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I Want to Be Ranger Dan When I Grow Up
and how to properly pat Poppy 🐶
Ben Thietje
June 19, 2025 • Est. Reading Time: 8 minutes
Hello! I’m Ben, executive director at the Phipps.
Welcome to The Flying P, a weekly newsletter covering your Phipps Center for the Arts and anything else I might want to throw your way.
This issue has…
🎭 A Fun and Free Puppet Show
pray for nice weather🌳 A Real-Life Park Ranger
it’s the hat🎹 Some Very Nice Pipedreams
is there a better organ?
VISUAL ARTS
Ranger Dan for the win!
pictured here: Ranger Dan being the absolute best
A lot of my Phipps time is spent in the office. Like…a lot of it. So, when I get an excuse to escape for a bit, I take it. Today, our Books & Benches program was that excuse!
Books & Benches is a Phipps collaboration with the Somerset Elementary Family Book Drive and local libraries that aims to increase summer reading and promote community art in the St. Croix Valley.
a full house for this B&B event
A few times each summer, kids gather at an art bench (you do know of the Art Bench Trail, yes?) in one of the local art bench communities to read books, take a new or used book, and hear from actual real-life park rangers…cool hats and all! Today, we crafted and even did some tree-hugging. Trees need hugs, too.
There’s one Books & Benches event remaining — on June 24th. Check it out via the link above, or you can always find Phipps “pop-in programming” on our website here.
Ranger Dan showed us how to make pipe cleaner dragonflies
PHIPPS TOP 10
best-selling upcoming events this season by tickets sold…
1. It’s a Wonderful Life (previously: 1)
2. Cinderella, a Phipps ballet (previously: 3)
3. Deathtrap (previously: 2)
4. Little Shop of Horrors (previously: 4)
5. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow: The Music of Amy Winehouse & Carole King (previously: 5)
6. Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society (series) (previously: 6)
7. Knight, Knight (previously: 7)
8. Colleen Raye’s New Year’s Eve (previously: 8)
9. Hornucopia (previously: 10)
10. Silent Centennials (previously: unlisted)
BETTER HURRY LIST
best-selling upcoming events this season by percent sold
(i.e., closest to being sold out)…
1. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow: The Music of Amy Winehouse & Carole King (previously: 1) SOLD OUT — click to join the wait list
2. Knight, Knight (previously: 2) this one’s getting close, gang…don’t wait
3. Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society (series) (previously: 3)
4. Hornucopia (previously: 5)
5. Silent Centennials (previously: unlisted)
as of 6/19/25
PROGRAMMING
A pipedream come true
Pipedreams folks recording David’s work
Did you get a chance to catch last Sunday’s organ concert, A Wurlitzer Red White & Blue Spectacular, featuring David Wickerham? If not, you missed out. He’s a true pro and one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. And he LOVES our organ (who doesn’t?).
Pipedreams, a weekly program from YourClassical exploring and celebrating all things pipe organ, stopped by the following day to do a little feature on David and our beautiful Wurlitzer. I’ll be sure to share when it eventually posts online.
the JHP looking so patriotic
Did you know our organ is turning 100 years old this year? Sounds like a great excuse for cake to me… Stay tuned!
Check out the recording our Sound Engineer, Tom Dahle, got of last weekend’s concert. Keep in mind that the organ is producing everything except the fireworks sound effects (and the clapping). Wow!
artist: Sharon Grosh
👆
my favorite gallery piece of the week
You have to swing by and see Sharon’s work in person. There’s a depth to it that an iPhone just doesn’t capture. Sharon’s work can be seen in Gallery Two thru July 13th.
TEAM PHIPPS
More dogs. Always more dogs.
Poppy is a dream come true
Busby’s appearance in the office inspired yet another doggo day with the arrival of Poppy!
Poppy did a great job of playing ball with Katie (our Production Stage Manager and Poppy guardian), receiving lots of pats, and configuring all her Basecamp notifications properly (that’s a PCA office joke).
Good girl, Poppy.
Quick plug: the Open Eye Driveway Tour will be coming to the Phipps North Lawn on Saturday, July 12th at 1:00pm. It’s an outdoor puppet show that’s both FREE and FUN. I used capital letters on purpose to emphasize those two points. RSVP HERE and I’ll see you and the kids on July 12th.
Are you the smartest PCA person in town?
Prove it by completing The Flying C(rossword).
👇
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Talk to you next week!
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