Washington Trust for Historic Preservation

Excellence on Main Award

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Walawála Plaza

Awardee: Downtown Walla Walla Foundation and the City of Walla Walla

Year: 2023

City: Walla Walla

The Excellence on Main Award—the top award at each year’s ceremony—is an annual accolade that recognizes outstanding projects and people that reflect an attitude of perseverance and dedication to community revitalization in Washington. Walawála Plaza was named the 2023 recipient of the Excellence on Main Award for the need it addressed, the stakeholders it brought together, and the overall impact it has had upon the downtown Walla Walla community.

When the pandemic closed businesses and made the outdoors the only safe place to socialize in the spring of 2020, Walla Walla was one of the fastest small towns in Washington, if not the nation, to adapt to the need for an outdoor gathering place that would also support suffering restaurants. In only 90 days, the City of Walla Walla and Downtown Walla Walla Foundation came together to close one block of First Avenue in order to create a visually appealing and functional plaza in the heart of downtown. This plaza kept commerce alive and people connected during those difficult days.

Even after businesses reopened, the plaza remained the liveliest block in Walla Walla, becoming the place to meet, host potlucks, conduct business meetings, and play board games. When City Council was deciding whether or not to make the plaza a permanent public fixture, they received 297 public comments—294 of them in favor of keeping the plaza.

With such clear support, the City set out to make the plaza permanent. They convened a group of stakeholders to design the plaza, including Main Street, local architects and business owners, and significant input from the local Tribes. Suggestions from the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute incorporated elements representing the site’s history as a gathering spot of the Cayuse and Walla Walla people. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation provided technical assistance and guidance on how to design the space to honor their people. The permanent space, completed in May 2023, is called Walawála Plaza, meaning “many small streams” in the indigenous Sahaptin language.

This project is so many things. It is a beautifully designed public space, a boon to businesses throughout the district, not to mention a visionary use of ARPA funds. But above all it is a testament to how much we humans need each other. This exact site has been a gathering place since immemorial. And now it is, once again, a place for people to gather.

Excellence on Main Award

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Ghost Signs, Awnings, and Facades

Awardee: Ritzville Downtown Development Association

Award: Outstanding Special Project

Year: 2023

City: Ritzville

The Outstanding Special Project Award is an annual award that recognizes great projects or activities that affect a downtown or neighborhood commercial district’s revitalization efforts. The Ritzville Downtown Development Association—which cut its place-saving teeth several years ago by restoring and operating the historic Ritz Theatre—has been named the 2023 Outstanding Special Project Award recipient for their work restoring facades, awnings, and ghost signs across downtown Ritzville. Altogether, the project encompassed the restoration of four building facades, installation of eight new cloth awnings, and repainting of 17 old advertising murals, otherwise known as “ghost signs.” Each ghost sign required research and brick restoration and is as historically accurate as possible.

Financing for the facades, awnings, and ghost signs was pooled from a mix of grants, private donations, in-kind contributions, building owner investment, and city tourism awards. The project was championed by Ritzville Downtown Development Association board members and local business owners John Rankin of Flying Arts Ranch and Linda Kubik of King Mercantile. Already the restoration efforts are bearing fruit for the community: while Ritzville continues to experience economic hardship, every building that has undergone these major renovations or upgrades is now occupied. The renovation of just one of these historic buildings led to a new business opening up downtown and led to that building’s owner buying two other buildings with plans to revitalize them. Upper-floor residential units have also been updated and occupied, with plans for more in the works.

With these building improvements, the Ritzville Downtown Development Association has actively and intentionally fostered a culture of pride and possibility. The community has recognized the improvements, and attitudes are shifting from discouragement to hope for the future of Ritzville, with downtown as its crown jewel.

Excellence on Main Award

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Rico’s Public House

Award: Legacy on Main

Year: 2023

City: Pullman

The Legacy on Main Award is an annual award that recognizes a small business that has stood the test of time and impacted generations of community members. Rico’s Public House in Pullman is the 2023 recipient of the award not only because of its longevity but also because of its unique place in the downtown community.

Originally opened in 1909, Rico’s Public House is the oldest retail business in Pullman. Over its 114-year history, Rico’s has been a consistent presence in downtown Pullman amidst not only changes in ownership but also waves of local and national change. What started as a men’s only club survived Prohibition and the Great Depression by selling milkshakes by the thousands before ultimately securing Pullman’s first beer and wine license in the 1930s. In 1947, Tony Talerico—whose regulars called him “Rico”—bought the club with a vision to turn it into a true public house. He added a women’s restroom and hired international graduate students’ wives to his staff, hoping to encourage the transition to an establishment that welcomed the whole community.

