Kennewick Real Estate Blog

Next weekend is the biggest weekend of the year in Kennewick — heck, in all the Tri-Cities. The Water Follies are here, things are getting setup down at the Columbia River, and all the race fans want to know is … who’s going to be racing next weekend in Kennewick?

Here’s the full list of 13 boats that are entered in this year’s Columbia Cup:

U-1 Miss Elam- Dave Villwock
U-3 Cooper Racing - Jimmy King
U-6 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison -Steve David
U-5 FormulaBoats- Jeff Bernard
U-7 FormulaBoats - Jimmy Shane
U-10 Ahern Rentals David Bryant
U-13 Graham Trucking/Spirit of Detroit - J. Michael Kelly
U-17 Our Gang Racing - Kip Brown
U-25 Jarvis Fire and Water - Ken Muscatel
U-37 Beacon Plumbing - Jean Theoet
U-48 Lakeridge Paving- David Williams
U-50 Spirit of the Navy - Brian Perkins
U-100 Mirageboats.com - Greg Hopp

One of the things Spokane is known for is their big 3-on-3 street basketball tournament every summer, and now some folks in Kennewick are trying to add to the popularity of the downtown area with a 3-on-3 tournament of our own.

It’s called Downtown for Three, and it’s happening August 9th and 10th in downtown Kennewick. They’re going to block all traffic in between Auburn and Cascade streets for the basketball tournament, plus other kids activities and fun stuff, food vendors, etc. The 3-on-3 tournament is open to anyone from 3rd grade on up. In the adult division, they’re even going to have a separate tournament for guys 6= and smaller — like me. And if I wasn’t so darn out of shape, I would soooooo sign up for this. (I was a pretty mean point guard back in the day….)

It’s all being organized by the Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership, and you can learn more (plus get entry forms) at www.downtownforthree.org.

Who knew that an innocent blog post about Kennewick slurpees would bring out Winnipeg’s finest for what turned into a fairly heated argument about a super-cool drink? Seriously, it’s looking like a low-level political campaign in the comments on that post. Crazy.

Anyway, there’s apparently some debate over who gets to call themselves the Slurpee Capital of the World. And the folks at 7-11 corporate haven’t really helped things along, either. So, as best I can tell, here’s the truth:

• Winnipeg, which has multiple 7-11 stores, sells the most Slurpee cups in the world.
• Kennewick, which only has one 7-11, sells the most slurpees in terms of dollar sales.

Well, duh. Of course a city with lots of 7-11s and no other places to get food is going to sell more cups than a city with one 7-11 and lots of nice restaurants. (Cedars, anyone?) Hardly seems fair to compare the sales of several stores against the sales of one, but maybe that’s how they do things in Canada.

Lest those feisty Canucks call me a homer, I’m getting my information from two media sources: one in Winnipeg and one in Kennewick. So there. It’s an apples-and-oranges thing. And a Slurpee thing.

Guess we’ll just have to wait until 2009 and settle this thing once and for all, and hopefully with an equal comparison.

KNDU ran an interesting news story a few days back about the overall growth of the Tri-Cities economy — when you talk job growth, we have the fastest growing region in the state, and the fifth-fastest in the entire country. That’s great news.

Of particular note is that growth in Kennewick is benefiting the Tri-Cities economy as a whole:

Part of the rapid development is in Kennewick’s Southridge area and near Columbia Center Mall.

Developers say that the success of new restaurants like P.F. Changs and Famous Dave’s are helping them bring in even more restaurants. They are trying to get chains like Chilis, Macaroni Grill, and T.G.I. Friday’s to come to Kennewick by doing presentations to spark interests.

Personal note: If we ever get a Chilis in Kennewick (or anywhere in the Tri-Cities), the McGee family will go bankrupt within a year.

Just like they’ve done in summers past, the Regal 8 Cinema at Columbia Center Mall will be showing free movies this summer for kids and families. It’s a pretty cool deal, even if you’ve seen the movies before!

Here’s the schedule for Regal 8, as shared on the GetConnected Tri-Cities mailing list:

June 24-26: Doogal (G), Shrek The Third (PG)

July 1-3: Jonah: A Veggie Tale Movie (G), Bee Movie (PG)

July 8-10: Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything - Veggie Tales (G), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (PG)

July 15-17: Nancy Drew (PG)

July 22-24: Charlotte’s Web (G), Water Horse: Legend Of The Deep (PG)

July 29-31: Wallace And Gromit (G), Surf’s Up (PG)

August 5-7: Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (G), Alvin And The Chipmunks (PG)

August 12-14: Everyone’s Hero (G), Fantastic 4: Rise Of The Silver Surfer (PG)

August 19-21: Arctic Tale (G), Firehouse Dog (PG)

All the movies start at 10 am, and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.