MOSES LAKE — The gavel has been passed at the Central Basin Community Concert Association, as Caren Courtright succeeded Frances Irwin as president last week. 

“Francie has been a fearless leader,” said Carla McKean, a member of the CBCCA board. “She's efficient and she's timeless … She's a great mentor to me.” 

Courtright plans to continue along the course her predecessor set, she said. 

“It's been a good course,” she said. “I’d like to continue getting the word out, making more and more people aware of what we offer in outstanding live music that we're bringing and how inexpensive it is.” 

Irwin has served as president of the CBCCA board since 2020, when she returned to the board after a number of years’ hiatus. 

“I became more active again right after my husband passed,” Irwin said. “My first meeting back, they asked me to be president and I said ‘No way, Jose.’ I had 15 board members in tears.” 

Irwin took the reins at a difficult time for the CBCCA, she said. 

“Our attendance was really terrible,” she said. “The big issue for us, and it still is a huge issue, is the people of the community still don't know the Community Concert Association exists, and we're 71 years old this year.” 

One reason, Irwin said, was that the CBCCA had been a membership-driven organization since its founding in the 1950s, and subscription dues just don’t pay the cost of bringing in quality entertainment anymore. Irwin had suggested back in 2010 or 2011 that access to the concerts be expanded to allow single-show sales, she said, and that was done during her presidency. Memberships are still available, she said, and are a bargain. 

“It costs a whole lot less for an annual membership to attend your four concerts, or this year five concerts, than it does to buy an individual concert ticket,” she said. “We're still keeping the individual concert tickets at only $30. With the quality of artists that we're bringing in, these same artists would cost $75 to $100 in Spokane or any other city.” 

Under her guidance, the board also sought out corporate sponsorships, which eased the financial burden on the CBCCA, and a couple of years ago, the CBCCA worked with its counterpart organization in The Dalles, Ore., to create the association’s annual fundraiser, “Dancing with the Moses Lake Stars.” The event, which partners local residents with professionals to compete in a dance contest, proved immensely popular, raising more than $14,000 this year.  

“That has been how we have become very financially stable and viable and able to bring even more expensive artists to Moses Lake,” Irwin said. 

Next year’s event won’t lack for participants, Courtright said. 

“People are lining up to be dancers,” she said. “Right after the last one, (we) had almost a full slate of people who want to do it. (It’s) really fun, that it’s become that exciting.” 

The CBCCA has made other concerted efforts at getting the word out, Irwin said, with a booth at the Grant County Fair and other local events. 

This year’s CBCCA schedule has a varied menu, starting Sept. 25 with a concert by pianist, composer and entertainer Jason Lyle Black. In October, the CBCCA will present  “TAKE3: Where Rock meets Bach,” and in December, Moses Lake native Collin Hansen, a performer and music instructor at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, will return to his hometown for a concert. 

Irwin will remain on the board for a few more years, she said, and she feels like she’s leaving the presidency in good hands. 

“She's a well-organized, very intelligent, very positive person,” Irwin said. 

    Then-president Francis Irwin stands on the stage at Moses Lake Alliance Church before a Central Basin Community Concert Association performance in 2021. The association usually holds its concerts in the Wallenstien Theater at Big Bend Community College, but the COVID-19 pandemic required finding another venue temporarily.
 John McCarthy