CBAA auction moves inside with Kentucky Derby theme
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 months, 2 weeks AGO
Participants angle for prizes at last year’s Columbia Basin Allied Arts fundraiser auction. This year’s event will be May 2 at the Best Western Plus Lake Front Hotel in Moses Lake.
FILE PHOTO
Lucha wrestling is a central part of the Umani Festival in Moses Lake sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts. CBAA will hold its fundraiser auction May 2.
Columbia Basin Allied Arts Executive Director Shawn Cardwell, right, holds up an item for auctioneer Chuck Yarbro Jr. to take bids on at a previous CBAA fundraiser auction.
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 21, 2026 3:15 AM
MOSES LAKE — The Columbia Basin Allied Arts fundraiser auction will have a new venue this year, at the Best Western Plus Lake Front Hotel in Moses Lake.
“They catered last year … and it was great,” CBAA Executive Director Shawn Cardwell said. “It felt like it would be fun to change it up … We really look forward to that beautiful lake view.”
The Kentucky Derby is also that weekend, and the event’s theme, “Betting on a Brighter Future With the Arts,” will pay homage to the race. The punch will be mint julep-inspired and Paradise Grill will serve up barbecued ribs and a spring pasta salad recipe taken from the Kentucky Derby website, Cardwell said. Chuck Yarbro Auctioneers will conduct the live auction again this year.
The auction’s goal every year is $30,000, and it brought in about that much in 2025, Cardwell said. The money goes to fund CBAA’s regular programs like its Premier, Green Turtle and Friday Film series, the Missoula Children’s Theater’s spring break drama camp and online directories of musicians and music teachers.
CBAA also sponsors community events like Music at the Market, Art on 3rd and the Umani Festival in Moses Lake. Cardwell said the organization plans to extend those to other communities next year.
“We’ve been experimenting with our programming in the last maybe five years, to maximize the impact and interactions we’re having across our communities,” Cardwell said. “A lot of that experimenting has been happening in Moses Lake, with our street festivals and by partnering with other Moses Lake groups and figuring out that we can do more together,” she said. “So now what we’re trying to do is expand and formalize our service area across Grant, Adams and Lincoln counties and trying to get into those satellite communities. (We want to) make sure that people across the Basin in some of the most rural regions and towns in the state are getting an impactful amount of arts programming.”
Allied Arts is already in those communities through its mobile arts programs for schools, which take art to every school district in three counties. Even the smallest schools get a visit, sometimes combining two or three to have enough students to participate. Some of the funds raised at this year’s auction will go to step up that program, Cardwell said.
“It took us six years to reach every school district in Grant, Adams and Lincoln counties,” she said. “Now we’re going to attempt to do that in three instead of six. It’s always good to have milestones.”
Lucha wrestling is a central part of the Umani Festival in Moses Lake sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts. CBAA will hold its fundraiser auction May 2.
Columbia Basin Allied Arts Executive Director Shawn Cardwell, right, holds up an item for auctioneer Chuck Yarbro Jr. to take bids on at a previous CBAA fundraiser auction.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.