Waitsburg Wakes Up

In October, Waitsburg celebrated the completion of its downtown "streetscape" project, along with many freshly painted downtown building fronts, through its "paint the town" project.

Stories by Ken Graham
Photos by David Frame

"Before" Photos Courtesy of Leroy Cunningham.

If you drive regularly between Dayton and Tri-Cities, you probably think of it as that annoying jog in the road. But next time you get to the stop sign at Preston and Main in downtown Waitsburg, look around you as you wait. You'll be amazed at the changes you see. Better yet, go park your car and get out and take a walk.

The first thing you'll notice is the sidewalk under your feet. It's new but it looks historic, with brick pavers along the curbs. Now look up and you'll see (reproduction) historic street lamps that have been installed, along with new planters. What you won't see under the sidewalks are new water lines for irrigation of the trees and new wiring to power the lights. You will see nine new honey locust and two new cherry trees that were planted in culverts in the sidewalks. All of these improvements are part of Waitsburg's streetscape project that was completed in October.

Now look around at the buildings next to the sidewalks. Newly painted historic building fronts surround you. A second project called "paint the town" took place in September and October, in which more than a dozen downtown commercial buildings received fresh paint and other repairs (see box on page 15).

More on that later, but let's get back to the sidewalks. The City of Waitsburg just completed its half-million-dollar downtown "streetscape" project, which included replacing all of the sidewalks on Main street from Third Street north almost to the Touchet River bridge. Sidewalks were also replaced on Preston Avenue, from Main to Coppei.

The streetscape project has been in the works for nearly ten years. In 1999, the Waitsburg City Council formed the Waitsburg Commercial Revitalization Committee, whose task was to develop projects to bring improvements to downtown Waitsburg and to promote a stronger downtown business climate. According to Waitsburg City Councilman Leroy Cunningham, the revitalization committee chose to take on two projects. The first was the "streetscape project". The second project the committee is working on is the Waits Mill (see separate article).

"The committee proceeded with the streetscape project first because it would have a more direct impact on downtown businesses," says Cunningham. The cost of the Mill restoration is expected to be much higher than for the streetscape, he says.

After seven years of planning and fund raising, actual work on the sidewalks began in June. The downtown streetscape project was made possible by a $100,000 grant from the Port of Walla Walla and a $443,000 grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation (DOT).

When the committee went out for bids in late 2006, only one was received, and it was much higher than expected. "We decided to put the project on hold for awhile and then re-bid it," says Waitsburg Mayor Markeeta Little Wolf. "We waited a year and went out for bid again in 2007. This time we got two bids, one of which was more reasonable." Allstar Construction was awarded the contract in February, 2008 and began work in June.

Because construction costs were higher than expected, the revitalization committee had no choice but to scale back the project. "We decided that the trees would have to wait," says Little Wolf.

As it turned out, Waitsburg didn't have to wait for its trees after all. Long-time Waitsburg area resident and farmer, Ed Lawrence, stepped up and said he wanted to help make the downtown trees a reality. His donation of $10,000, designated specifically for trees and their maintenance, meant that the project could be completed this year.

"Ed Lawrence has a very special place in his heart for this town," says Cunningham, "and we're so fortunate that he's willing to help with this project. These downtown trees will be his legacy for many years."

On Friday morning, October 17th, City crews and several volunteers, including Cunningham and Little Wolf, dug holes and planted the trees. "We had a lot more people than we expected," says Cunningham, "and we were done in about two hours."

As the sidewalk construction was well underway last summer, Cunningham and Jim German, owner of Waitsburg's Jimgerman bar, began looking at the buildings downtown and lamenting how many of them were in need of a facelift. They decided to see if they could make a town-wide project out of painting the fronts of many of those fading storefronts.

"We identified 39 commercial buildings that could use fresh paint," says Cunningham. In the end, about a dozen building owners agreed to participate in the project. The box on page 15 shows the buildings that have been repainted this year as part of the "paint the town" project, and all of the generous donations that were made toward the project.

"The most amazing thing was the number of volunteers that turned out for the painting weekends," says Cunningham. Dozens of Waitsburg residents donned coveralls and climbed ladders to apply paint to the building fronts. According to Cunningham, building owners picked their own colors and helped paint their buildings. Several generous donations of money and supplies were made for the project. "We are especially thankful to Brian Richards at Sherwin Williams for all the paint they donated," says Cunningham. "We couldn't have done it without them."

Two other recently completed projects have also helped bring new life to Waitsburg. In September, the Water tank on the hill north of town received fresh paint and a new Waitsburg logo. It's easily visible from Main Street. In addition, a new sidewalk was installed on the north side of Highway 124, east of Coppei. This was a separate project made possible by an additional grant of $200,000 from the Washington Department of Transportation. The contractor for that project was Granite Northwest.

After you've walked for awhile and admired all the work that's been done downtown, be sure to visit some of the shops and restaurants behind those newly--painted building fronts and visit with some of the friendly people in downtown Waitsburg. From now on, that jog in the road will bring a smile to your face and you'll want to stop every time.

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