West Richland Real Estate Blog

The West Richland Chamber of Commerce hosts its annual Outstanding Community Service Awards Banquet this Friday (January 22) at the Sunset Event Center, 915 Bypass Hwy.

The Chamber will give out service awards in the following six categories: Educator, Business, Firefighter, Volunteer, Chamber Member, and Police Officer. They’ll also present a Community Spirit Award, too.

A West Richland tradition will continue this year with Operation Candy Cane happening on Saturday, December 19. This is the event where volunteer firefighters from Benton County Fire District #4 and professional firefighters from Local 1052 will be driving around the city in/on their fire trucks, trading candy canes for donations of non-perishable food items for local food banks. They’ll start making the rounds at 7:00 pm that night.

You can also donated food items at the fire station on Bombing Range Rd. between now and December 19th.

This one kinda snuck up on me, what with all the travel and craziness happening in my life lately: The annual Veteran’s Day Parade in West Richland is this Saturday. Yikes. They say it’s the biggest and best Vet’s Day Parade in all of Eastern Washington, so if you’ve never been, why not check out this year’s edition? Looks like the weather will be pretty good — bit chilly, but not wet.

The parade starts at 9:30 am at the Van Giesen/Grosscup intersection, and will head east along Van Giesen into the downtown area before ending at the City Hall complex on 38th avenue. There’s always a lot of floats, bands, horses, cars, and so forth — and they’re usually tossing out candy for the kids along the parade route, too.

You can stick around, too, for the awards ceremony and chili feed after the parade at Flat Top Park.

Road Closures

Even if you’re not gonna watch the parade, be aware that Van Giesen Street will be closed for a few hours on Saturday morning.

• From 62nd to Grosscup, closed between 7 and 11 am.
• From Grosscup to 38th, closed between 9:30 and approximatey 11 am.

Don’t say you weren’t warned…

(That photo above is one that we took at the 2006 Veteran’s Day Parade.)

Another Hogs and Dogs is in the books, and this one was surely as big a success as any. The McGees are early Hogs & Dogs attendees (as the pictures below will reveal), and it was already pretty darn packed during the 5/6 O’Clock hours when we were there. More crowded than I remember it being last year, so I’m guessing the final numbers will set a new attendance record.

I’ve posted a full set of Hogs and Dogs 2009 photos on Flickr, but I’ll include a few of my favorites below, too.

If you took any photos and posted them online, leave a link in the comments, please!

Okay, so tomorrow is the big day – Hogs and Dogs 2009 in West Richland! It’s always fun, but it’s also somewhat of a coordination nightmare, and if you’re planning to be traveling in or around the Bird Hill neighborhood tomorrow, here’s what you need to know:

Road Closures

These roads will be closed on Thursday from 2:00 – 10:00 pm:

• Holly Way between Bombing Range Rd. and Iris St.
• Northlake Dr. at the intersection with Bombing Range Rd.
• Victoria Ct. and Sunglow Ct.

Getting to Hogs and Dogs

For the first time, there will be FREE shuttles available with pick-ups and drop-offs at both Wiley Elementary School and Enterprise Middle School. These will run continuously from 4:30 to 10:30 pm.

The only public parking available will be in the back parking lot of the sports complex, accessible from Mt. Adams View Drive.

Motorcyle & Classic Car Owners

Motorcyclists can drive right in at the north end of the sports complex parking lot.

Classic car owners will NOT have access via Bombing Range Rd. Instead, use East Lattin Rd. to Eastlake Dr. to Northlake Dr.

That’s all!

Should be a lot of fun – see you tomorrow!

The schedule is out for this summer’s “Concerts at the Pavilion” series at Flat Top Park and … it seems a bit sparse to me. Only four concerts? Weren’t there more last year?

Anyhoo, here’s the lineup:

July 3: Mid-Columbia Symphony and Richland Light Opera Co.

July 24: Wylie and the Wild West Band

August 7: Ockam’s Razor

August 21: Bram Brata and OK 2 Botay

The concerts are free and all start at 7 pm. You can buy hot dogs, soda, and ice cream if you get hungry. Be sure to bring a chair or blanket!