More Than a Concert Crowd
The Gorge brings thousands of visitors to Grant County every year. With new attractions and projects on the horizon, how can the 98848 capture more of that opportunity?
If you live in the 98848 or if you had to drive anywhere near George or Sunland Estates this weekend, you knew something big was happening. Campers filled the highways, traffic slowed well before the Gorge Amphitheater exit and parking lots around the area were busier than usual as Chris Stapleton fans made their way to one of the biggest concert weekends of the summer. It has become a familiar sight every concert season.
Thousands upon thousands of people arrive in our area of Washington, spend a day or two here, attend a concert, enjoy the river, fill local campgrounds, and then head back home. Every one of them spends money somewhere along the way.
That annual migration is exciting to watch, but it also raises a question that has been coming up more often in community conversations about the future of the 98848. While all of those visitors are buying fuel, meals, groceries, coffee, hotel rooms, camping supplies, and souvenirs somewhere, how much of that spending actually stays in the 98848 communities?
More importantly, as even more attractions come online over the next several years, are we preparing ourselves to capture a larger share of that opportunity?
Those questions aren’t about criticizing anyone. They are about recognizing an opportunity. They are an invitation to think differently about tourism, not as something that happens “over at the Gorge,” but as one of the largest economic opportunities our communities may have over the next decade.
TL;DR
The 98848 already benefits from major tourism draws, including the Gorge Amphitheatre and Crescent Bar Recreation Area.
More visitor destinations are on the way, including The Hilltop Above the Columbia and the Quincy Regional Sports Complex (Q-PLEX).
The Better Together 98848 Community Action Plan identifies capturing more tourism spending as a long-term community priority.
Businesses do not have to become tourist attractions themselves, but they can begin asking how they might better serve the visitors who are already coming here.
Preparing now could position the local economy to benefit from years of future growth.
The important distinction isn’t attracting more tourists. It’s helping the tourists who are already here discover everything the 98848 has to offer.
The Visitors Are Already Here
One of the easiest traps to fall into is believing that tourism is someone else’s business. It’s easy to think of it as something that belongs to Live Nation because they operate the Gorge, or to places like Sagecliffe Resort & Spa and Cave B Winery because they rent rooms, or to restaurants because people have to eat somewhere.
The reality is much broader than that. Tourism doesn’t belong to one venue or one industry. Every business in town has at least the potential to benefit if more visitors discover what the 98848 has to offer.
Every person who comes into the area for a concert, a weekend at Crescent Bar, a fishing trip on the Columbia, or eventually a youth sports tournament at Q-PLEX makes dozens of purchasing decisions during their visit. They need gas. They stop for coffee. They buy groceries they forgot to pack. They look for sunscreen after realizing they left theirs at home. They look for things to do during the day while they wait for the concerts at night. They ask where they can get breakfast the next morning or where to find a local gift before heading back across the mountains.
Those purchases don’t happen automatically in one place or another. Visitors simply spend their money where they find what they need, where they feel welcome, and where they know to stop. Sometimes that’s Quincy. Sometimes it’s George. Sometimes it’s Moses Lake, Wenatchee, Ellensburg, or somewhere else entirely because that’s the community they happened to think about first.
That doesn’t mean we are losing business. It simply means we have an opportunity to earn more of it.
A Conversation That’s Already Started
This isn’t a new idea.
Residents, business owners, community leaders, and organizations spent months discussing the future of the area during the Better Together 98848 visioning process. One of the priorities that emerged from those conversations was titled “Tourism Capture – Economic Benefit from the Gorge & Regional Attractions.”
The recommendation wasn’t to build another Gorge or invent a new tourism industry. Instead, it focused on something much more practical: making it easier for visitors to discover everything the 98848 already has to offer.
One of the early recommendations in the Community Action Plan suggests working with the Gorge, local hotels, and community partners to highlight area restaurants, stores, recreation opportunities, and services so visitors know what is available when they arrive.
The longer-term vision includes additional lodging and even transportation options that make it easier for visitors to spend more time exploring local communities rather than simply passing through. Talking to the owners of one of our newer businesses in the area who are taking on the transportation part of the conversation. Sherriana and Heather, the owners of Quincy Valley Shuttle & Tours are counting heavily on the increased tourism as part of their business model.
During the Better Together 98848 visioning process things like beautifying the entrances to the city (it matters more than you may think). Improving signage around town and even creating centralize communication for the area were all discussed because tourism is an economic pie we should be working to earn a larger slice of
According to Grant County Tourism, the organization expects annual visitation to exceed 4 million visitors in the coming years. Their own planning documents note that Grant County must better define and promote itself in order to increase visitor spending, longer stays, and overall awareness. Quality marketing materials are key to generating incremental increases in visitation, length of stays, expenditures, and satisfaction as well as long term awareness. We have to do our part here in the 98848 to make ourselves more visible.
The idea of capturing the existing tourism is an important distinction because it shifts our conversation away from attracting people; the numbers show they area already coming and moves us towards welcoming people who are already here.
