Taste of Home includes Jazzercise demonstration

MOSES LAKE - Attendees of the Taste of Home Cooking School this week will get to learn more about a Moses Lake business.

Mary Graham, owner of the Moses Lake Jazzercise Center, will lead a fitness demonstration during the event.

The Taste of Home Cooking School takes places Thursday at the Grant County Fairgrounds. The event features a trade show at 5 p.m. and a cooking demonstration at 7 p.m.

The cooking demonstration will be led by former Othello resident Kristi Larson. The Jazzercise demonstration takes place at 6 p.m.

All of the events take place in the 4-H and Commercial buildings at the fairgrounds.

Graham said she has been teaching Jazzercise classes in Moses Lake for the past 30 years. Jazzercise itself has been around for about 45 years, she said.

"It's a fun and effective exercise program," she said. "It's the only organized group fitness program that has stayed around that long and lasted."

She said Jazzercise is based on dance, so the choreographed moves are set to all kinds of music including hip-hop, salsa, country, and jazz. Routines and music are updated every couple of months, said Graham.

"It's been around since the 80s, but we would not be as successful if we had stayed in the 80s," she said. "We always have fresh, new music and routines."

Graham said Jazzercise is open to people of all ages and fitness levels. The Moses Lake center sees participants of all ages including some who are in their 80s, she said.

Graham said participants can choose from about 31 classes a week currently offered at the center.

Taste of Home tickets are $12 for general admission and $50 for VIP admission, which includes a catered dinner, an autographed cookbook and early admittance to the show.

Each person who attends the show gets a gift bag with coupons, samples and Taste of Home magazines. They will also get the chance to win one of several prizes being handed out that night including groceries from Safeway, a recliner from Furniture West and hanging baskets from Ace Hardware.

Tickets are available at the Columbia Basin Herald office and Michael's Bistro.