CBAA auction moves inside with Kentucky Derby theme

MOSES LAKE — The Columbia Basin Allied Arts fundraiser auction will have a new venue this year, at the Best Western Plus Lake Front Hotel in Moses Lake.

“They catered last year … and it was great,” CBAA Executive Director Shawn Cardwell said. “It felt like it would be fun to change it up … We really look forward to that beautiful lake view.”

The Kentucky Derby is also that weekend, and the event’s theme, “Betting on a Brighter Future With the Arts,” will pay homage to the race. The punch will be mint julep-inspired and Paradise Grill will serve up barbecued ribs and a spring pasta salad recipe taken from the Kentucky Derby website, Cardwell said. Chuck Yarbro Auctioneers will conduct the live auction again this year.

The auction’s goal every year is $30,000, and it brought in about that much in 2025, Cardwell said. The money goes to fund CBAA’s regular programs like its Premier, Green Turtle and Friday Film series, the Missoula Children’s Theater’s spring break drama camp and online directories of musicians and music teachers.

CBAA also sponsors community events like Music at the Market, Art on 3rd and the Umani Festival in Moses Lake. Cardwell said the organization plans to extend those to other communities next year.

“We’ve been experimenting with our programming in the last maybe five years, to maximize the impact and interactions we’re having across our communities,” Cardwell said. “A lot of that experimenting has been happening in Moses Lake, with our street festivals and by partnering with other Moses Lake groups and figuring out that we can do more together,” she said. “So now what we’re trying to do is expand and formalize our service area across Grant, Adams and Lincoln counties and trying to get into those satellite communities. (We want to) make sure that people across the Basin in some of the most rural regions and towns in the state are getting an impactful amount of arts programming.”

Allied Arts is already in those communities through its mobile arts programs for schools, which take art to every school district in three counties. Even the smallest schools get a visit, sometimes combining two or three to have enough students to participate. Some of the funds raised at this year’s auction will go to step up that program, Cardwell said.

“It took us six years to reach every school district in Grant, Adams and Lincoln counties,” she said. “Now we’re going to attempt to do that in three instead of six. It’s always good to have milestones.”

    Lucha wrestling is a central part of the Umani Festival in Moses Lake sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts. CBAA will hold its fundraiser auction May 2.
  

    Columbia Basin Allied Arts Executive Director Shawn Cardwell, right, holds up an item for auctioneer Chuck Yarbro Jr. to take bids on at a previous CBAA fundraiser auction.