Fifty young athletes will compete in the state finals of the Junior High Division of the National High School Rodeo Association this weekend in Kennewick.
Sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade boys and girls will participate in a variety of events including barrel racing, goat tying, breakaway roping, chute dogging, team roping, pole bending, ribbon roping, tie-down roping and bull riding.
The students, ages 11-14, have competed across the state all season, earning points. The state champions will be decided this weekend, with the top four in each event eligible for the National Junior High Finals Rodeo in Gallup, New Mexico.
The rodeo starts at noon on Saturday, May 18, and 10 a.m. Sunday, May 19 at the Benton County Fairgrounds in Kennewick.
Ten contestants from Columbia Burbank Middle School, Desert Hills Middle School, Park Middle School, Benton City Middle School, and Pasco schools will participate in the action. Some local competitores have already qualified for the national finals in the target shooting event, which held its finals earlier in the month.
Admission is free and a concession stand will be open.
SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2013, 6:00PM - 9:00PM
Join us for one of our most popular events back for the 5th year - Revelry on Red Mountain! Red Mountain is a remarkable place, for both scenery and wine. Spend an evening rubbing elbows with growers and winemakers from the region while sitting atop this gold podium at Col Solare Winery. 24 Washington winemakers are bringing their newest releases for a spirited evening of acclaimed wines. A spectacular sunset, panoramic views of the valley below, savory delights from a noted Chef, and the warmth of eastern WA....ahhh, now that's a perfect landing.
NEW IN 2013
SUNDAY, MAY 26, 2013, 10:00AM - 3:00PM
Want more of Red Mountain? Then join us for the inaugural Vineyard Walking Tour hosted by growers on Red Mountain. You will get an up close and personal look at the terroir, technique and vines with our family at Kiona and Jim Holmes of Ciel du Cheval before gathering together for a farm-to-table lunch with Charlie Hoppes at Fidelitas. Afterwards, enjoy a comparison tasting hosted by one of Red Mountain's oldest wineries.
EVENT & TICKET INFO: http://www.auctionofwashingtonwines.org/events/revelry/
Spring Barrel Tasting returns to Washington Wine Country Friday, April 26 - Sunday, April 28.
Participating wineries will allow guests to sample unfinsihed wines straight from the barrel. There will also be other wine realted demos, live entertainment, and local cuisine offered.
Let the Tri-Cities be your "home base" for this wonderful event. The Tri-Cities offers riverfront accomodations and great restaurants.
MORE EVENT INFO: http://bit.ly/SD1rPf
BOOK YOUR STAY IN THE TRI-CITIES: http://bit.ly/17eu11N
* Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwich (Clearwater, Kennewick)
* The Rock Wood Fired Pizza (Southridge area, Kennewick)
* Five Guys Burgers and Fries (Queensgate, Richland)
* Italiano's Serious Pies & Pasta (West Richland)
* Fujiyama's Japanese Restaurant (2nd location, Queensgate)
* Baan-Khun-Ya (New Thai restaurant on Rd. 68, Pasco)
* Gordan Estates Wine Bar (Broadmoor Park, Pasco)
* Noodle Zone (Burden, across from TRAC, Pasco)
* Mezzo Thai (2nd location on Gage, Richland)
One of the Tri-Cities most popular events is happening this weekend.
Here is all the information you need to know regarding the upcoming Cowboy Gathering & Music Festival:
WHEN: Friday - Sunday, April 12-14.
WHERE: Benton County Fairgrounds in Kennewick, WA (1500 S. Oak St.)
WHAT: Great musical performers. See the lineup here: http://bit.ly/10FAY9i
MORE INFO: www.columbiarivercowboygathering.com
They Tri-City Herald is reporting that Fish and Wildlife is planning on offering tours of Tri-Cities' Rattlesnake Mountain in May.
The tours will be scheduled on a first come first serve basis. A total of 80 people will be able to take the tour on either May 1 or May 4. Registration begins on April 10 at 8 a.m. at www.hanfordtours.net.
Rattlesnake Mountain is 3,600 feet tall and the highest point in the Mid-Columbia. It offers visitors one of the best views at the summitt and beautiful wildflowers.
