Quinterfest an original, seldom equaled

RITZVILLE - Ritzville Festivals Association has combined pretend royalty with genuine diplomacy and lots of work.

The work example was seen Dec. 14 at Quinterfest, held at the Ritzville Fairgrounds as the association's crew fed and then hosted about 65 audience members in the Knuth Hall for an extended raffle for prizes of all kinds.

There were t-shirts, candles, earrings, bird feeders, a scarecrow, a bear, stocking caps, tile art, an air fryer, John Deere tractor toys, a cell phone case, and of course, the centerpieces from the banquet tables. After all, the event is a fund-raiser.

The current, but outgoing, directors have breathed new life into a program that seemed on its last legs.

"Two years ago, Josh Reidt, Jennifer York and myself came in as the incoming board members," Cory Bartlett said. "The program was going to be done away with, They were going to give it up. Nobody had come out to be Miss Ritzville and they couldn't find volunteers to step forward and really take it over. So just before it was shuttered, Josh, myself and Jenny had the opportunity to step in and save the program. My daughter was the only participant in the Miss Ritzville program that year and saw it all the way through. And then she had a couple of other young ladies step up and ride the float with her as her sophomore sisters.

The Miss Ritzville program is separate from the Festivals Association (whose) main responsibility is making sure the float is ready to go to represent the community."

Bartlett said in addition to the Quinterfest, the association raises money through "Pi 3.14" for March 14.

"The community donates pies and we have a big live auction for the pies, which is a lot of fun," he said.

"We raise a lot of money for the festival association which helps the float to drive, and gas and insurance and decorations, all those things," Bartlett said.

What Bartlett describes sounds like a lot of effort but a short tenure.

"The first year our theme was /Ritzville Rocks for the community float," he said. "We loved every minute of it. My daughter and I went to nine or ten parades and that was really good enough for us. This year, there was a second dynamic group of parents that really got fired up. Five girls came out in our second year for the Miss Ritzville pageant program, and that is what amazed us. We were so pleased with that, and three girls ended up riding the float to 18 parades this year. So we feel like we've done our part. We have other nonprofits we're involved with so we're going to move on to other areas of the community. And we have every position of the board (open.")

"I'm glad we're leaving it better than when we found it," he said.

Like a lot of community projects everywhere, COVID slowed down progress.

"In that COVID year, nobody had parades," Bartlett said. "Nobody had a float. None of the girls wanted to try out. You've got to have girls willing to ride the float and be a part of the program."

As support roles were being tried out, Bartlett volunteered to be float director.

"We kind of muddled through it with half a broken truck and half a broken trailer and a half broken float," he said.

Building a parade float is an expensive proposition, but Bartlett said the association gets help from the city.

"The city gives us some funds to offset the cost of insurance," Bartlett said. "A lot of small communities are abandoning their Miss 'Whatever' royalty programs because they're having a hard time getting the young ladies to be involved."

"There are wonderful scholarship opportunities," he said.