Bronco Day on tap for weekend

RITZVILLE — Bronco Days will bring a mix of fun activities and a somber remembrance to the city this coming weekend.

The celebration will include a parade, car show, live music, a cornhole tournament and vendors. There will also be a Fireman’s breakfast and a Memorial Day observance.

The Friends of the Library Book Sale opens the weekend. Starting at 10 a.m. Friday, the book sale at The Learning Garden, 310 W. Main Ave., closes at 5 p.m., before running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

As the book sale closes for the evening Friday, local scouts under the direction of Jeff Kissler will head to Ritzville Memorial Cemetery to honor local deceased veterans.

“Friday evening at 5, we’ll put the flags out,” Kissler said. “Volunteers set the small and large flags out; 158 large flags with nameplates with people who have donated to have a large flag of a loved one.”

Scouts and other volunteers will also post more than 300 small flags at the headstones of veterans’ graves.

The flags will fly throughout the weekend in observance of Memorial Day.

Friday night winds down with an older-than-21 performance by Eight Ball and Whiskey Dick ath the Eagles Aerie, 110 N. Washington St. The performance begins at 8 p.m.

Saturday kicks off with a car show at 9 a.m. Look for classic chassis on Main Avenue and Washington Street.

Shortly after the car show gets underway, music will take center stage, with the Dinosaurs performing at 9:30 a.m., Two Stones One Bird at 11:30 a.m. and Big Dawg and the Howlers at 1 p.m.

Nearby, vendors will set up in City Park to sell their arts and crafts from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The activities will pause when the Bronco Days Parade rolls through downtown.

The parade will certainly be hot, with a featured fire-breathing dragon float hosting Miss Ritzville Temple Gefre and her princesses, Brooklyn Norton, Madisyn Cameron, Addy Colbert and Claire Wellsandt.

Cornhole enthusiasts will have an opportunity to compete during the day as well.

Registration is at 12:30 p.m. and the tournament starts at 1 p.m. on the lawn of the Frank R. Burroughs Museum at 408 W. Main Ave.

Event-goers will be able to take a break Sunday as they prepare to honor and remember America’s war dead on Monday, Memorial Day.

Memorial Day begins with the annual Fireman’s Breakfast, from 7-11 a.m. at the Fire Station, 202 W. First Ave.

Breakfast is free and includes sausage and pancakes, juice and coffee. Children can also take a ride on a firetruck.

After breakfast, the weekend takes a more solemn tone, as area residents and visitors head to Ritzville Memorial Cemetery, where the observance for fallen war heroes begins at 11 a.m.

Adams County veteran and former Veterans of Foreign Wars post commander Kissler provides the keynote address.

Pastor Nathaniel Christman Lutheran of Emmanual Lutheran Church will give both the benediction and closing prayer.

A bugler will also play “Taps.”

“We’ll be honoring veterans from the last year who have fallen,” Kissler said, noting there will be a roll call for veterans who passed away in the last year.

The roll call will also include a World War I and two World War II veterans.

The flag will remain at half-staff until noon, when it will be raised. At 5 p.m., scouts and volunteers will remove the flags, marking the end of the weekend.