Ag contributions recognized at FCAD in Quincy

Dance school participants wave to the crowd during the Farmer Consumer Awareness Day parade Sept. 13.
CHERYL SCHWEIZER/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD

A Quincy Senior Center volunteer makes sure a senior gets some candy during the FCAD parade.

Gael Alvarez of the Quincy FFA loads the car for a customer at the FCAD produce sale.

Longtime FCAD volunteer John Moody was recognized with the Honorary Farmer of the Year award.

Quincy Public Works Director Carl Worley helps a visitor to the city booth select some candy from the, um, bowl at FCAD Saturday.

A judge evaluates an entry in the Farmer Consumer Awareness Car Show.

A member of the Traditions Car Club shows what his car can do during the FCAD parade.

The Quincy High School band marches down Central Avenue at the Farmer Consumer Awareness Day parade.

Kylene Kulm, Quincy, evaluates the entries at the FCAD quilt show.

Paula, right, and Bob Davis dressed as toilet paper and poo respectively to promote proper use of Quincy’s sewers at FCAD.

by CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Staff Writer | September 17, 2025 3:15 AM

QUINCY — The contributions of Quincy’s farmers and agricultural workers were recognized with a parade and a big party at Farmer Consumer Awareness Day on Sept. 13.

There are a lot of traditions attached to FCAD, and many of them were in evidence – the FFA Alumni selling local produce in the Quincy Middle School parking lot, a quilt show and vendors in the QMS gym. The Quincy Rotary served lunch with the entire menu produced in the Quincy area, from beef for the sandwiches to apples for dessert.

The produce sale attracted plenty of buyers; Quincy FFA chapter member Kaitlynn Silva said all the produce is from local farms, donated by FFA alumni and local producers. The FFA chapter members ran the cash registers and answered questions from interested buyers. The FFA also provided the labor for people who needed help loading their purchases.

Dancing horses filled the softball field, their riders showing off what they could do. Both the horses and the car show are relatively recent additions, and cool cars of all descriptions filled the playground next to the softball field.

Chamber president Tom Richardson said the car show attracted 53 cars and trucks.

“And one remote control car,” he said. “Not bad. Not bad at all.”

The Traditions Car Club was out in force, with a lot of lowriders and cars with hydraulic packages on display. Its members come from throughout Grant County, said Eduardo Diaz, Quincy.

“You’re never done,” he said of his car.

Eduardo Ortega Cruz, Royal City, said that whether or not a car is done is pretty much determined by one factor.

“It all depends on how much money you want to spend,” Ortega Cruz said.

“How much money you want to spend and how much time you have,” Diaz added.

Carl Nicholson, Quincy, brought his 1966 Chevy Nova back into the family after a long separation.

“I bought it new when I was 18 years old,” he said, making a deal with his boss at the dealership where he worked.

He traded it in for a newer model, lost track of it, and rediscovered it in a private collection in Ohio, he said, looking almost exactly like it did when he sold it.

“The minute I saw it, I knew it was my car,” he said.

The QMS gym was bustling, and there were so many information and merchandise booths that they spilled onto the lawn behind the building. Quincy city officials are working on programs for water conservation and sewer system maintenance, and they promoted those with Water Quality Program Manager Bob Davis dressed as a pile of poo. His wife Paula came dressed as a roll of toilet paper.

Public Works had its own way of making the point about some stuff not being suitable for the sewer. Of course, they had a lot of chocolate on hand.

“Grab some candy, fresh from the bowl,” said Jeremy Wilson, program manager for Jacobs Engineering, which runs the sewer plant, the bowl in question being a toilet bowl.