Royal City farm to host Dahlia Days this weekend
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 1 month AGO
Gray Girl Farms owner Kylie Gray-Eilers will host a festival this weekend dedicated to dahlias. Gray-Eilers founded the farm to support herself and her children and considers being a farmer a dream come true.
COURTESY PHOTO/GRAY GIRL FARMS
Dahlia devotees can cut all the flowers they want at Gray Girl Farms’ Dahlia Days Saturday and Sunday.
Sharing a love of growing things is a way of life for Gray Girl Farms owner Kylie Gray-Eilers.
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. | October 2, 2025 4:46 PM
ROYAL CITY — Dahlia lovers will have a chance to top up their supply this weekend – and have a little end-of-summer fun at the same time. Gray Girl Farms in Royal City is holding its annual Dahlia Days U-pick event Saturday and Sunday.
“I think this is a great time of year to do it, because the rest of the world is winding down and that’s when dahlias really hit their stride,” said Gray Girl Farms owner Kylie Gray-Eilers. “They thrive in the warm days and cool nights.”
Dahlia Days is the one time of year that Gray Girl Farms is open to the public for picking, Gray-Eilers said. Most of her sales are done online. About 150 people came out last year, she said.
Besides the flowers, there will be food and craft vendors, Gray-Eilers said, as well as bouncy houses so children can work out their wiggles.
This is the third year Gray Girl Farms has opened up for Dahlia Days, Gray-Eilers said. She started the flower farm seven years ago as a way of dealing with postpartum depression, according to her website. Today, Gray Girl Farms has seven acres planted in dahlias and another two acres in peonies, and she and her husband use the flower farm not only as a business but as a way to teach their five children a work ethic.
Admission to the event is free, and for those who want to cut flowers, the cost is $30 per bucket and the customer supplies the bucket. Customers are also encouraged to bring their own cutting implements, according to the website, although Gray-Eilers has a few pairs of snips and scissors for those who need them.
“Dahlias are fun,” she said. “They’re intricate. They’re a really unique flower and people love to baby them and take care of them.”
Dahlia Days
12-4 p.m. Oct. 4-5
Gray Girl Farms
11549 Road E SW, Royal City
Free admission, flowers $30 per bucket
Dahlia devotees can cut all the flowers they want at Gray Girl Farms’ Dahlia Days Saturday and Sunday.
Sharing a love of growing things is a way of life for Gray Girl Farms owner Kylie Gray-Eilers.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Home prices up in most Basin markets
MOSES LAKE — Home prices increased in most, but not all, markets of the Columbia Basin this year, according to data from the real estate website Redfin. The median home price in Moses Lake in September was $364,821, according to Redfin’s data, up 5.4% from September 2025. Ephrata’s median price wasn’t far off, at $368,824, but that represented a 12.5% increase over the same time period. Quincy’s median price topped the list of local cities at $405,235, a 10.1% year-over-year increase. Othello, in contrast, dropped by 17.1% year-over-year, to $298,226.
BASIN EVENTS Nov. 6-14
COLUMBIA BASIN — Now that everyone has adjusted from the Daylight Saving Time changeover, it’s time to get out of the house and off to something fun. Here are a few destinations to check out. Nov. 6 Members Exhibition Gallery opening for show of artworks by museum members. Opening reception 4-7 p.m. at Moses Lake Museum & Art Center, 401 S. Balsam St. Info: www.moseslakemuseum.com.
Going rogue
Moses Lake salon celebrates creativity and independence
MOSES LAKE — The new salon on East Broadway is called Rogue Collective for a reason. “We had this dream to do it all together,” said owner Dana Mendoza. “That’s where the ‘collective’ came from. It’s a pretty amazing group of women. Everyone has their own separate gifts and talents.” The “rogue” part of the name comes from the fact that the professionals all came from other salons with the same idea: to do things their own way.