Grant County spring fair opens Friday

MOSES LAKE — Food, livestock, plants and entertainment are coming to the Grant County Fairgrounds this weekend.

The 2009 Spring Fair and Home Show starts at 8 a.m. on Friday and runs through 6 p.m. on Sunday and is free to the public.

“It’s kind of a coming out of spring,” fair board President Gary Ribail said. “It’s something to get the summer started. This is the time of year when people start with their gardens. We have this to give them a little start into the spring.”

The event runs at the same time as the North Central Washington Junior Livestock show, which starts Thursday and features cows, sheep and swine. It runs Friday with awards given to participants on Saturday.

Inside of the Commercial building, various vendors ?focusing on home and garden items are going to be present. The fair association is planning drawings to give away tools, plants and home decor items.

“We try to have a little bit of everything,” Ribail said. “We try to get as many of the local businesses involved that we can.”

Along with the vendors in the commercial building, the Crab Creek riders are sponsoring three events to coincide with the Grant County Centennial.

The first is a dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans at 6:30 p.m. on Friday in the 4-H building. Tickets for the dinner cost $20 and must be purchased in advance at the Columbia Basin Herald in Moses Lake or The Bookery in Ephrata.

After the dinner, there will be cowboy poetry and music, said committee member Bob Mayer.

“We have 10 people coming from the Tri-Cities … They’ll be playing the old-time music. Music about true life things that took place.”

On Saturday and Sunday, the group will be selling a breakfast of eggs, sausage or bacon, hash browns and pancakes. The breakfast costs $6. The Saturday event starts at 7 a.m. and is free for members of 4-H and Future Farmers of America, who are younger than 18 years old.

“This gets something for the kids right away. I hope the kids appreciate the big breakfast. They haven’t had a breakfast there before,” Mayer said. “We’re hope it’s something we can do for the continuing years.”

After the breakfast, Mayer said they plan on having the children line up with their horses for a picture. The second breakfast will take place at Sunday at 8 a.m. in the 4-H building.

Spring Fair will also feature the first appearance of the Grant County Centennial Chautauqua. Styled after the traveling medicine shows of the early part of the century, the event will feature music, cowboy poetry and people wearing costumes from the beginning of the century.

“It’s going to have a musical number,” he said. “We’re going to have women, who are (dressed up) as suffragettes.”

Along with the events sponsored by the Crab Creek riders, there will be carnival rides and several food vendors, including the traditional Moses Lake Lioness Spaceburgers.