Biz Bits: Candle business opens in downtown Pullman

An activity that originated as a way for one of Kristi Zinn-Bartels’ daughters to practice her motor skills has blossomed into a downtown Pullman store.

Zinn-Bartels and her daughter, Keeley Zinn, who has Down syndrome, made candles during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Soon after they started, Zinn-Bartels said she recognized the potential for a business. What is now The Gathering Place began in a mudroom at her Pomeroy home before it moved to her basement and the present location at 226 E. Main St.

The business, in the former Daily Grind space, carries 56 fragrances shoppers can custom blend with soy wax. The candles can be formed in vessels the business sells or ones the customers provide.

“It’s about inclusivity,” Zinn-Bartels said. “Anybody is welcome. We would love to help people create memories in the form of fragrance.”

It also keeps hundreds of candles in stock in scents such as apple maple bourbon, Christmas tree farm or pineapple papaya.

Prices range from $10 for a 4- to 6-ounce candle that burns about 25 hours, said store manager Maya Kowatsch, a junior at Washington State University and a daughter of Zinn-Bartels.

All of the candles are poured with soy wax that doesn’t release toxins when it burns, she said.

“It evaporates slower,” Zinn-Bartels said. “It attracts the fragrance better.”

The Gathering Place uses cotton wicks and doesn’t put colors in the candles because it can be hard to source dyes that don’t have harmful chemicals, she said.

Downtown Pullman is proving to be a good place to expand the audience for her products, Zinn-Bartels said.

The exposed brick walls of the building create a warm atmosphere and remind her of the restaurant her dad owned in Moscow, the Nobby Inn in Moscow, which is now the Breakfast Club.

The Gathering Place and Terracotta, another downtown Pullman business, for example, are offering sessions where participants make pottery vessels at Terracotta and pour candles into them at The Gathering Place.

And Zinn-Bartels notes The Gathering Place fits well in the section of downtown where she’s located, which is jokingly called “Dating Row.” It received the nickname because it has restaurants and bars as well as a flower store and lingerie shop.

The approach that Zinn-Bartels is using at The Gathering Place is based partly on what she has learned at Twisted Wire Coffee in Pomeroy. She owns that business with her husband, Brian Bartels, and his parents, Linda and Dick Bartels.

Outside of those ventures, she is the human resources manager for Columbia County in Dayton, Wash. The Gathering Place is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and by appointment for private parties.

Lewiston hospital honored

LEWISTON -- St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston has won praise from U.S. News & World Report for providing maternity care in a rural area.

The hospital was recognized as a Maternity Care Access Hospital in a Tuesday edition of the publication.

U.S. News & World Report bestowed the honor to 73 hospitals after identifying communities that would lack access to maternity care if the only hospital serving them stopped providing the service. Then it reviewed performance data in a survey submitted to the publication.

Some, like St. Joe’s, are also on U.S. News & World Report’s list of Best Hospitals for Maternity Care.

St. Joe’s is used in the first paragraphs of a story introducing award winners that notes it serves “the most rural health district” in Idaho.

The hospital’s obstetricians often collaborate with medical providers in the region to reduce the frequency that patients need to make lengthy drives for care, according to the article.

One of the moms who gave birth at St. Joe’s is Jamie Laird, 43, of Kamiah, a midwife and mother of eight, who had three of her children at home, according to the article.

When a home birth is unsafe, Laird sends her patients to St. Joe’s. “They always have our backs,” she told U.S. News & World Report.

During Laird’s eighth pregnancy she received care for placenta previa at St. Joe’s, driving an hour and a half for a scheduled C-section, instead of traveling three hours to Spokane, according to the story.

The honor for St. Joe’s from U.S. News & World Report comes at a time when the problem of “maternity care deserts” is getting worse, with 89 obstetric units in rural hospitals closing between 2015 and 2019, according to the publication.

The challenges include “falling reimbursement rates, low birth volumes and difficulty retaining clinicians,” according to the story.

Beer hall debuts below ax throwing business

A German-inspired macaroni and cheese dish is an entree at Countrymen’s Bierhall on the ground floor of the building that houses Moscow Ax Throwing at 310 W. Third St.

