Quality Time With Dad

By AMY DAVIS

The Progress

Quality time spent together is just what the doctor ordered when it comes to celebrating dad for Father’s Day.

The Painted Hippo Ceramic Studio in Mesquite invited the community to “bring your dad, grandpa or father figure and enjoy complimentary donuts” on Saturday June 18. Guests were able to choose a ceramic piece ranging in price from $5 to $100 and paint it in a well-lit, cool room with music playing softly in the background.

Owners, Junior and Sabra Baeza, opened the Painted Hippo just two short weeks ago with dreams of providing cost-friendly activities to Mesquite residents of all ages.

And that is just what they are doing. At 10:05 am on Saturday, The Painted Hippo was full of people who had turned up for the Father’s Day event.
“You never know how many people will attend these kinds of events,” said Junior. “But the place is full and we couldn’t be happier.”

Who was there? Grandparents with multiple grandkids, dads with their adult children and some dads with a table full of young children. Despite being full to capacity with lots of small children, the room was mostly quiet with only the soft hum of communication back and forth. Everyone from ages 5 to 75 were totally focused on the task at hand.

John Belnap attended this father’s day event with his wife and two small daughters.
“It is super fun to be here with my family for Father’s Day,” he said. “This is nice and creative, and the kids are quiet and that’s all that matters.”

He made this last statement jokingly as his daughter gave him a side-eye, “how-dare-you-say-that-dad” glance.
“This is totally something Mesquite needed!” he added.

John’s daughter Harper, who was painting a rainbow piggy bank, said “It is so fun to be here with my dad.”

Big sister Fiona painted quite a large dragon that was also a piggy bank. John painted a turtle. And mom, Sarah, painted a large ornate cup.

“It has been a long time since I painted ceramics,” said Emily Andreola who attended the event with her dad Wayne. “It is Father’s Day tomorrow and my dad will be 75 in about two weeks. So I figured it would be a good Father’s Day/birthday present. He was very excited to do this today.”

Wayne confirmed her statements and added, “I don’t love painting, I haven’t done this since cub scouts. But this is a blast! It is a nice place, I am definitely coming back.”
Wayne made connections from earlier years saying, “You know how in American Band Stand they said it was easy to dance to? This place is easy to paint to.”

Wayne chose to paint a gecko because “my cat has a lizard friend that he stares at on the other side of the window. So this is for my cat.”

Painted Hippo owner, Sabra, grew up going to ceramic studios with her aunt. As her children grew, it became a favorite family activity.
“When we would travel out of town, we would always take our kids to places like this,” Sabra said. “But it was always pretty expensive.”

Sabra and Junior set a goal thinking that they could bring a ceramics studio to Mesquite and keep it cost friendly for retired people, families and just everybody.
“We want this to be for the community,” Sabra said.

Donuts for Dads was another idea meant to bring the community together, Sabra said.
Sabra recognized that the final projects wouldn’t be ready in time for Father’s day, because of the glazing process that takes place after the painting is done. “But I thought that it might be really special just to have somewhere to go with your dad to spend some quality time together,” Sabra said. “And donuts just seemed like a natural addition.”

“Everybody was so great in helping up get this business up and running,” said Junior. “From Jensen Properties to the City, we just had a great experience. The support from the community has just been amazing. We have had people come in multiple times and we are so happy about it.”

Junior says his family would always get donuts on the weekend. He loves that they could host an official event called “Donuts with Dad.”
“I love being able to provide something for everybody,” he said. “We grew up here and recognize the need to provide family friendly activities at an affordable price.”

Sherrie Wright attended with her husband, Ricky Garcia. They also brought their daughter Stancie Olsson and granddaughter KD Jolley, who were visiting from Lehi, Utah.
“We used to do this when Stancie was 14,” Ricky said. “Now Katie is 14 and we are doing it with her. This has been really fun.”

Ricky was very busy painting a large dragon piggy bank which Sherrie says is for his coins. Meanwhile she was painting an even larger fire hydrant to keep his dollars inside.

Mike Anthis and Alicia Reyes and 6-year-old daughter Reina Ortega celebrated by painting an ice cream cone and a turtle.
“I am not an artist,” Mike said as he meticulously added more detail to his turtle. “But my daughter wanted to do this, and it has been awesome. I like it, it is fun to do, and it is very relaxing.”

From all observations, Donuts with Dad was a smashing success.

The Painted Hippo is open from 10 am to 6 pm daily but closed Sundays. On Friday, the store closes early at 3 pm, but reopens in the evening from 6-9 pm for adults-only “date-night” projects.

The store is located in the Mesquite Plaza at 312 W. Mesquite Blvd. Suite 7. For information call 702-344-5022 or go to “The Painted Hippo” Facebook page.