Exclusive | Tri-Cities group gets green flag on $1.2M plan for raceway-event center
A $1.2 million renovation to create a Red Mountain Event Center can officially begin.
The West Richland City Council agreed unanimously this week to lease 35 acres at the former Tri-City Raceway to a group of Tri-Citians with a passion for community and a vision.
The nonprofit wants to create an entertainment epicenter where Tri-Citians can take in concerts, swap meets, wine tasting festivals, outdoors concerts, sports tournaments and, yes, some racing events.
“One thing we’re really adamant about is doing things we can do well,” said Eric Van Winkle of the Friends of Red Mountain Event Center.
Already, the group has been holding drive-in movies and the Sage and Sand Sports Car Club has organized regular events on at the track on weekends. But movies are just the start of their ideas for the center.
The lease is on 35 acres of the 93 acres that West Richland bought for $1.8 million in 2019 from the Port of Kennewick.
The new West Richland police station is being built on 5 acres at the raceway site.
“This is a great opportunity,” West Richland mayor Brent Gerry told the Tri-City Herald. “When you have an event center it brings people and tourism to community it spreads economic gain.”
He said he imagines great possibilities for the West Richland project after watching Kennewick and Pasco’s successes with the Southridge Sports Complex and the HAPO Center — formerly TRAC.
The five-year lease is for $26,000 a year, with the money going directly into West Richland park maintenance.
“We have a small general fund and have a challenge with park funding,” Gerry explained. “This is a revenue source that is being dedicated and not used for anything but parks.”
Van Winkle said the idea to re-imagine the defunct raceway has been percolating since the track’s final race nearly 20 years ago
But the the effort only gained traction when the city bought the parcel, Van Winkle said.
“The talks started immediately,” Van Winkle said. “They have been phenomenal to work with.”
Van Winkle, who currently chairs the Three Rivers Carousel Foundation Board and is the carousel’s former executive director, has been spearheading the effort along with Greg Walden, the owner of Atomic Screenprinting & Embroidery in Kennewick and operator of the Hermiston Raceway as well as other community members for many years.
The Port of Kennewick originally bought the land with plans for a wine event center in 2004, but those plans never came to fruition past demolition of the old grandstands.
Instead, Van Winkle is now leading a passionate group of volunteers who are putting in the elbow grease to get the track up and running again, along with renovating some empty buildings.
Volunteers first will literally work to green up the facility — get water on trees and shrubs, power wash seating, walls and fencing and regrade the entrances.
“We need to get in there and find out where the sprinklers are,” he said.
The transformation will be in two phases over five years. The money is being raised through donations by the volunteer group Friends of Red Mountain Event Center.
Gerry emphasized that none of the funding will be from public tax dollars.
Renovations include adding lighting back to the stands and track, gutting and renovating the concessions area, adding seating and signs and working on retaining walls and noise reduction.
Van Winkle warns race fans that while eventually the group aims to hold two to three races a year — it no longer is just a racetrack but will maintain a community-centric focus with limitless event options.
The racing events won’t be only stock cars, but could also include electric cars and STEM racing events.
“They think so far out of the box — they are very successful in what they do,” Gerry said of the organizers. “There is a lot of enthusiasm from the local community.”
This story was originally published May 20, 2021 at 12:51 PM.