EPHRATA — The 36th Sage-N-Sun festival drew a large turnout with several attractions like the fun run, a parade and a three-on-three basketball tournament.  

“I think it went really great,” Parks and Recreation Director Josh Johnson said. “We had a similar turnout to what we had last year. We ended up with 36 total teams, and we ran four total divisions. We kind of hoped that we could get a handful more divisions to run, but it's just a very busy weekend in our community that weekend, and so we made do with what we had, and I think we were able to put on a pretty good event.” 

The tournament ran from June 12-13, bringing together hoopers from varying ages for some fun competition.  

In addition to the tournament, a three-point contest and a vertical jump test were added to this year's event, Johnson said. The contestants were split up into similar age groups with the highest scorer in each earning a prize.  

“The highest jump for vertical jump in each division is going to get a custom shirt, and then also the same goes for the three-point contest. The highest points in each of those divisions are going to get a custom shirt as well,” Johnson said.  

With 36 teams, that puts the number of hoopsters at 144 people. With spectators added into the fold, Johnson estimates the turnout ranging from 300-400 people attending the tournament throughout the weekend.  

The turnout even saw some competitors come from Quincy or Moses Lake, as well. While a lot of the players knew each other from various recreational leagues around Central Washington, Izaac Solano said they were still bringing the competitive spirit.  

“It's always going to be competitive here, always, but it's all friendly,” Solano said. “At the end of the game, we all dap each other up, we say good job. I'm just really happy, the community is happy, everybody loves it, everybody loves a good competition.” 

With a lot of games to track, each of the games had officials assigned to them, as well. Caden Blankenship, a native to Ephrata, came from Spokane to help officiate tournament games that he once participated in as a kid, he said. 

“It's actually pretty cool, but I probably haven't been down here since I probably played in it last, so it's been like 15 years, and I was just curious about how many people were going to be here, and it was pretty good turnout, so it's been fun,” Blankenship said.  

He also emphasized that the adults weren’t the only ones bringing their A-game this year.  

“I'm just on the fourth-grade court, and there was a kid who hit a buzzer beater to go to overtime from like 40 feet behind the line, and place was going crazy over there,” he said.  

Any player that registered for the tournament had to pay a fee to participate in the tournament. While the funds raised don’t go directly to a specific cause, they do go back to the city’s general fund, Johnson said. 

However, he mentioned talks of there being an opportunity in future years to put the money raised toward something different.  

“We've talked about trying to do something like that, whether we say the funds can go towards a piece of new playground equipment in a park or something like that,” Johnson said. “Something that would give back to the community. We've talked about that but haven't gotten all the way to completion with figuring out how we could do that.”

    A basketball player in the adult group at the Sage-N-Sun 3v3 basketball tournament drives past his opponent.
  

    During the Sage-N-Sun 3v3 basketball tournament, a player presses his opponent who has possession of the ball.
  

    A young basketball player directs the offense during a tournament game at the Sage-N-Sun festival.
  

    A basketball player shoots a contested three-pointer over his opponent at the Sage-N-Sun festival Saturday.