Mason's Place is about family and a better downtown
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald Heather Mason opened Mason’s Place a year and a half ago. Mason’s Place is a family-oriented, specialty coffee shop in the downtown district.
MOSES LAKE — The sign on the wall reads: “If you can dream it, you can do it.” The picture on the counter of her mom and dad reminds Heather Mason what’s important.
Big dreams and family are the guiding principles behind Mason’s Place at 102 E. Third Ave.
“Family is huge. All the time growing up here my family was really close and most of them are gone now,” said Mason, who opened the coffee shop about a year and a half ago. “They left a legacy and it’s important to carry on that tradition.”
The brickwork walkway out front leads to an atmosphere of hospitality inside where local artists like Judy Kalin, Jeanne Moe, P. Lillian and Barb Harris have displayed their work. Customers have come to understand Mason’s Place is a place to find out what’s happening around town. There are posters and fliers of local events – the community playhouse, music and the like – are pinned up. More than one customer has taken a snapshot on the phone to remember and upcoming event.
The smell of fresh brewed coffee is a given. Mason deals in shade-grown, organic, fair trade coffee from Camano Island, which is also good for the environment and the farmers who produce it, she says.
“We are all about creating custom drinks. People will ask what’s good and I’ll ask them what they like, then create it,” Mason explained. “One of our newest blends is a white chocolate and Tibet lavender.
“I buy most of my products from Washington or at least the Northwest. My coffee is roasted on Camano Island. We have chocolates and fresh cookies from Kent and Bellevue. We also have cherries from Prosser. We try to support our local producers.”
Mason grew up here in Moses Lake. She went to college near Chicago, but when it came time to come back, she had a different perspective on the place she’s always loved.
“I love Moses Lake,” said Mason, who has three employees in her shop. “For me, there’s the connection with the people. I love the lake. There’s something about Moses Lake and the sunsets out there, the boats on the water. It’s hard to explain.”
To a native Moses Laker, that’s all the explanation that is needed. Mason is a member of the Downtown Business Association where they all help promote each other, support each other. Her shop is a visible part of a viable downtown right there on the corner of Division and Third.
“For those of us that have left and come back, it’s important to carry on the tradition that we grew up with, but we want to make it better in our own way,” she said.
It’s a sit-down coffee shop with a comfortable atmosphere where family and customers matter.
To keep up with the action at Mason’s Place, go to www.facebook.com/MasonsPlaceCoffee.
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