Wampum raises $11,000 for fair

According to Wheat Land Communities’ Fair treasurer, Aaron Esser, the annual Wampum event raised an impressive $11,000 on May 5, one of the largest amounts recorded in recent history. The Knuth Building was packed with an estimated 120 local community members, all showing their support for the Wheat Land Communities’ Fair.

Fritz Coon, Wheat Land Communities’ Fair president, welcomed community members to the event and invited the attendees to enjoy a delicious dinner, provided by Cathy Jo’s Catering.

Coon then introduced the retiring fair royalty, where queen Katie Manke and princess Heidi Hennings thanked the community for their support and then passed their crowns on to Jordan Schultz and Chrissy Field.

Janet Manke announced that the new royalty for 2012-2013 that is representing the fair was Schultz as queen and Field is princess. The girls are juniors in high school, Schultz is from Ritzville and Field is from Lind.

Dr. Warren Kragt presided as the auctioneer; creating a humorous atmosphere as he taught his bid spotters how to properly yell, “yip” when announcing that they had a bidder. Kragt continued to provide entertainment throughout the entire night and even tested a few of the items up for bid.

During an intermission, Coon discussed upcoming renovations and projects that are happening because of the Dorothy Schoesler memorial. A lighting project throughout the fairgrounds is currently being worked on and new doors should be added to select buildings.

There is also discussion of improvements to the wash racks, pig pens and potentially new grandstands.

Among the items that received the highest bids were two tons of horse hay donated by Bar U Ranch, and 80 acres of spraying donated by McGregor. The horse hay was sold to Gary Galbreath for $550 and the spraying went to Gerry Schoesler for $700.

Senator Mark Schoesler and Representative Joe Schmick attended the event, and both won prizes in the raffle. Rep. Schmick purchased two tickets to the Lind Combine Demolition Derby with a chicken dinner, donated by the Lind Lions Club and Jims Market.

The leftovers from the catered dinner were auctioned off at the end of the live auction and the four meals went for a total of $155.

The Wampum auction serves as the primary fundraiser for the Wheat Land Communities’ Fair that takes place on Labor Day weekend. This year’s theme for the fair is “Lasso Some Fun” and the fair board continues to plan an exceptional weekend for visitors to the fair on Aug. 29-Sep. 2.