Making memories

 

The Merc Playhouse occupies the old Twisp Mercantile Building, built in 1926. The Mercantile once provided Methow Valley settlers with provisions for home and farm. When the business closed, the building sat idle for many years.

Thanks to the group of founding directors, The Merc opened its first season of professional theater in 1999. The Merc is a community treasure in the Methow Valley, an intimate space for adult and children's productions, concerts and lectures.

This delightful play we just saw, "James and the Giant Peach." was produced by the local Thomas Zbyszewski Children's Theater Group. 

Tom Z. grew up in the Valley, and performed at the Merc Playhouse in nearly a dozen productions. In August 2015, Tom tragically lost his life while fighting the Twisp River wildfire, one month shy of his 21st birthday. To honor his memory, The Merc established the Tom Zbyszewski Children's Program.

This program has since touched the lives of hundreds of local children, including our Maya above (in rehearsal for Peach.)

The weather was warm and sunny. I rode my bike around town and we grilled the first steak of the year. On Sunday, a long hike with friends up at Amanda and Tom's property, then John and I watched some of Nova's dressage lesson at the barn outside of town.

This arena was a sea of mud when I was here a few weeks ago. 

My brother Dave also came over to see the play, and we had a family breakfast on Saturday. Then the icing on the cake of a great weekend, our neighbors Bruce and Karen invited us over for dinner last night.  It's back to our quiet Seattle reality today, with much more typical weather next week.