While you are busy filling your child’s summer with camps and ways to improve their time off from school, consider yourself, too. There are many workshops in Waco, for adults. There are a few in town that might leave you inspired, at the very least entertained.

As adults, we need to focus our brains on things other than the latest Disney movie, soccer games and work. It is important to open your brain and fill it with adult things, fun things, and while you have your brain open, you just might learn something new. The workshops in Waco can help you fill that brain with knowledge and skill.  And fun!

Continued education can be both educational and inspiring, plus it can add excitement and fun to your life. It is also a great way to meet new people. Attending workshops in Waco, with your friends, or even your spouse, is a great way to also explore and get to know Waco.

“O! this learning, what a thing it is.” – William Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.”

Workshops in Waco are still few in number, but the options are growing. I did a little research and found several places to expand your mind.

The workshops in Waco are hands-on experiences, taught by local creatives, to help you learn. Workshops are a great way to learn about small shops in Waco, as well as introduce you to some of the talented creatives in our town.

Gather

Gather, located on Washington Avenue, is owned and operated by Jonathon Martin of Black Oak Art and Sara Martin of Kindred Event Studio.  When you put the party planning skills of Sara, together with the beautiful hand-made pottery of Jonathon, you get a great place to shop for all your gatherings.

They also have a backroom perfect for holding workshops, and well, fun-while-you-learn experiences.

The small, intimate, workshops Gather holds are meant to help you sharpen your entertaining and hosting skills. Sara is all about her guests enjoying themselves while eating, drinking, mingling and perhaps a bit of learning something new.

The upcoming workshops at Gather include a watermelon workshop, a beer tasting workshop and a summer soif (wine!) tasting.

See, learning can be fun!

On Thursday, July 19, David Mayfield, owner of the Wine Shoppe, will lead you through an exploration of thirst-quenching summer wines and teach you about the regions where the wines are made. And how to enjoy them. (by drinking them, right?) Included in the price is one piece of stemware, selected by Mayfield, as well as four to five glasses of wine, a lot of information, and some entertainment, too. The workshop is held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., for more information and to purchase tickets, go to Gather’s website.

Luna Juice Bar and owner, Summer Shine, will hold a workshop, at Gather, demonstrating tips on utilizing watermelons, on July 28, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. You will learn how to make watermelon cake, watermelon gazpacho, watermelon fresco and a Luna Juice Bar specialty watermelon drink. (Does this sound like summer?) Eating and drinking, all-things watermelon, will be included in the workshop. And with Shine leading the class, fun will be had.

And there’s a bonus—Shop while you are at Gather and you receive 10% off your purchase, the day of the workshop you attend. Make reservations online at Gather.

Black Oak Art

Just like Gather, Black Oak Art also holds workshops, but of the more “get your hands dirty” type. One of the potters will help you throw your own piece of pottery. They hold two-hour workshops, either hand-building or throwing on the wheel. You will create a piece of pottery and Black Oak Art will finish it by firing the piece in the kiln. When it is ready a week later, they ship it to you, or you can come back and pick it up.

They offer intro, intermediate and advanced classes to learn pottery. Sign up on their website. Workshops are by by appointment only. For more information or to sign up, go to Black Oak Art.

Gourmet Gallery

 The Gourmet Gallery, on Austin Avenue, offers a variety of cooking classes for all levels of home cooks and the aspiring chef wanna-be. They offer adult cooking classes and the menu of the workshop is open from homemade fresh pasta to sushi, to classic desserts.

Each two-hour class includes a chef instruction, hands-on learning, all ingredients and cooking utensils needed, and of course, tasting of the meal or dish prepared while in the workshop.

They also offer private cooking class parties. All cooking workshops lasses are conducted at Young Chefs Academy, located at 7728 Central Park Drive, in Woodway.

The Art Center of Waco isn’t just for kids. they also offer art classes for adults, as well as other informative and fun events throughout the year, although they don’t have any scheduled, as of now.

This summer, you, as an adult, can educate yourself. You can learn something new, have fun, and meet new people. Consider taking one of the many workshops in Waco, adult-style!