Mama Mia
Photo courtesy Mikki Stevens The Red Hot Mamas perform outside Garden Plaza in Post Falls.
Photo courtesy Mikki Stevens The Red Hot Mamas strike poses for their Christmas performance at the Garden Plaza.
Photo courtesy Mikki Stevens Karen Welts gets in the Christmas spirit as she performs with the Red Hot Mamas outside Garden Plaza.
POST FALLS — As one event after the other was canceled during nine months of pandemic precautions, the Red Hot Mamas have been trying to look at the half-full glass.
“We kept thinking, ‘OK. Well. We can't do that now, but what can we do? When the next event got canceled, we’d think it again. And again. And again," said Verna Curry, advisory board member. “Mamas just won’t give up."
To keep each other pumped up and in shape, the group created safe workouts, staying strictly within mandates.
The last two months of rehearsals have been full of hope as they put together a Christmas performance for Garden Plaza. Residents there have been in lockdown, with the dining room closed and social activities on hold.
The Mamas surprised them Dec. 5 with a red and green splash of Christmas.
They kept their distance and wore sequin masks as they sang and danced a lively, elf-filled blast of Christmas joy into the lives of those who needed it most.
The spunky women performed around the perimeter outside the building for about an hour. They stopped five times to present a brief comedy show complete with tap dancing and a sing-along.
“It was heart-warming and heart-breaking at the same time to see smiling people in wheelchairs bobbing along with the cheerful music," said RHM director Mikki Stevens.
The popular local comedy group accomplished their goal to bring a bit of Christmas joy to perk up special folks, she said. One lady said it was just what they all needed.
"Ladies peeking out from their decks to sing and dance along, and all the hooting, clapping, smiling, and
sometimes even rowdy behaviors," Stevens said. "They blessed us.”