Weather Apps Aren't Always Right

and how to encourage your Theatre Kid 🎭

Author

Ben Thietje
September 24, 2026 • Est. Reading Time: 2 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.

2023 Spirit of the St. Croix Art Festival

Weather be damned!
Grab a raincoat and your best galoshes and get out to the Spirit of the St. Croix Art Festival this Saturday and Sunday. It’s a fabulous time with some fabulous art for sale. Also, my weather app is saying it might be juuuuust fine, so there’s that.

See you this weekend!

This issue has…

  • 🌭 Hot Dog Grilling
    they were all grilled

  • 📖 A Fall Magazine
    with kiddos on the cover

  • 🖼️ Atrium Artwork
    take a right; you won’t be sorry

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VOLUNTEERS

All hot dogs were harmed in the making of this Grill and Chill

board member grilling is the best kind of grilling

Were you able to make it to this year’s Phipps Grill and Chill?

This annual volunteer appreciation event went off without a hitch, with volunteers from every corner of the PCA swinging by for a thank-you dinner and show (the Come From Away preview performance followed). Big thanks to our board for showing up to do some grilling.

not a single ketchup-on-a-hotdog argument this year

If you’re interested in attending next year’s Grill and Chill, click here and find something fun to sign up for. The Phipps can’t run without volunteers, and we’d love to add you to the team!

PHIPPS TOP 10
top-selling upcoming events this season by tickets sold

1. Come From Away (previously: 1)🔥 SOLD OUT
2. A Christmas Carol (previously: 2)
3. The Root Beer Lady (previously: 3) **performance added**
4. The Frankensteins Are Back in Town (previously: 5)
5. Almost, Maine (previously: 4)
6. Colleen Raye’s NYE (previously: 6)
7. Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society, Oct. (previously: 7)
8. Davina and the Vagabonds (previously: 9)
9. A Brass & Organ Holiday (previously: 8)
10. Lake Wobegon Brass Band (previously: 10)

BETTER HURRY LIST
top-selling upcoming events this season by percent sold
(i.e., closest to being sold out)…

1. Come From Away (previously: 1)🔥 SOLD OUT
1a. The Root Beer Lady (previously: 2) **performance added**
2. Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society, Oct. (previously: 4)
3. Davina and the Vagabonds (previously: unlisted)
4. A Brass & Organ Holiday (previously: unlisted)
5. Lake Wobegon Brass Band (previously: unlisted)

as of 9/24/26

EDUCATION

Theatre Kids doing theatre kid things

#theatrekidz4eva

Some theatre kiddos from Bloomington Jefferson High School came to see Come From Away last week and stayed for a little post-show chat with the cast and crew.

I ran a high school theatre program prior to my time here at the Phipps, so it was a fun reminder of how curious and whip-smart theatre kids are. If your kid is one of those, get ‘em onstage at the PCA STAT. Freaky Friday auditions are coming in November. 🙂 

artist: Tim Byrns

👆
my favorite gallery piece of the week
I know the instinct is to take a left when walking into the PCA, but I would highly suggest trying a right next time in order to see Tim’s work in the Atrium Gallery. It’s so cool!

PROGRAMMING

Look alive, mailboxes!

⚠️🚨 New Marquee Alert 🚨⚠️

The Fall Marquee is currently hurdling toward your mailbox (provided you’re a Phipps member, which any respectable Flying P reader would be)…but if you can’t wait, the digital version can be found on our website. Check it out and say “dawwwwww” to the adorable Frankensteins kids on the cover.

Happy Fall to all who celebrate!

Here’s your obligatory Busby pic, c. July, 2020 back at DalekoArts. 😊 

Are you the smartest Flying P reader the world has ever known?
Time to prove it. It’s The Flying C(rossword)!
👇

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Talk to you in 2 weeks!

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