural tour,” Nadal said. “In past years we’ve attended events that have been hosted by the local Main Street community. Every year is a little different.”
Last year, the Youth Heritage Project explored the Mountains to Sound Greenway in the North Bend and Snoqualmie areas, according to the WTHP. They visited Snoqualmie Falls and learned about the Snoqualmie Tribe’s history and culture, toured a hydroelectric museum, visited the site of a town drowned by a dam and went through the Northwest Railway Museum. This year’s itinerary is still being hammered out, Nadal said.
The learning isn’t all passive. The students do projects and give presentations on what they’ve learned.
“We give them practice working in groups and public speaking, which are things that they’re going to need either in higher education or in the working world,” Nadal said. “(They) go up on stage and present their final projects at a town hall, and everyone has to have a speaking part … It’s low-stakes practice doing a deep dive and synthesizing a lot of different types of information.”
Over the course of the four days, Nadal said students learn to appreciate history and possibly even consider a career in it.
“(There’s) a lot of exposure to potential career paths in cultural resources,” Nadal said. “You realize you can work at a museum, you can be an archivist, you could be an archaeologist, you could be a historian. A lot of kids don’t necessarily know that.”
The Youth Heritage Project is open to all high school-age students, whether public, private or home school, at no charge. Information and applications can be found at https://bit.ly/YouthHeritage2026.
Students learn to braid a rug with traditional materials at last year’s Youth Heritage Project. This year’s project will explore alternative energy and history in the Ellensburg area.
Students give their presentations at the Washington Trust for Historical Preservation’s Youth Heritage Project last year.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.