Saturday in the park
Twelve-year-old Allyson Marroquin keeps an eye on her siblings, from left, Mateo, 2, and Kailey and Camila, both 4, as they blow bubbles at the Downtown Moses Lake Association’s first Neppel Family Picnic Saturday.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Cal Cullinane, 7, of Tacoma, has his face painted by Alicia of Amy’s Artistic Creations at the Neppel Family Picnic Saturday. Alicia’s mother Amy Luck, who owns the business, and her husband Scott relocated to Moses Lake last winter from the west side, Scott said, and they’re loving their adopted home town.
The Pangoliers play bluesy rock music at the open mic at the Neppel Family Picnic Saturday.
MOSES LAKE — The Downtown Moses Lake Association’s first Neppel Family Picnic Saturday wasn’t huge, but it did draw people to a park they might otherwise not think twice about.
The picnic took place from noon to 4 p.m. at Neppel Park,with vendor booths and a host of lawn games for the kids, including bean bags to toss and bubbles to blow, provided by the DMLA. This is the DMLA’s first time putting on the picnic, said DMLA Director Rosenda Henley, so the light turnout wasn’t unexpected.
“We have a decent crowd for being a first-time event,” Henley said.
The cross-section of vendors was varied: Obsidian Tattoo, Amy’s Artistic Creations face painting and Travis Sturtevant Jr., professionally known as Travis J the Poet, brought their arts and Tacos Colima and The Butter Stick brought the food. There was an open mic, where Sturtevant read from his book “Daddict: My Side, My Story” and The Pangoliers filled the park with bluesy rock riffs and vocals.
Neppel Park isn’t as much in the public eye as some of Moses Lake’s other parks, being tucked away between the lake and the backs of commercial buildings on Broadway. Everybody drives past it, but it hasn’t been an event venue the way McCosh and Civic Center parks have been. The picnic was a way to showcase the park, Henley said.
“Some of the businesses on Broadway said that we never have anything happening on this side of the road,” she said. “So I just kind of took a walk around the block, and I was like, ‘what can we do?’ Especially because Broadway is such a busy intersection. And then (thought), ‘This is really nice. We could probably do something back here.’”
“It’s pretty cool,” said Haley Hayes, who was listening to The Pangoliers with Allie and Amree Biles. “We’re about to enjoy some tacos, and we like the music too.”
“We wanted to make it something kind of low-key, but something big enough that when people come down here, they're able to see the other businesses,” Henley said.
Joel Martin may be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.
