RUSS DIX had the pleasure of greeting many guests at his position on the door. Our Governor-elect, Louise Ragelin was in attendance, along with her three-legged Governor’s Project Team of Pinky Paxton, Helen Elsmore, and Barbara Vance. All were introduced by current Lt. Governor STEVE EMHOFF. BRIAN BLOUNT hosted Al Brown; JACK GILBERT brought Ken Schiller; and SALLY BALDWIN introduced program supporters Nieva Hilfiker and Michael Moen. Lynn Buchanon also joined us for the day.

STEVE SOLBERG, a last minute fill-in as invocator, got the meeting off to a thoughtful start.

Brian Blount pretty much was the entire meeting. He presented a $5,000 check to Al Brown, Executive Director of the Yakima Greenway Foundation. The money was left over from a fundraising project completed over 10 years ago that built the Fred Westberg Pavilion at Sherman Park. This donation will be used to construct a drinking fountain at the soon-to-be-created Frank Frederick Wayside Park in memory of BERKLEY “PETE” PETERSON. Brian also announced he had Case of the Blues tickets for sale. The event will be held at the Greenway August 16th. He is also looking for volunteers to take down the next day. Contact Brian for more details. SPENCER HATTON then presented Brian with his very own Chicago Cubs hat and bag as a thank you for Argus Insurance’s support of SongFest the past two years, as well as this coming year. Without the financial support of Argus, SongFest would have been cancelled. Finally, Brian spent a long time as sergeant trying to increase the administrative budget. The problem was he kept trying to fine people who had left, weren’t here, or had already paid.

JACK GILBERT made a quick pitch for Vintique Bingo workers. Anyone wanting to spend a few hours working bingo this Friday or Saturday, give Jack a call.

GENE ROSTVOLD distributed materials on the upcoming Hot Shots 3-on-3 Summer Championship Basketball Tournament. He suggested, through President BARB, that Kiwanians consider sponsoring a team, putting a team together (ROGER BELL suggested a Kiwanis team of Brian, Russ and Dr. Mike be assembled to challenged for the slam dunk crown), or working during the event. The dates are: August 30 & 31. More details to come.

The program, ably introduced by Sally Baldwin, was Steve Caffery of the Capitol Theatre. He filled us in on the status of the project to renovate our aging landmark. There was a wealth of information on the challenges facing downtown and how the Capitol sees itself as a catalyst to improvement. Steve plans to make the theater the focal point of downtown, much like other cities around the world. He draws inspiration from our sister city, Morelia Mexico, and envisions a destination point that will have enough activity to draw people to downtown. He outlined a four step process for this to take place. Step one, the updating of Capitol infrastructure, will beginning this fall. The other stages will take place as funds become available. The total cost is projected to be $35 million. It is an ambitious project, but vital if we are to create an experience economy in our city. Steve maintains that by 2020 the world’s largest industry will be tourism and the Capitol can be a center of cultural tourism as well as the experience economy (he told us to think Disneyland as the epitome of an experience destination – many of us have memories of visiting that magical place even though it may have taken place years and years ago). Steve showed sketches of his vision for the area surrounding the Capitol which included: a plaza, a pedestrian area, a new multiuse building attached to the existing theater, and a new parking structure. He said that seeing as how our ethnic makeup is 40% Hispanic this theme makes sense and will be perfect for furthering the goal of embracing diversity in our area.

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