Chamber, sponsors give breakfast to fair youth
Members of 4-H, Future Farmers of America, Washington State Grange and other youth involved in the fair eat breakfast provided by the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce Sunday morning.
Gabriel Davis/Columbia Basin Herald
A line forms for breakfast Sunday morning at the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce vendor booth at the Grant County Fairgrounds. The Chamber and local sponsors provided food to help make preparing to take livestock home from the fair easier for children and families.
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce, with help from local businesses sponsorships, provided breakfast for 4-H, Future Farmers of America and Washington State Grange members and their families Sunday morning at the Grant County Fair.
The breakfast was served from the window of the Chamber’s vendor building at the fairgrounds. Chamber President and CEO Debbie Doran-Martinez said that the breakfast is specifically meant for children and families who are busy packing up and preparing their livestock to go home on Sunday.
“We do it every year,” said Doran-Martinez. “Those kids have worked really hard all week long, with their animals. They're part of the attraction of the fair for city kids to come and see that life, and so we just want to want to feed them.”
Saturday is the last day of the fair proper, with Sunday devoted mostly to clean-up, and none of the usual food vendors open.
“We just do it on Sunday,” said Doran-Martinez, “because the livestock kids have to keep the animals that they're taking home. They cannot remove them from the barns until 8 a.m., and as you can see, there's nobody open. There's no place for them to get food.”
4-H member Jeremiah Johnson and his family were eating near the Chamber vendor booth with other children and parents taking a break from their livestock.
“It’s pretty good,” he said.
Jeremiah Johnson said that he had been taking care of his pig all week at the fair and showing it at the various fair events.
Johnson’s mother, Erika Johnson, said that they appreciated the breakfast and that it made it easier for them to manage their livestock at the fair.
“Especially on the last day,” said Erika Johnson. “We’re so tired, and we have a lot to do.”
Doran-Martinez said that local businesses help put on the breakfast to support families like the Johnsons.
“So we get sponsors. Chamber members sponsor this event,” said Doran-Martinez. “They're the ones that make it possible for us to be able to give this back to the kids.”
According to an informational poster at the Chamber’s vendor booth, the list of sponsors for this year’s breakfast included Summer Wood Alzheimer’s Special Care Center, Grant County Commissioner Rob Jones, Pure Country Harvest LLC, Shawn Koethke and Paul Koethke of Country Financial, Kevin Burgess of Windermere Real Estate, Arrowhead Roofing LLC, Umpqua Bank and Door To Door Moving LLC.
“One of our sponsors, Shawn Koethke, he's in the window,” said Doran-Martinez. “He's serving up all the breakfast. We’ve got another volunteer from Guild Mortgage in the back, cooking up stuff … the Chamber put it out to our people and asked for volunteers.”
Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app on iOS and Android today.
