Ellensburg Community Morning Show, Thursday, September 3rd

The Kittitas County Fair opens today at ten a.m. at the Kittitas Valley Event Center and runs until ten tonight. Today is Super One Day — five-dollar admission tickets are available at Super One. Kids five and under and active-duty military get in free every day. The carnival and midway rides open at noon.

LISTEN TO THE NEWS HERE

NEWS

Three wildfires are still burning east of Snoqualmie Pass as the holiday weekend begins, and together they have covered roughly twelve thousand acres. The Three Queens Fire, which started about a mile northwest of Kachess Lake, stood at just over nine thousand three hundred acres and eight percent contained as of Tuesday evening, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The Goat Fire, sparked by lightning north of Roslyn, has grown to close to eight hundred acres and is not yet contained. The Kittitas County Sheriff's Office has Level 3 "go now" evacuations in place for the Kachess Campground, Cooper Lake, French Cabin Creek Road and upper Salmon La Sac, with Level 2 and Level 1 notices covering areas further out along Salmon La Sac Road and Kachess Lake Road. Lake Kachess, Lake Cle Elum and parts of the Cle Elum Valley are closed to the public. Fire managers do not expect full containment until after Labor Day. If you are heading up-county this weekend, check the county's evacuation map before you go.

The City of Ellensburg wants to hear what you think about the city's trees. The draft Urban Forest Management Plan is out for public review, and the comment period runs through September fourteenth. The plan lays out how the city will plant, maintain, protect and grow the urban forest in the years ahead. You can read it and comment online, send an email to the Public Works Department, or drop your comments off in person at the Public Works office at 501 North Anderson Street. Comments are due by five p.m. on the fourteenth.

The local job picture is mixed. The Daily Record reports Kittitas County came into late summer with an unemployment rate lower than both the state and the nation, but with a sharp drop in government payrolls and fewer total jobs than a year ago. Taken together, the paper reports, the numbers suggest a local labor market that is steadying rather than growing. The county had 884 people seeking work, down from 1,010 in June and 1,061 in July 2025.

LOCAL EVENTS

The Kittitas County Fair opens today at ten a.m. at the Kittitas Valley Event Center and runs until ten tonight. Today is Super One Day — five-dollar admission tickets are available at Super One. Kids five and under and active-duty military get in free every day. The carnival and midway rides open at noon.

The Ellensburg Rodeo gets underway tonight at 5:45 at the rodeo arena, and runs about two hours. Rodeo tickets also get you into the fair the same day.

And Rockin' the Chutes takes the stage tonight at 8:15, with Clint Black and Elizabeth Jo. A change this year — the concert has moved out of the arena and into the Behind the Chutes beer garden. It is twenty-one and over, standing room only, and it is sold out.

If the fairgrounds aren't your speed, Toastmasters International meets tonight at 5:30 at the Hal Holmes Community Center.

Looking ahead to the weekend: Patriot Night at the rodeo is tomorrow at 6:45, with free admission to the fair for all military veterans. Saturday brings the pancake breakfast at seven a.m. in the Grocery Outlet parking lot at University Way and Ruby, the Western Parade downtown at 9:30, and the Xtreme Bulls competition Saturday night at eight. And on Labor Day Monday, admission to the fair is free for everyone, all day.

AROUND TOWN

City of Ellensburg offices will be closed Monday for Labor Day.

On Canyon Road, the repaving between Umptanum Road and Mountain View Avenue is finished, and utility adjustments are happening this week. Permanent striping is scheduled for late September, after the asphalt has had time to cure.

And the city is taking applications for two open seats on the Ellensburg Parks and Recreation Commission. You can find the application at the city's boards and commissions page.

WEATHER                                                                                          

The forecasted high today in Ellensburg is 66 degrees with a low tonight of 42 degrees. Mostly sunny, with a 40 percent chance of showers after eleven this morning. The sunset is at 7:38 p.m. with light and variable winds. A slight chance of showers tonight before eleven, then partly cloudy. With three fires burning up-county, smoke can settle in overnight and early in the morning — worth a look at your local air monitor before you spend the day outdoors.

WHAT'S FOR LUNCH AT THE FISH OPEN TABLE?

The FISH Open Table lunch menu has not been posted.

The senior lunch is open to all seniors age 60-plus from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ellensburg Open Table Kitchen at 204 North Main Street, and from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Upper County Senior Center in Cle Elum. Prior registration is necessary. The community lunch for anyone needing a hot meal is from 1 to 2 p.m. at the Ellensburg Open Table.