Tri-City Area and Real Estate Blog

Kennewick Police officers will be looking for motorcycle riders in August — but for a good time and to benefit the Special Olympics here in the Tri-Cities. Kennewick offiicers and officers from all over the state have set August 28th for the “Northwest Ride of Dreams”, which will feature 5 starting locations across the state with Rotary Park in Ellensburg the final meeting destination. Vendors, events, activities and entertainment will be available for riders when they gather in the park.

This ride is patterned after other events in other states but will be a first in Washington. Law enforcement officers across the state and nationally sponsor different events to raise funds for Special Olympics. The funds raised assist families of Special Olympians to attend events where their loved one’s participate. It is the goal of the organizers to attract 10,000 cyclists and cars in Ellensburg. A $30 ticket price could potentially raise $300,000 for Special Olympics, which would be a wonderful donation to make. 

Registration for the event can be completed at www.nwrideofdreams.org .  Additionally, if you don’t have a bike but have a classic car you’re also invited. There will be a show and shine at Rotary Park as well that day.   The Tri-Cities location for riders departing to Ellensburg will be at Full Throttle Motorcycle Accessories at 135 Vista Way in Kennewick. Registrations for the ride will also be taken there from 7am to 9am. This should be a wonderful ride for everyone and in the process, a wonderful opportunity to give to other folks who will appreciate your generosity!

Our beautiful Tri-Cities has grown so much over the last few years and the wine industry has been a large part of that growth.  Below are some of the wonderful wine events upcoming in our communities. Please take a look and schedule yourself a little jaunt to these festivals and sample all that our Mid-Columbia Wine Country has to offer.

September 26 & 27: Catch the Crush, Tri-Cities/Benton City. This 23rd annual event is a lot of fun with many activities, including grape stomps, harvest and crush activities, winery tours, free-run juice, hors d’oeuvres, wine tasting and live music. Find out about all the fun at www.columbiavalleywine.com

November 6 & 7: Tri-Cities Wine Festival, Kennewick. This event is one of the Northwest’s oldest and will be held at the Three Rivers Convention Center this year. Lots of competition amongst wineries, and loads of camadraderie as well. For more information go to www.tricitieswinefestival.com.

November 13 & 14: Savor the Flavor, Pasco. Tri-Cities wine and food come together to benefit the Oasis School. For more info go to www.tastetricities.com/savor.

Wine, golf and outdoor attractions are helping attract visitors to the sunny Tri-Cities despite a nationwide crimp on travel budgets.

Instead of flying off to exotic locations, most people are exploring areas close to where they live, or a destination that they can afford, said Kris Watkins, president and chief executive officer of the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau, which recently released its mid-year report.

In the first six months of the year, the Tri-Cities held 106 conventions and sporting events that brought thousands of people to the community, generating about $15.9 million.

The bureau staff helped create business leads that could translate into 26,229 room nights for local hotels, and secured 72 future conventions and sporting events that infused $9 million in direct visitor spending into the local economy, the report says.

At a time when most places are seeing a decline in the number of visitors, the Tri-Cities is fortunate to have in and out-of-state visitors coming for pleasure or business trips or to attend conventions and sporting events such as Water Follies, Watkins said.

“Flat is good in this economy,” she said, adding the Tri-Cities saw exceptional growth in tourism traffic from 2005-08.

Earlier in the year, the bureau launched an ad campaign along the Interstate 5 corridor to help draw visitors from the west side of the state, and partnered with the Yakima Valley Visitors and Convention Bureau and Washington Wine Country, to promote the area as a wine destination, Watkins said.

The bureau also printed and distributed 72,000 brochures highlighting “Great Golf Getaways” at various travel and golf shows. Since January, the bureau helped promote the Tri-Cities in more than 130 media stories.

“We’ve been called the romantic getaway, golf getaway, and wine getaway, said Megan Neer, director of marketing and public relations.

She said that the bureau plans to use its freshly designed website, and social networking sites to keep up the momentum. The bureau has 200 followers on Twitter and about 2,500 fans on Facebook, she said.

The competition for travel dollars has become intense, said Neer and Watkins.

That means target marketing of the Tri-Cities and its special attractions – water, weather, and wine, Watkins said.

In the last few years, the bureau’s financial and marketing support has helped sustain and promote Water Follies, the Tri-Cities’ signature event, which brings in positive media exposure throughout the Northwest and nationally, she said.