In 1980, Roger Johnson acquired the pub and changed the name to “Rico’s” to honor Tony. Roger continued to evolve the business in several ways, serving the first microbrews in Pullman and lobbying the city to allow outdoor seating in the early 2000s. Roger and his daughter, Tawny Szumlas, who now owns Rico’s, have embraced the entrepreneurial ethic of change and adaptation. They have also used the establishment to reinforce the friendliness of Pullman and its unique college town atmosphere.

“I think of Rico’s Smokehouse as the ‘Cheers’ of the Palouse,” noted Washington Main Street Director Breanne Durham at the Excellence on Main ceremony. “There is no limit to how long you can hang out at Rico’s. Professors, graduate students, families, and children—everyone gathers here.”

Excellence on Main Award

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Chesed Farms

Award: Entrepreneur of the Year

Year: 2022

City: Walla Walla

Chesed Farms is a farmers market vendor out of the Walla Walla who, in the three years they’ve been in business, has grown significantly while supporting the development and growth of other vendors. Their slogan is “Persistent Local Food”, which describes their attitude and mission perfectly.

When Sundown Hazen and Jonathan Garrett started Chesed Farms, they only grew mushrooms. They’ve since expanded their operation significantly, from a 110 square foot operation in a garage to a 4,000 square foot greenhouse. Beginning with the two founders, they now employ 13 people.

In addition to being successful entrepreneurs themselves, Sundown and Jonathan uplift other entrepreneurs. They partner with passionate and talented entrepreneurs ready to bring their products or services to market by providing support, mentorship, and infrastructure for these entrepreneurs to bring their dreams to life.

Chesed Farms’ impact is felt by everyone they touch. They take good care of their people, paying a living wage to their employees. They take good care of our planet, minimizing the travel distance for local, healthy food and focusing on sustainability in all they do. They support other entrepreneurs, both in big ways through their mentorship program and in small ways, when they help other vendors unload every week.

Within their “triple bottom line” approach to their work, Chesed Farms highlights something that will strike a chord for everyone who strives to build community: “We learn the names and life stories of our customers and build meaningful relationships…”

Chesed means loving kindness, and this value infuses every aspect of the work that Sundown, Jonathan, and their whole team do. They’re smart and talented entrepreneurs who believe in expanding responsibly, taking care of their staff and customers lovingly, and bringing love and kindness to everyone they interact with.

Excellence on Main Award

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Downtown Farmer’s Market

Awardee: Shane Laib of the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation

Award: Economic Vitality

Year: 2017

City: Walla Walla

During the 1990s, as downtown Walla Walla was beginning the extensive Local Improvement District rehabilitation process, an idea was brought forth to develop a farmers market to enhance and showcase the local agricultural and artisan offerings of the Walla Walla Valley. The overall goal was to attract local shoppers to the downtown core.

Original plans involved the city building a market structure on an abandoned lumber yard adjacent to downtown, but it was soon clear that this was a cost prohibitive plan. Not willing to let the proposed market die, the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation and members of the City Council developed a new plan to build an open-air market on the vacant block. The market kicked off its first season in 1997.

Several nay-sayers said it wouldn’t last, but through the efforts of the vendors, volunteers, staff, sponsors, and patrons alike, the market recently celebrated its 20^th anniversary. Originally subsidized by the city and private donations, the market is now 100% self-sustaining.

With its central location in the downtown core, the market has become one of the unique gathering places for residents and tourists alike. In 2016, survey results showed that 42% of market visitors were from out of town and 92% of them planned to purchase during their visit. The 2016 market produced an additional $500,000 in sales for the local economy.

Market vendors transitioning to successful brick and mortar locations and local chefs purchasing products for their restaurants on a regular basis are signs of a market that is fully integrated and serving as an economic engine in the community. The Downtown Farmers Market is a vibrant, healthy market that is a consistent source of economic impact on the local economy.

