Going against the grain

Construction crews are putting the eye-catching roof on the new convention center exhibit hall in Spokane, a dramatic signal of the city’s serious effort to become an event destination.

The $80 million expansion is the largest public works project in years. It was packaged to taxpayers as an important piece of economic development – one that would help the city build on its thriving convention business.

Spokane has developed this business despite the fact that one of its convention mainstays has quietly shipped its business elsewhere.

For more than a decade, farming and agribusiness groups have been gathering more often in the Tri-Cities and Yakima than in Spokane. The absence of such farming events is indicative that Spokane may no longer be at the center of Washington agriculture.

There are many reasons for the shift, but perhaps none so obvious as the aggressive growth of the Tri-Cities.

Just last June, the Tri-Cities expanded its convention center to about 75,000 square feet at a cost of $21 million.

“It’s been a huge success for us,” said Kris Watkins, president and CEO of the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau, “and agriculture continues to be a big part of it.”

Indeed, most of the state’s agriculture is now focused on irrigated lands in the Yakima Valley and the Columbia Basin. The diversity of crops, from apples and hops to wine grapes, potatoes and alfalfa — there are more than 100 in all — have turned Central Washington into a major food provider for the country.

The cluster of high-value farms, plus food processors that package meat, make French fries and freeze vegetables, has meant the Tri-Cities and Yakima are increasingly recognized as the center of Washington agriculture. And the farming conventions have followed, filling hotels and restaurants there.

More than a dozen farm-related conventions are scheduled for 2005 in the Tri-Cities. Most average more than 300 attendees, making agriculture one of the most important pieces of the convention center’s success.

“We know we’re competing with Spokane. We’re giving it our best,” Watkins said.

In Spokane this year, there will be about six conventions and events related to farming and agribusiness, attracting an estimated 5,750 delegates. By comparison, there were 16 ag-related conventions in 1989 with about 16,400 delegates.

Agriculture has fallen to less than 10 percent of the Spokane-area economy during the past several years, said Spokane Ag Bureau director David Bauermeister. Though Spokane still is a major finance and government center for the agriculture industry, the economic stagnation of grain farming has left agriculture trailing growing sectors such as health care and education, he said.

“We have fewer farmers and they have higher costs,” Bauermeister said.

Gretchen Borck of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers agreed, saying, “The guys are more sensitive to cost because they’re selling wheat for the same price they were a decade ago.”

Last December, the wheat growers held their 50th anniversary celebration and convention in the Tri-Cities. The event normally is held in Spokane, Borck said, but the Tri-Cities sought the business, lined up good room rates and generally out-hustled and out-competed Spokane.

This December, the wheat growers are meeting in Coeur d’Alene and then in 2006 they will meet in Oregon or the Tri-Cities.

None of this has affected the success of the big Spokane Ag Expo trade show, which continues to surpass expectations, said Bauermeister.

Attendance at the annual show has dropped the past two years, but that’s because of snowstorms and freezing rains that closed regional schools and slicked roads, he said.

“People just couldn’t make the drive,” Bauermeister said.

Next month, Spokane will host the American Dairy Goat Association’s convention. It’s expected to draw 1,200 attendees and some 2,000 goats.

Deb Barnes, spokeswoman for the Spokane Convention and Visitors Bureau, said agriculture-related events are “still very important,” and two members of the CVB sales staff work on agriculture conventions as part of their jobs.

“We are trying hard to bring more in,” she said. “No question we want it back.”