Spaetzle Und Bierkase is made with a beer cheese and caramelized onion sauce that covers spaetzle pasta.

“It’s a very rich, very tasty item,” said Chris Ihler, an owner of Countrymen’s Bierhall and Moscow Ax Throwing.

“The spaetzle holds the cheese a little bit more than macaroni, so you’re getting a very balanced bite,” he said.

Other options include four kinds of bratwurst and an oversized Bavarian pretzel that’s served with house bier cheese, stone-ground mustard and pub cheese sauces.

The food can be paired with almost 20 kinds of beers, ciders, sours and seltzers such as Mountain Man Scotch Ale from Jeremiah Johnson in Montana or Blackberry Sour from White Dog Brewing in Idaho.

The owners of the bier hall hope customers mingle and make new friends, Ihler said. Patrons are encouraged to sing along with recorded classic country music tunes.

Countrymen’s Bier Hall is open noon to midnight or until the crowds thin Wednesday through Sunday. The hours are similar to the ax throwing business, which is open seven days a week noon to midnight or until the crowds thin.

Food and wine added at Moscow art venture

JarCuterie is Craft Artbar & Studio’s answer to the conundrum of how to serve snacks without making a mess and consuming too much table space.

The charcuteries in jars go over well with customers who sometimes struggle to have enough room for art supplies on their tables while they are doing projects, said Meghan Miller, a new owner of Moscow Wild@Art, which has been renamed Craft Artbar & Studio.

The classic is one of four types of JarCuterie at Craft Artbar & Studio. It features salume, a European-style cured meat, olives, dried fruit, cheese and pickled items.

Along with JarCuterie, Miller has introduced a mix of beer, wine, glitter drinks and non-alcoholic beverages such as the “Curious Elixir” cucumber cooler.

The business at 118 E. Third St. is still offering paint-your-own pottery, canvas painting and art making on a daily basis as well as hosting on- and off-site private and corporate events.

New programming includes a monthly series called “Palate and Palette,” which includes wine tasting, painting and opportunities to complete other types of art.

Miller and her husband, Craig Miller, acquired the business from Donald Stanziano and Joan Hofmann with a third partner who no longer has a stake in the business.

The Millers both are continuing full-time employment at other jobs. She is a wine buyer for Wine Spies, an online company. He is an assistant professor at the University of Idaho Theatre Arts Department.

Craft Artbar & Studio is open noon - 8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. On Mondays and Tuesdays, Craft Artbar & Studio does private events on and off site.

Lewiston art business relocates to 21st Street

LEWISTON -- Art Uncorked has started an after-school club following its move to a shopping plaza along Lewiston’s 21st Street across the road from Albertsons.

For $50 per month, children get to complete projects such as paintings that cost as much as $20 at the store over the course of as many as four visits to Art Uncorked from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, said Myndie VanHorn, owner of the business.

VanHorn’s venture had been in three downtown Lewiston spaces before relocating to 1035 21st, where it has three times more room and additional parking, she said.

The capacity to offer the program for children is one of many advantages of the new location, Van Horn said.

Art Uncorked has added a pottery wheel. It expanded its selection of ceramics to paint and introduced new classes such as one where customers complete holiday ornaments. The maximum number of students in classes such as Sip and Paint has grown from 30 to 100.

Art Uncorked is open noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

New provider at mental health clinic

LEWISTON -- Christine Thomas, a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner, has joined OHM Mental Health and Wellness Center in Lewiston.

Her practice focuses on helping patients manage depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and bipolar disorder through psychotherapy, medication, transcranial magnetic stimulation and Spravato.

She most recently worked at Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a treatment for depression where MRI-strength pulsations are administered to the mood center of the brain through a small, curved magnetic coil placed lightly on the head while patients sit in chairs similar to those used at dental practices. It’s intended to stimulate the release of mood-enhancing chemicals and helps receptors use those chemicals in a more efficient way.

Spravato is a prescription medication for depression that’s administered over a series of office visits.

Thomas completed nursing school in 2013 and recently completed her master’s degree as a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner at Frontier Nursing University in Versailles, Ky. She completed most of her clinical training at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

The hours of Ohm Mental Health Wellness Center at 1534 Idaho St. are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Its telephone number is (208) 717-4823.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.