‘A great place at a great time’

RITZVILLE — The Wampum fundraiser auction to support the Wheat Land Communities Fair in Ritzville was a small, home-grown affair, much like the fair itself.  

Exact figures weren’t available Monday, but Fair Board Member Lori Williams estimated that about $16,000 was raised. The money mostly goes to maintain the fairgrounds and cover operating expenses, especially insurance, Williams said. 

About 90 people came Saturday night to enjoy a barbecue dinner catered by Rollin’ Coal Barbecue of Washtucna and a silent auction that included handmade crafts, quilts and gift baskets, followed by a live auction conducted by local farmers Jerry Snyder and Gus Tracy. The attendance was a little lower than usual, Williams said, partly because the high school baseball team was playing out of town. 

“The turnout was lighter, but the bidders were enthusiastic,” Board President Fritz Coon said.  

The Wheat Land Communities Fair is an all-volunteer affair; it has no paid staff, no carnival or big-name entertainers. What it does have is several little towns – Ritzville, Washtucna, Benge, Lind, Sprague and Harrington – that take a proprietary interest in the event. Last year’s fair had 80 more exhibitors than the year before, Williams said, and the youth livestock show was phenomenal.  

“We had a record-breaking livestock sale with $190,000 running through our community sale and going back to the livestock kids,” she said. “By far that was a record. I remember breaking $100,000 not long ago so I have my sights set on $200,000 next year.” 

Membership in 4-H and Future Farmers of America also increased in the area this year, with more than 50 students enrolled, Williams said. Several of the FFA students were there Saturday helping with clerking and cleanup. 

This year was the 44th year the Wheat Lands Community Fair has held the auction. Until 1980, there were two fairs in the county: one for the dryland farm communities of the eastern part of the county and one for the irrigated – and more populous – Othello area, Coon said. Because state law allowed each county only one fair, the West Adams County Fair in Othello became simply the Adams County Fair and eventually the Othello Fair. 

Othello may have been bigger, but the dryland farm towns dated back to the 19th century and were not about to give up their own fair, Coon said.  

“When they lost their county standing, a lot of people said, ‘We’re not going to go to a fair in Othello,’” Coon said. “So people started donating.” 

The fairgrounds in Ritzville at the time were a little patch of land across from Ritzville Elementary School, which was not really big enough for a county fair. The Wheat Land Communities Fair Association was formed in 1981 and purchased the site where the fairgrounds are today. The state gave the newly-minted fair full premium reimbursement for the first five years to help it get going, Coon said. 

“We’ve appreciated our independence, honestly,” Coon said. “We don’t rely on the county for anything, let alone the strings that are attached.” 

Even more than the fundraising, the auction gives folks from far-flung communities and farms a chance to get together, Coon said. 

“I have come to think that the social value and expression of the communities' interest is as important as the financial shot in the arm,” Fair Board President Fritz Coon wrote in an email to the Columbia Basin Herald. “I am always surprised by the diversity of people motivated to support the fair with their time, sweat and fortune. We live in a great place at a great time.” 

    From left: Future Farmers of America Amelia Clack, Reagan Korthuis, Johnathan Stromberger, Hagen Carlson, Maeve Korthuis and Alyssa Williams were recognized at the Wampum auction Saturday for winning state and regional competitions.
  

    Marge Schoesler, left, and another bidder look over silent auction items at the Wheat land Communities Fair’s Wampum auction Saturday.
  

    Silent auction items at Saturday’s Wampum fundraiser included handmade crafts and gift baskets donated by local community members.
  

    Wheat Land Communities Fair Board Member Lori Williams speaks at the Wampum fundraiser auction Saturday.