Good Morning it’s Tuesday August 24th and this is Slices of Wenatchee. We’re excited to bring you a closer look at one of our top stories and other announcements every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Today - The Chelan County PUD’s new Discovery Center is truly a sight to behold. Complete with unique interactive exhibits it’ll certainly attract visitors far and wide.
Before we jump in, The Wenatchee Wine & Food Festival has been postponed because of an increase in COVID-19 activity in Chelan and Douglas counties.
Our Publisher announced the postponement over the weekend. We still hope to hold the festival later this year, so stay tuned. Details on ticket refunds or exchanges will be announced next week.
Now our feature story…
That was Rachel Hansen from the Chelan County PUD
The Chelan County PUD’s new Discovery Center is finally finished and it’s set to open tomorrow - August 25th.
Debbie Gallaher, who’s been the Rocky Reach Visitor Center Manager for 19 years, said it’s something that she and Bob Bauer, the PUD outreach education specialist, have been planning for 14 years. The total project cost was $7.7 million.
And she’s thrilled to see it come alive.
In 2016 when a study was done on what the Discovery Center could be, PUD Senior Project Manager Casey Hall explained that after a lot of research they were able to narrow it down and decide on what they wanted this place to look like.
Then, in 2018 design renovations began. The Museum of the Columbia and visitor center closed in fall 2019. New big fish viewing windows were installed in early 2020. Remodeling of the building started in October 2020. And finally the installation of exhibits started in May of this year.
Hall said one of the most challenging parts of the project was the remodel. In fact they ran into all kinds of issues. Another issue? Nothing in the building is straight — everything is curved.
Luckily, they had a great contractor and superintendent.
Another big challenge was, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic caused a huge backlog of supplies and materials. There were delays getting the materials to build the project.
So what can you expect to see now that the center is finished?
Well, the new Discovery Center is built on STEM principles. The goal is to reach as many kids and guests in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math because that is what the hydro industry is all about.
The displays are designed to be interactive and to teach people of those four areas. Visitors will also learn about the history of the Columbia river, the history of the early people, the history of the PUD and the wonderful marriage between a PUD and its community.
Bob Bauer, the Chelan County PUD outreach education specialist, said the center allows the PUD to showcase not only the Columbia River but also the PUD and its partnership with the community. He explained that the PUD’s visitor center presents hydropower in the Pacific Northwest as a clean, renewable, reliable, and affordable energy source.
And he can’t wait to show off the facility to students.
For Gallaher, he’s most excited about how everything is hands-on. And this is totally new. Now, Gallaher says families and children can come in and push buttons to see how things work.
Before we continue, a special thanks to our friends and sponsors at Confluence Health. The team at Confluence Health is grateful for the trust the community puts in them every single day. They are diligently working to improve the health and quality of life for our friends and neighbors. They are Grateful | They are Confluence Health. Learn more by visiting them at ConfluenceHealth.com
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Finally, we’re excited to share a Wenatchee 30 Under 35 winner from the 2021 awards… These were made possible by Chelan County PUD...
Today we’re highlighting Dylan Kling. Kling is a Counselor at Quincy High School, as well as an elected Quincy City Councilman.
Needless to say, he’s giving back to the Quincy community on two fronts.
Through his career — as a counselor
And through his activity on the city’s planning commission from 2016 through 2019 and currently as an elected member of the city council.
Kling graduated from Quincy High School in 2009 and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Eastern Washington University in 2014. He worked as the Gear Up site director in Quincy, helping students explore educational opportunities ranging from tech school to four-year colleges. He has five years on the board of the Quincy Partnership for Youth. It’s a nonprofit designed to foster a healthy, drug-free community through activities and prevention and intervention programs.
We asked Kling what challenges he sees ahead and what needs to be done.. He told us that it’s all about trying to make the best decisions that will help set our community up for the future. From infrastructure and activities to diversifying our community economically and culturally all while still staying true to our roots.
To him, it’s a delicate balancing act and making sure we have community involvement and the best resources to make sure our community is a better place for the next generation of Quincy residents.
Some of the biggest challenges in education are getting students identified and connected to services. His position works with students who suffer from substance use and abuse issues but with COVID it’s been extremely difficult to identify these students and get them to the resources that they need. Kling explained they don’t know the full extent of this problem yet and won’t know for some time.
He thinks the best thing to do is talk to and form connections with all the agencies in the area so once a youth is identified they can streamline the process to help these individuals get the help they need.
Did you know that the 1994 Steven Seagal film, On Deadly Ground, was filmed in and around Wenatchee? Seagal plays a firefighter who decides to fight back against the environmental destruction of his former employer. Seagal’s only directorial effort, it also stars Michael Caine, Joan Chen, John C. McGinley and R. Lee Ermey. The film wasn’t well-regarded and was nominated for 11 Golden Raspberry Awards including winning Worst Director for Seagal. Nevertheless, Roger Ebert wrote in his review: "if you like to see lots of stuff “blowed up real good”, this’d be a movie for you." Over the last 25 years, the film has attained cult classic status in some circles.
Thanks for listening. We’d also like to thank our sponsor again, Equilus Group, Inc, a Registered Investment Advisory Firm in the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
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