Port of Benton, Crow Butte throw 10th anniversary BBQ on Saturday

The Port of Benton celebrates the 10th anniversary of the deal that put remote Crow Butte Park on the Mid-Columbia’s recreation map with a barbecue, homemade ice cream and other festivities Saturday.

Informal ceremonies begin at 11:30 a.m. and port executives and guests will barbecue at noon. Admission that day is free, as is use of the boat launch.

It’s been 10 years since the port signed a 20-year lease with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take over Crow Butte Park.

The park sits on 275 acres on an island in the Columbia River west of Paterson in southwest Benton County.

The agreement turned a threatened park into a port facility. Ongoing updates have made it a popular stop for day users, hikers and RVers alike.

It was originally built in the ‘70s as a recreational amenity to mitigate the impacts of construction of McNary Dam, several miles upstream. The Corps eventually leased it to the Washington state Department of Parks and Recreation.

By 2003, the budget-strapped state agency returned it to the federal government, citing budget cuts. The move put the future of Crow Butte and its southeast Washington siblings – Lyons Ferry, Central Ferry and Chief Timothy parks – in doubt.

Area farmers formed the Crow Butte Association to operate the park as a local amenity. During its 18-month lease, the association resorted to fundraisers and donations to augment its shoestring budget. It asked Benton County to step in, but the request gained little traction.

Scott Keller, the port’s executive director, recalled hearing about Crow Butte and its cloudy future. When business took him to the area, he took a look.

It was, he recalled, a diamond in the rough.

The port saw more than a park that could anchor tourism activities on the Columbia, a part of its economic development mission.

Crow Butte offered it a chance to provide amenities to an area that pays taxes but is many miles removed from Richland, where the port is based.

Keller said the area’s commercial agricultural operators pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes.

Within a month, Keller and his team were in Portland to sign a long-term lease for Crow Butte. The port pays a token amount and is obligated to share any profits with the Army Corps. The park comes close to breaking even but is in no danger of turning a profit, Keller said.

In 10 years, the Port of Benton has worked to modernize the park. Thanks to series of grants from the Washington Recreation and Conservation Office, Benton County and the port’s own money, it has upgraded 52 RV spots to full service, installed a modern bathroom and brought in a concessionaire.

This year saw the addition of a playground and a dozen new boat slips in the marina – an $800,000 undertaking that included four slips large enough to handle bigger boats.

It also upgraded the 20-amp power system to 45 amps, better able to handle demand from the RVs that routinely fill its spaces during the March to October camping season.

Tripleblaze.com, a website for camping and RV enthusiasts, named Crow Butte Park one of the best campgrounds in the country.

In 2016, Crow Butte was full almost every weekend and tallied almost 4,500 RV nights, representing about 10,000 visitors. It charges $27 per night, which is a standard rate for the industry. The marina recorded 2,377 users. The day use fee is $5.

Future projects include adding about two dozen new RV spots near the marina for visitors who want to be close to their boats.

If you go:

Crow Butt Park is off Highway 14 at milepost 155, about a dozen miles west of Paterson on the Washington side of the Columbia River. Allow an hour’s drive time from Kennewick.

This story was originally published August 3, 2017 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Port of Benton, Crow Butte throw 10th anniversary BBQ on Saturday."