For more information visit the Tri-City Herald.
Most recently our crew from the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau visited the Spokane Golf & Travel Show. One thing we kept hearing from guests were that they come down to the Tri-Cities during the winter to play golf. They do this because many of the courses in and around the Spokane area are either closed or playing off of temporary greens. The Tri-Cities experienced a mild winter, therefore all of our courses are wide open and maybe only shutdown for a few days in the last couple of months due to snow.The timing couldn't be better. We just released our 2013 Stay & Play Golf Packages. Packages start at $169 and include an overnight stay for two and two rounds of golf with a cart. If you break that down it is about $85 per person.
To see our golf packages you can find all of them here: http://bit.ly/4GCT9e
B Reactor National Landmark Tours:
Historic Landmark is the world's first production-scale nuclear reactor and was created as part of the top secret Manhattan Project during World War II. The decommissioned facility resides on the Hanford Site which spans 586 square miles north of Richland and the greater Tri-Cities area. B Reactor was built in just 13 months, without the help of computers or even final scale drawings, to produce plutonium for the first atomic bomb. Construction began on June 7, 1943, six months after famed physicist Enrico Fermi demonstrated the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago. B Reactor produced plutonium for the first atomic explosion, the Trinity test in New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, and for the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945, helping to bring an end to World War II.
Tours are conducted of the B Reactor April-October and have had visitors from all 50 states, as well as nearly 60 countries. The tour includes presentations at the towering "front face" of the reactor and walking tour of the rest of the facility. The reactor looks as if the visitor stepped back in time, with all of the original panels, dials, hardware, and signage.
Tour spots do fill up fast, so it is encouraged to sign up early at: http://manhattanprojectbreactor.hanford.gov/index.cfm.
Hanford Reach National Monument Jet Boat Tours:
Designated by President Bill Clinton as a National Monument in June 2000, the Hanford Reach is the only free-flowing, non-tidal stretch of the Columbia River remaining in the Unites States. Just north of the Tri-Cities, a 51-mile stretch of unbridled river flows through a spectacular landscape of white bluffs, dunes, and desert plateaus. See rare birds and animals who find refuge in this protected tract of wilderness.
Your guide will stop at select points along the journey where you can view decommissioned nuclear reactors and learn more about the history of the Manhattan Project.
More information: http://www.visittri-cities.com/visitors/heritage-&-eco-tourism/hanford-reach/
LIGO Hanford Observatory Tours:
Tour one of two gravitational wave observatories in the U.S. The LIGO acronym stands for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, whose mission is to observe gravitational waves of cosmic origin. LIGO will detect the ripples in space-time by using a device called a laser interferometer, in which the time it takes light to travel between suspended mirrors is measured with high precision using controlled laser light. LIGO's interferometers are the world's largest precision optical instruments. They are housed in one of the world's largest vacuum systems, with a volume of nearly 300,000 cubic feet. The beam tubes and associated chambers must be evacuated to a pressure of only one-trillionth of an atmosphere, so that the laser beams can travel in a clear path with a minimum of scattering due to stray gases. Tour hosts will provide a presentation about LIGO's research and will conduct a walking tour of the Observatory, including a visit to the control room.
Ice Harbor Dam Tours:
Just 15 minutes from the Tri-Cities, Ice Harbor Lock and Dam harnesses the natural force of water flowing in the Snake River to produce clean, renewable hydroelectric power and provide safe navigation for commercial shippers and recreation vessels.
Ice Harbor Dam, named in memory of an ice-free cove just above the site used for shelter in the mid-1800s by river boat operators making the hazardous trip to the Idaho gold fields, was dedicated 51 years ago by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson . The Dam complex consists of a powerhouse, navigation lock, two adult fish ladders, 10 spillways, a juvenile fish bypass facility and a removable spillway weir. Located on the Snake River about nine miles from its confluence with the Columbia River, Ice Harbor Dam is testament to civil works engineering expertise at 2,822 feet long with an effective height of 100 feet. Behind the dam lies beautiful Lake Sacajawea which extends 32 miles upstream to Lower Monumental Lock and Dam.