The Next Ten Years May Look Different Than the Last Twenty
What’s particularly interesting is that those projections were made before several of the community’s largest tourism initiatives were fully underway. Since then we’ve seen continued work on The Hilltop Above the Columbia, planning for Q-PLEX, additional lodging projects, and new businesses positioning themselves around visitor services. In other words, the conversation is changing even faster than the original projections anticipated.
The Gorge remains one of the premier concert venues in the country and continues bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors into Grant County each year. They are not slowing down or going anywhere either. Listening to the general manager at Business After Hours last week, they are expanding all the ways they can to get more people here.
Crescent Bar has become one of Central Washington’s most popular recreation destinations. Outdoor recreation along the Columbia River continues to grow as more people discover boating, fishing, cycling, hiking, and camping opportunities throughout the region.
Numbers reflect that outdoor activities remain one of the top reason that tourist come to our area.
Now the community is also looking toward projects that could bring entirely new types of visitors.
The Hilltop Above the Columbia has the potential to become a destination for public art and cultural tourism unlike anything else in the region. The founders and originators of the concept, Vince & Carol Bryan have a proven track record and expect it to draw people to the area second only to the Gorge.
One of the original motivations of the Quincy Regional Sports Complex (Q-PLEX), expected to open in 2028, was to bring athletes, coaches, and families who often spend entire weekends in the communities where tournaments are held. Quincy is actively planning on increased tourism because of the new facility. New lodging projects are moving forward, and businesses like Quincy Valley Shuttle and Tours are already building services around the growing visitor economy.
Individually, none of these projects changes the local economy by itself. Together, however, they begin to create something different. Instead of relying on a handful of busy concert weekends every summer, the 98848 has an opportunity to become a year-round destination where people arrive for music, sports, recreation, art, fishing, family events, and simply spending time along the Columbia River. That kind of diversification is what makes local economies more resilient over time.
What Might That Mean for Local Businesses?
Every business owner will answer that question differently, and there probably isn’t one right answer that would fit for everyone.
A restaurant might decide that concert weekends are worth extending their hours or offering a menu designed for people grabbing a quick meal before heading to George. Another may decide breakfast is the real opportunity because campers are looking for coffee and a hot meal the morning after a show.
A retail store may discover there is demand for locally made gifts, outdoor gear, or items visitors forgot to pack. Grocery stores might find that making camping essentials easier to locate helps both visitors and local shoppers. Hotels could introduce guests to nearby businesses instead of simply handing over a room key. Recreation providers may find new ways to encourage visitors to stay another day instead of heading straight home.
The common thread isn’t changing what makes each business successful. So please as a business owner don’t panic. Before anyone starts thinking they need to rewrite their business plan Monday morning, that’s not the point. Every business is different. The opportunity isn’t to become something you’re not. It’s to start asking different questions about the customers who are already coming through our community.
Questions like…
If someone is already here, what could we do that makes it easier or more appealing for them to spend a little more time in our community?
How do we convince today’s visitors to stay another hour? Another hour is another coffee, meal, purchase or activity.
How do I make my business visible to people who come to town for another reason?
Sometimes that answer may be a new product. Sometimes it’s better signage. Sometimes it’s working with neighboring businesses instead of competing with them. Sometimes its simply making sure visitors know you’re there.
What This Means to You
Whether you own a business or not, tourism affects the local economy in ways that ripple through the entire community.
When visitors spend money locally, those dollars support jobs, create opportunities for businesses to expand, and generate tax revenue that helps pay for public services and infrastructure. A stronger local business community benefits residents just as much as it benefits visitors.
Not every business will decide tourism is part of its future, and that’s perfectly reasonable. But as our region grows and attracts more visitors, it seems worthwhile for the community to continue asking how those visitors can become customers; not just for one business, but for many.
The Better Together 98848 Community Action Plan recognized that opportunity. The projects now taking shape across the area suggest that conversation is becoming more relevant with each passing year.
Looking Ahead
By Monday morning, the campers from this weekend’s Chris Stapleton All American Road Show will be heading home. The traffic will disappear, the highways will quiet down; well, except for the I-90 bridge work and life across the 98848 will settle back into its familiar rhythm.
Before long, another concert weekend will arrive. Bass Canyon is only three weeks away, and it will be followed by another and another. In the years ahead, there will also be art enthusiasts visiting The Hilltop Above the Columbia, families arriving for tournaments at Q-PLEX, and people discovering our area through recreation, festivals, and businesses that haven’t even opened their doors yet.
The question facing our community isn’t whether more people will come. Every sign suggests they will. The more important question is what they’ll discover when they get here.
By the time the lights go down after the final encore this weekend, tens of thousands of people will have passed through our corner of Grant County. Most will leave with memories of a great concert. The opportunity for the 98848 is making sure more of them also leave with memories of Quincy, George, Crescent Bar, Sunland Estates, our local businesses, and the people who make this community special.
That’s a conversation worth having today because the decisions we make now may help shape our local economy for years to come.
Editor’s Note: This editorial is intended to continue a community conversation. We’d like to hear from local business owners, community leaders, and residents. How can the 98848 better welcome the visitors who are already coming here? Share your ideas in the comments or send us a message. We may feature some of those ideas in a future follow-up story.
