Mary Poppins to host children’s tea party
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 5 months AGO
Claire Crump will sip tea (or lemonade) with children in her role as the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious nanny at Basin Community Theatre’s Tea Time with Mary Poppins March 28. Tickets go on sale Friday.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | February 4, 2025 1:20 AM
MOSES LAKE — She’s practically perfect in every way, and next month, some children will get to enjoy her magic in person.
As part of the leadup to its stage production of “Mary Poppins,” Basin Community Theatre will host Tea Time with Mary Poppins on March 28. Children can enjoy tea or lemonade with the star of the play, Claire Crump, in full costume. Crump will also lead a singalong and some crafts and take photos with the youngsters.
The idea was originally conceived as a mother-daughter tea, but BCT Producer Marion Wyman said dads, grandparents and sons are all welcome too. Children love seeing their favorite characters close up, Wyman said.
“I took my granddaughter to see ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (on stage),” Wyman said. “The next day was Sunday, and I took her to church with me and (the actress who played) Belle was at church. My granddaughter just stopped in her tracks, and she took a breath, and she gasped ‘Belle!’ ... Our hope is that (children) come to the show and go ‘I met her! She’s flying! I have a picture with her!’”
Other cast members will be there to serve in period costume, Wyman said, but probably won’t be recognizable as their characters.
The children will make bracelets and color kites, Crump said. They can also print off a picture from BCT’s website and color it, and those will be entered in a drawing. The winner will receive two tickets to the play.
Tickets go on sale Friday. Early bird tickets bought Friday and Saturday are $5 off; the regular price begins on Sunday. There’s room for 120 people, both children and adults, Wyman said.
Crump is no stranger to princesshood, she said. As a Moses Lake High School choir student, she participated in the choir’s Enchanted Evening events where students charmed children as Disney characters.
“I was always a princess,” she said. “It's so fun to get to connect on that level. As someone on stage, you hope that you're creating magic, but being able to do this kind of thing, you're kind of bringing the magic in and around people. It's going to be really fun.”
More information and tickets are available at www.basincommunitytheatre.com.
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Growing fast
Gray Girl Farms nursery springs up near Royal City
ROYAL CITY — It’s one thing to grow and sell flowers. Owning a complete nursery is something else altogether, especially when you have only months to build it. “The learning curve has been really steep,” said Kylie Gray-Eilers. “I just always tell myself that every day is a new day.” Gray-Eilers isn’t a stranger to raising plants; her Gray Girl Farms has sold dahlias for almost eight years, and she holds a Dahlia Days festival every year in October. The dahlia operation was beginning to reach the point where she needed either to scale it back or grow, she said. So when she learned that Robin Prchal, owner of Emerald Desert Nursery in Quincy, was fixing to retire, Gray-Eilers decided it was time to expand.
Looking good
Institute of Beauty Professionals trains barbers, nail techs and more
MOSES LAKE — It takes a lot of training to make people look their best. “(A license to do) nails is 600 hours (of instruction),” said Institute of Beauty Professionals owner and instructor Nicholas Harle. “Cosmetology is 1,640 hours, barbering is 1,000, hair design is 1,440 and aesthetics is 750.” IBP takes its own private students and also serves the Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center’s cosmetology program, Harle said. Those students spend 2 1/2 hours a day at IBP and earn credits in lab science, technical science, first aid and fine arts, he said. There were 61 CBTECH students at IBP last year, he said, and there are about 25 full-time students.
BASIN EVENTS: July 24-Aug. 1
COLUMBIA BASIN — It’s hot and smoky outside? This is the Columbia Basin. We’re used to this. Here are some chances to get out and have some fun no matter what the sky looks like. July 25 Christmas in July at the Market Who says you have to wait until December for holiday cheer? Stroll through decorated vendor booths, shop amazing local makers and growers, enjoy holiday-themed fun, festive music, sweet treats, and surprises for the whole family. Wear your favorite Christmas shirt, Santa hat, or holiday outfit. 8 a.m.-1 p.m. at Moses Lake Farmers Market, McCosh Park, 401 W. Fourth Avenue. Info: www.farmersmarketml.com.