B Reactor’s new status as a National Historic Landmark also will help promote the region. The Tri-Cities is known for open spaces, easy road and air access, and the availability of two high-quality convention centers and comparatively affordable hotel rooms, she said.

Last year, the average room rent in Benton and Franklin counties ranged from about $66 a night to about $80. The number of available hotel rooms has gone up from about 2,200 in 1991 to more than 3,400 in 2009.

Watkins said a proposed convention center hotel adjacent to the Three Rivers Convention Center is welcome news. It’ll mean the bureau will be able offer potential clients a choice of a large block of guest rooms, instead of spreading out guests in hotels across the Tri-Cities.

Source: Tri-City Herald

The Tri-City Regional Hotel-Motel Commission approved the 2010 budget and business and marketing plan for the Tri-Cities Regional Tourism Promotion Area on Wednesday at its monthly meeting.

The budget for next year will remain at $810,000. That’s the same amount budgeted in 2008 and 2009, though the commission used $13,800 from reserves this year to boost the opportunity fund, which is money used to help offset the cost of big groups coming to town for sporting events and conventions.

Marketing to potential visitors from San Francisco and British Columbia is a new component of the 2010 plan. Commissioners and others in the local hotel industry see residents in those markets as strong candidates to become new visitors to the area.

The TPA was created in 2004 and allows hotels with more than 40 rooms to collect a $1.50 fee for each hotel room rented. The money is used to market the Tri-Cities throughout the Northwest and to bring in more spending events, conventions and individual travelers.

Source: Tri-City Herald

Source: Tri-City Herald, John Trumbo, herald staff writer

Having a lush lawn wrapping around their South Kennewick home is a miracle, but being surrounded by so many people who volunteered to landscape it last year is even more gratifying, Navy Lt. Burke Jensen said a thank-you dinner Wednesday.

About two dozen people, representing some of the nearly 100 volunteers who helped with the landscaping project at the Jensen’s home in the Oak Hill Estates, enjoyed a meal provided by the Jensen’s.

Jensen recently returned from military duty in Kuwait, while his wife, Heidi, and their son remain in New Jersey. The family’s prolonged absence from their new Kennewick home began last year when Jensen received orders for a tour of duty in support of U.S. forces in the Mideast.

Their home needed landscaping to satisfy subdivision rules, and volunteers did it for them last October.

“Taking care of this landscaping took weight off me so I could focus and do my job over there,” Jensen said.

“Thank you for the time, energy and selfless work. I feel so lucky,” Heidi said in a text message Jensen read aloud at the dinner.

Jensen said coming home to the beautiful yard was special: “I didn’t see grass or smell grass for six months.”

The Navy reservist has special thanks for Tim and Teresa Montgomery, whose landscaping company coordinated the volunteer effort; Columbia Christian Fellowship Church Pastor Jeff Berry and his wife, Kathy, who checked on the vacant home weekly; Roger and Nancy Gregory, who also pulled weeds and kept close watch on the property; and Don Jensen, who mowed the lawn as needed all year even though he did not know the couple.

The thank-you dinner included a raising of a U.S. flag flown in Kuwait and a welcome home ceremony presented by Operation Thank You (www.waoperationthankyou.com) in Kennewick.

Jensen said he will go back to his new job at Energy Northwest to be trained as a nuclear operator. His wife, who is enrolled in college in New Jersey, and young son will join him early new year.

Spring must be here…I found three golf balls in my backyard this weekend.  Since the golfers are back on the course these days, I’m wondering how many know that the Canyon Lakes Golf Course is rated 4 1/2 Stars by Golf Digest and is the highest rated golf course in the Tri-Cities?  Additionally, Canyon Lakes Golf Course is tied as the highest rated golf course in Washington State!  And, Northwest Travel magazine selected Canyon Lakes as one of the “18 of the Best in the Pacific Northwest.”

Here are a few more facts about the award winning golf course right in our own backyard.  For example, Hole #12 is famous for being the largest green in the Pacific Northwest–a 12,000 square foot thing of beauty!  Hole #9 was selected as one of the Northwest’s Dream 18 Holes!  The Canyon Lakes Golf Course not only has won multiple awards, but also plays host to a number of prestigious tournaments and charity events each year.  If you are planning a golf outing and want more information, visit golf@canyonlakesgolfcourse.com.   And, don’t forget to wow your friends with the facts, now that you know that Canyon Lakes Golf Course is so highly rated!

Your Canyon Lakes Realtor,

Sharon Sasser Warren,                                                                           Distinctive Properties, Inc.                                                                             (509) 551-4393