Friends, fun and dried crickets: Moses Lake turns out for business expo

MOSES LAKE — It should be pretty obvious what Harvest Valley Pest Control does.

“We kill bugs,” said Richard Westra as he sat with coworker Katrina Keithly at the company’s table at the St. Patrick’s Business Expo on Tuesday. “Bugs and rodents.”

But that isn’t all they do with bugs, apparently. Keithly pointed to a tray covered with small paper cups, each lined up under a label — chili-lime, hickory-smoked bacon, cheesy ranch, buffalo, and plain old roasted.

Crickets. The folks at Harvest Valley were offering free samples of freeze-dried, roasted crickets, along with lollipops with crickets in the center, at their booth at the Moses Lake Business Expo which had a St. Patrick’s Day theme in honor of the holiday this week.

“Edible bugs,” Keithly said. We get them from Amazon, and they’re different flavors.”

Normally, Keithly said, they also have edible scorpions and tarantulas but they gave those all away at another event last weekend.

“We weren’t able to get more for here,” she said. “Those were quite the hit too.”

Anyone unhappy about not being able to munch on a giant spider or nibble a poisonous arachnid, however, had to content themselves with the corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and other goodies available at the buffet line — all part of the annual celebration of businesses in Moses Lake as part of this year’s expo, organized by the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce.

“The business expo is a big deal, especially now coming out of the pandemic,” said Debbie Doran-Martinez, chamber executive director. “It’s an opportunity for businesses to display their goods, services, products, whatever they have to offer, and to encourage our citizens to purchase local first.”

“That’s what drives our community,” Doran-Martinez added.

And driven people were to come, to show off their wares, advertise their services and to simply enjoy just being out. There were goodie bags, giveaways and a giant game of business bingo to be eligible to win an Oculus virtual reality headset.

The theme of this year’s Business Expo was “Find Your Pot of Gold,” a St. Patrick’s Day celebration which inspired the buffet and asked participants to wear as much green as they could muster.

In fact, Doran-Martinez said turnout was such that organizers needed to rent out two buildings at the fairgrounds this year, rather than just one.

“We’re trying to get back to our new normal, our next normal, whatever you want to call it,” Doran-Martinez said. “It’s definitely nice to be out and about.”

“We like to come here because it’s fun, and we get to see people, and dressing up is fun,” said Vicki Rivers, a sales rep with LocalTel in Moses Lake. “It’s not just all about work. It’s also about having fun and enjoying your community.”

For some businesses, it was their first time at the business expo, and a chance to show what they do.

“We want to get to know more people in the community, other businesses and we want to get our name out there,” said Sandy Hanson, the owner of Enchanting Gown Bridal Boutique.

Hanson, her daughter Ashley Meadows and employee Samantha Candela were showing off a banquet table setting and giving away mini cupcakes and mock champaign, as well as raffling off a $250 gift basket.

Ben Sellen, a real estate agent in Moses Lake, didn’t rent a booth this year. He just came to take in the expo.

“I just like interacting with our community. I love all these people,” Sellen said. “Anytime I can go to something like this, I will. I can meet lots of people and see old friends, actually.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com