JOEL MARTIN

Mattawa Winter Festival includes crafts, cocoa and ugly sweaters

MATTAWA — Mattawa’s annual Winter Festival will take place Wednesday. “The goal is to bring families together to celebrate the holiday and to make crafts as a family,” said Mattawa Mayor Maria Celaya. The event is put together by a coalition of community stakeholders including the city of Mattawa, Wahluke School District, the Mattawa Community Medical Clinic and Columbia Basin Health Association, Celaya said. Crafts play a large part in the Winter Festival, Celaya said. Local first responders will have a table where children can decorate cookies with police officers, and MCMC will have a space where children can write letters to Santa. The Wahluke High School Future Business Leaders of America will have a booth where children can make a Christmas ornament for the 50-foot tree in the school commons. The craft materials are donated by CBHA, Celaya said.

Piano students to support orphans with recital

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake-area music students will perform to raise money for a Ukrainian orphanage, according to an announcement from piano teacher Marina Munter. Students of Moses Lake-Central Basin chapter of the Washington State Music Teachers Association members will perform “Christmas Songs for Ukrainian Orphans” Dec. 20, at Moses Lake Christian Academy, Munter wrote in the announcement. There is no set admission price but donations are encouraged. Participating piano teachers are Preta Laughlin, Marina Munter, Gracie Payne, Whitney Reck and Harriet West. Violin teacher Iryna Novikov’s students will also perform.

BASIN EVENTS: Dec. 12-20

COLUMBIA BASIN — It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas out there, and there are holiday goings-on galore in the Basin. Here are a few things to make your spirits bright:

Ephrata rings in the holidays with Bells on Basin on Saturday

EPHRATA — Bells on Basin will fill downtown Ephrata with holiday spirit Saturday, with games, shopping and a lighted parade. “It's a festive event that a lot of people look forward to, to kick off and bring everybody together for the holidays,” said Ephrata Chamber of Commerce Director Britney MacLeod.

Moses Lake Ag Parade fills downtown with lights and cheer

MOSES LAKE — It was foggy and chilly in downtown Moses Lake Friday, but the community spirit was warm for the Downtown Ag Appreciation Parade and Street Party. “I just talked to some people and they were, like, ‘This is our first year and this is awesome,’” said Downtown Moses Lake Association Executive Director Mallory Miller. The event, held the first Friday of December every year, has been a Moses Lake tradition since the 1990s, according to Columbia Basin Herald archives. Several blocks of downtown Moses Lake were closed off in the afternoon as parade floats lined up in the Surf ‘n Slide parking lot and partygoers in Sinkiuse Square enjoyed free french fries from Simplot, free hot cocoa sponsored by Spokane Teachers Credit Union and Viking Eatery, and free s’mores sponsored by Steve Crapson of Allstate Insurance and James Shank of Edward Jones. Other food and craft vendors did a thriving business in the streets.

Gesa scholarship applications open

RICHLAND — Gesa Credit Union is accepting applications for its scholarship program through the end of February, according to Gesa Vice President of Community Impact Brandon Allison. The credit union plans to award $150,000 to students at various stages in their education.

Skyview Dental opens new clinic

MOSES LAKE — The new Skyview Dental clinic is open. “It’s been under planning for about two and a half years,” said Dr. Calvin Despain at the clinic’s ribbon-cutting Friday. “We broke ground in March of this year and then just finished up and started seeing patients a couple of weeks ago.” The 6,000-square-foot clinic features 10 treatment rooms with brand new equipment, arranged in an open, airy space that allows Despain and his staff to move around easily between patients. “It’s built around patient comfort, Despain said. “We’ve got the most advanced equipment and dental chairs that are available … We do same-day crowns. We have 3D printing where we can get dentures made faster. We have our 3D X-rays … We have our little special surgery rooms (where) we can have a nice private place for people to be who have longer procedures.”

Gifts sought for MLSD bus drivers’ Tree of Sharing

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake’s school bus drivers still have a few gifts to buy, and they could use a little help.

Word wizards

MLCA students take high honors in vocabulary competition

MOSES LAKE — These students know how to use their words. Forty-two thousand, four hundred thirty-eight of them, in fact. MLCA recently competed in the Vocabulary.com Vocabulary Bowl, and students demonstrated mastery of 42,438 words in a David-and-Goliath battle against schools with vastly larger teams. “We were competing against hundreds, if not thousands of schools,” said Moses Lake Christian Academy English teacher Hannah Pease. “We finished seventh in the nation, out of every size school, even schools with over a thousand kids.” MLCA, with fewer than 200 students in all grades, has been the top school in Washington for two years running in the Vocabulary.com Vocabulary Bowl, and this fall season placed second in the U.S. and Canada among schools with fewer than 500 students. The competition circled the globe with 966,716 participants, according to the website, from 20 countries.

Small, local shops offer unique Christmas gifts

MOSES LAKE — Plenty of people do all their Christmas shopping from the comfort of their laptop. But just a few blocks away, local small businesses are offering things you won’t necessarily find online. “Most of our shoppers, they're looking for something unique, not something they can get from Amazon or from China,” said Ken Haisch, one of six vendors at Third Avenue Antiques in Moses Lake.