Ice Harbor Dam's Visitor Center shows how hydroelectricity is made, how the navigation lock works, and what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is doing to help salmon migrate to the ocean and back. See fish in the viewing window, find out what types of plants and wildlife live in the region, and learn about the mission of the Corps of Engineers.
Weekend dam tours are conducted May-September.
More information: www.nww.usace.army.mil
Tri-Cities Winery Tours:
Washington is the country's second largest wine-producing region, after California, and the Tri-Cities is in the heart of it all. Benton County, which includes Kennewick, Richland, and West Richland, is the largest grape producing region in the state. The Tri-Cities sits in the Columbia Valley, where three converging forces - soil, sun, and water - make this the perfect place to grow wine grapes. Here's why: About 15,000 years ago, near the end of the last Ice Age, a glacier in northern Idaho blocked the Clark Fork River and created what is known as Glacial Lake Missoula, a massive body of water that covered a large area of western Montana. Ultimately, this ice dam failed, sending torrents of water across eastern Washington. Where the Tri-Cities is today was under several hundred feet of water. This wall of water escaped down the Columbia Gorge and eventually found it's way to the Pacific Ocean. This event happened over and over, carving out the coulees and "scablands" north of the Tri-Cities.
What does this have to do with wine? Well, each time the floods came through the Columbia Basin and Gorge, they changed the structure of the land, leaving us with sandy soils that are low in nutrients. This might not sound all that great except that when grapevines struggle, they concentrate all their efforts on the fruit, resulting in small berries and high-quality juice - perfect for world-class wine.
With over 200 wineries within a one-hour drive of the Tri-Cities there are opportunities to take vineyard and winery tours. Here you will learn about different grape varietals and walk through the winery productions facility to learn about the wine making process.
More information is available here: http://www.visittri-cities.com/visitors/wine/
Agritourism occurs when a visitor's curiosity and thirst for a hands on experience is combined with a desire for education oriented leisure travel. In the Tri-Cities region visitors can tour farms and vineyards, and enjoy a variety of activities such as exploring wine production during the crush season; visiting a farmers' market, participating in "Farm to Fork" cooking classes or enjoying local food festivals. Due to it's rich agricultural history the Tri-Cities is a natural choice for those visitors interested in agritourism.
Agritourism can be fun for the whole family. A growing tourism attraction in the Tri-Cities are local alpaca farms. Alpacas resemble small llamas and are bred specifically for their fiber, which is used for making knitted and woven items. Visitors are shown how these unique animals are cared for during tours and are provided an opportunity to buy items made from alpaca fiber. For a list of Tri-Cities alpaca farms, click here.
Bill's Berry Farm in Grandview is also a great choice for those looking for agritourism opportunities. Pick your own cherries during the Cherry Festival in June, gather blueberries during the Blueberry Daze Festival in July, pick apples and pumpkins during the Apple and Pumpkin Festival in September and October, and find the perfect Christmas tree during Christmas Trees on the Farm in November and December.
The Country Mercantile is another agritourism attraction. Here you'll find locally grown fruits and vegetables along with homemade jams and jellies. Satisfy your sweet tooth with fudge, chocolates, and ice cream all made in the Country Mercantile kitchen. Chocolate factory tours are even available where participants have the chance to create their own creations.
And as the Heart of Washington Wine Country, the Tri-Cities offers unique agritourism experiences for wine enthusiasts. Visitors not only visit tasting rooms, but can also learn about the wine making process from the ground up, literally. A few wineries offer guided vineyard hikes, where participants receive a firsthand look of the growing process. Additionally, visitors will be shown around the winery production facility and learn how the wine grapes eventually make it into the bottle to become wine.
At the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau we get asked this question a lot. That is why we created "Your Weekend Starts Here" enewsletters. We send out the email every Wednesday. It covers all the events that will be happening in the upcoming weekend. We include everything from live music, festivals, and farmers' markets.
It's free to sign up!
Sign up here: http://tinyurl.com/an9wnsg
See an example: http://tinyurl.com/bbrkt38
.jpg)
