Breakfast, cowboy style

MOSES LAKE - Before the sun crept above the building next door, Ted DeWitt stood behind a stainless steel grill frying sausage patties for the Cowboy Breakfast.

The annual kickoff for the Grant County Fair took place Friday morning.

It was sponsored by Moses Lake Kiwanis Club, Moses Lake Business Association and Columbia Basin Rodeo Association. Money raised from the event goes toward scholarships for Moses Lake High School students.

DeWitt, a Kiwanis club member for about 45 years, said he started serving breakfast five years ago when he moved to the area.

The smoke from the grill gets in his eyes as he talks.

"I always get a little teary when I cook. They always give me this rotten job because I'm the new guy," he said with a smile.

Kiwanis Club President Dean Mitchell oversaw the entire event. He spent time walking from the sausage grill to the pancake and egg grill, checking on things. He said they started preparing for the breakfast at 5:30 a.m.

"We do a lot to try and help the community," he said. "This is our big kick-off for the fair. We had 500 people (attend) last year."

Behind him volunteers served pancakes, sausage and eggs to a line stretching across Sinkiuse Square off Third Avenue in Moses Lake. The tables were already filled up with both volunteers and attendees.

Gail Hellewell, from Cobblestone Corner, said she's gone to the breakfast for years and now helps set up the tents and tables. It's a tradition for her, she says.

"We got here at 6 a.m. Some people showed up earlier, so by the time we got here most of the work was done," she said.

Many people started leaving for work by 8 a.m., but more continued to trail in.

Sally Goodwin, Moses Lake Business Association president, said the event grew from a trailer and two tables, when she came to the event 14 years ago, to an event drawing hundreds of people of all ages.

"Right now you have people who are heading to work. Later you'll get seniors who will come down and just sit and talk," she said. "It's a great community."

For Tom Moore, a Moses Lake resident, the breakfast and the rodeo are more than a tradition, they're part of what makes Moses Lake special.

"Rodeo time is time when everybody gets to reconnect," he said. "It's a way of life here. Moses Lake as a community is a close-knit little town."