Excellence on Main Award

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Colfax Mercantile

Awardee: Colfax Downtown Association

Award: Economic Vitality

Year: 2020

City: Colfax

The Colfax Mercantile was first imagined by the Colfax Downtown Association’s Economic Vitality committee – researching business incubator programs in other towns to pick just the right pieces to fit their vision. They knew they wanted to attract and educate entrepreneurs about how to run a business so they could fill storefronts and bring a buzz back to historic downtown buildings. They began by saving one themselves.

The 1893 Ellis-Waite building on Main Street had been vacant and boarded up for 15 years when a partnership between the Economic Vitality committee and local business owners Laura and Austin Storm determined that one of the three storefronts within the property would become the Colfax Mercantile. The other storefronts are also being revitalized with plans for the Storms to expand their retail business already underway. The Mercantile vision added incentive to the investment being made by the Storms, who say they feel like there is a Colfax downtown revival going on right now.

That downtown revival includes seven new businesses that are being incubated in the Colfax Mercantile that now offer vintage finds, frozen yogurt, homemade cookies, furniture, and clothing. The new incubator businesses have created a ripple effect on Main Street – more shops are opening, more storefronts are being updated and filled, and more people from surrounding areas are recognizing Colfax as the gem that it is.

The Downtown Association, Chamber of Commerce, County and City, Mayor, business owners, and citizens all pitched in to make this business incubator a reality – from sweat equity updating the storefront to donating 80 umbrellas to create a one-of-a-kind ceiling display, this is truly a community project.

Excellence on Main Award

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Colville Together

Award: Organizational Excellence

Year: 2020

City: Colville

Newly designated a Washington Main Street Community just this year, Colville Together has emerged as a standard of quality and cooperation.

At the encouragement of the City Planner, a Main Street team began coming together in 2014. This effort was spearheaded by a steering committee of community volunteers, the Chamber of Commerce, Tri County Economic Development District, and the City of Colville. They were focused on learning more about the Main Street Approach and eventually joining Washington Main Street. As the committee gained momentum, funding became a hot topic. The group knew they wanted to hire an executive director, but the ability to hire staff felt like a chicken-or-the-egg conundrum.

The answer came in the form of formalizing the partnership as an independent but unified nonprofit now known as Colville Together, which then was able to apply for Lodging Tax dollars and other funding. In 2018, Colville Together hired Rosemary Shaw as its first executive director.

Momentum has truly been building in Colville, with much credit to the strong alliance that came together to form – and continues to support – its Main Street organization. As Rosemary puts it, “Working together makes any goal achievable!”

Excellence on Main Award

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Sayers Building

Award: Bricks & Mortar Rehabilitation

Year: 2019

City: Walla Walla

Located in the heart of downtown, the historic Sayers Building is a Walla Walla landmark. Not only has the building long been a cornerstone of downtown Walla Walla’s built environment and economic prosperity, it is in itself a living reminder of local craftsmanship, from its time of construction in 1890 to 2018 when the exterior was meticulously restored.

The Sayers Building is also known as the Beehive Building, referring to the Beehive Department Store that occupied the space from 1898 until 1977. It is currently home to Starbucks and Coffee Perk.

When Michael Corliss acquired the building in 2015, the roof was leaking, the masonry deteriorating, second story windows were broken, and the parapet was unstable and in danger of falling from the building. Michael and his son Eben set to work on plans to construct a water tight building envelope and restore the building’s structural integrity while preserving its historic character. Their design team included Tarragon Northwest, RadarTangen, DeMambro Architecture, Swenson Say Faget, and CDH Drafting and Consulting, as well as the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation, Whitman College Penrose Library, and Joe Drazan as historical resources. The building’s community significance and distinctive Late Victorian Italianate characteristics were given top priority in the rehabilitation design.

The $350,000 project, which utilized Special Valuation, commenced in April 2017. A team of specialty tradespeople was engaged to complete the work with meticulous attention to detail and celebration of the original design. Some of the contractors were multi-generational tradespeople who recalled having worked on the Sayers Building as young apprentices. That team included PBS Engineering and Environmental Inc., Jackson Contractor Group, Modern Masonry, All-Safe Abatement Services, Gillespie Roofing, Jeff Moeller Construction, Meticulous Touch (for painting and metal finishes), Integrity Metal, Ken Adams Plumbing, and Walla Walla Refrigeration – all local companies.

The owners’ investment and the combined efforts of their many partners restored a spectacular building that highlights the history and local talents of Walla Walla. The project has also served as a catalyst for historic preservation investment throughout the downtown district.