‘This is unbelievable’: Moses Lake rallies in preparation for fair

MOSES LAKE — The Grant County Fairgrounds’ annual 4-H and FFA cleanup day, in preparation for the Grant County Fair, was quite a bit different this year. Fairgrounds staff extended the invitation to volunteers citywide, and the call for help was answered – and then some.

“We expected maybe 100,” said fairgrounds director Jim McKiernan. “I bet we had over 200 people.”

The fairgrounds provided donuts and pizza, as well as a long list of tasks, such as landscaping, paint touch-ups, assembling new chicken pens and general clean-up and organizing. Some folks started as early as 7:30 a.m., McKiernan said.

Windermere’s regular community service day lined right up with the fairgrounds’ need for volunteers, said Windermere staffer Danielle Boss. The Moses Lake office donated paint and labor to redo the History Barn.

Post-shutdown, the fairgrounds has been struggling to hire seasonal staff, McKiernan said, so it had to accomplish as much as it could with volunteers. Not nearly this much would get done on a normal cleanup day.

“It was a mass ‘do as much stuff as you can with as many people as you can in a short amount of time,’” he said.

The Grant County Fair, after its hiatus, starts Aug. 17. McKiernan is expecting a high turnout, he said. Most fairs are running at 30-40% higher attendance than they did pre-COVID-19.

“People are so excited about getting out of the house and doing something, they’re coming out,” he said.

The vendors, on the other hand, are operated by much fewer staff, he said, so it’s going to be an interesting year.

In all, it’s exciting to be back, he said. A long time has passed since 4-H members have been restriction-free.

“It’s going to be good to get the animals back and kids interacting with their animals,” he said.

There’s going to be some big performances, too, he said. Monsters of Rock, a tribute band, takes the stage Aug. 18.

North Carolina-based country band Parmalee will put on a show Aug. 20.

Then, Aug. 21, Oro Norteno and Grupo Control come to town.

“Grupo Control would be like bringing the Eagles to Moses Lake as far as a Hispanic band goes,” McKiernan said. “It’s a big deal.”

McKiernan really appreciated everyone coming out to help prepare, he said.

“Only in Moses Lake would you see that many people actually show up and want to help out at the fairgrounds when it’s 108 degrees,” he said. “This is unbelievable as far as the temperature goes, and we just had huge participation, so it was awesome.”