Adams County Development Council

08/28/2026

Every high school student gets asked the same question eventually: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” At ACDC, we pair that question with a second, equally important one: “Where do you want to be when you grow up?” Staying local to Adams County and central/eastern Washington State does not mean limiting potential, and this fall's annual Career Showcases at Othello and Lind-Ritzville high schools exist to highlight that.

I was recently at an event hosted by LaunchNW that highlighted a study done by Washington Roundtable that put numbers behind why continuing education after high school is more important than ever today, and why ACDC works directly with our local schools on these events.

The graphic below breaks down the credential gap facing our state through 2032: 254,000 more workers than job openings for positions that require nothing past a high school diploma, a 228,000 shortage of workers for jobs needing a certificate or apprenticeship, and a 301,000 shortage of workers for jobs requiring a bachelor's degree or higher. The more training a student picks up after high school, the shorter the line they are standing in.

The Career Showcase is our way to address that gap, and it works two ways. First, we want to inspire Adams County students to pursue whatever comes after high school, whether that is a certificate, training program, two-year credential, an apprenticeship, or a four-year degree. Second, and selfishly, the Adams County focus is this: We want to showcase the careers already available right here, so our kids come back home, build their careers, and keep strengthening every corner of Adams County, from Othello to Ritzville, Lind, and Washtucna. This is economic development 101 for business retention and expansion (BR&E) at its most fundamental: growing our own workforce from within.

As always, we are hosting two showcases. The Lind-Ritzville Cooperative Schools Career Showcase (along with Washtucna and surrounding Lincoln County school districts) is on Thursday October 8th at Ritzville HS's Gilson Gym, and the Othello School District Career Showcase follows the week after on Thursday October 15th at Othello HS’s PJ Taggares Gym. We bring the career fair to our students, granting them an opportunity for direct access to local employers, straight talk about the training each career path requires, and a direct look at what is available without leaving home. Bonus: This is often one of the few times many of our students can practice the social skills required in job interviews and the business world. Handshakes and eye contact is a learned practice, and this environment encourages our students to hone those skills in a low-stakes environment.

“What do you want to be?” and “Where do you want to be?” doesn’t mean much if our students don’t know what’s available or how to get there. I encourage all employers to come shape the future of Adams County. There is no registration fee for our employer exhibitors. To be involved, please email [email protected]

Business Belongs in Adams County (let’s continue to build the workforce to support it).

08/13/2026

Wheat harvest in East Adams County is starting to quiet down. Our farmers in Ritzville, Lind, and Washtucna, are clearing the final fields and hauling the final bushels of wheat to the terminal and elevators spread throughout our rural county. The roads that were full of grain trucks, and the occasional combine and bankout wagon moving fields, are starting to clear.

As our farming families in East Adams start to switch gears and look toward preparations for fall seeding, our farmers in West Adams County are in the final stages of pre-harvest prep. The potato and onion harvest is about to begin ramping up in and around Othello, and that requires a similar, but different, kind of activity. The harvesters here are being towed by tractors, picking up multiple rows at a time of our specialty crops grown here in the irrigated part of the Columbia Basin. A shared need for all types of harvest here in Adams County is the immense amount of tractor-trailer trucks needed. These heavy equipment operators move this heavy (80% water by weight for potatoes, 90% for onions), delicate, and delicious products into cold storage or directly to our processing facilities. Late summer and early fall are where the fruits (and vegetables, and grains) of our labor and our economy are quite literally harvested.

Adams County doesn't run on one harvest season or one specific crop. It runs on several, staggered across the calendar and spread across communities with different strengths. While potatoes, onions, and wheat are our “big three”, there are farms everywhere also harvesting corn, canola, peas, beans, hay, alfalfa, mint, melons, apples, cherries, berries, leafy greens, and sugar beet seeds.

Ritzville's economy leans on wheat and the transportation network that moves it. Othello's leans on irrigated agriculture and the food processing capacity built around these water-based crops. Different assets, different timing, different markets, same county of origin.

If you see heavy equipment on the road, like the one pictured here, give them space. There are few times more stressful than the thick of harvest, and none of our producers or their employees needs to deal with impatient drivers as they move 50,000+ pound combines, or 80,000 pound fully loaded semis. Physics remain undefeated, and passenger vehicles do not come out on top in the event of a collision.

Happy harvest to all of those in Adams County and Eastern Washington.

07/15/2026

STCU is celebrating the grand opening of its new Othello branch today at 1335 E. Main Street. This branch sits at the unofficial entrance to downtown Othello, transforming what was an empty lot into an architecturally pleasing community-focused bank.

This isn't a new institution arriving, but an expansion of what we already had. For ACDC, a business expanding in Adams County is celebrated just as much, if not more than, a new business landing here. It’s a sign to both outside site selectors and our own existing businesses that investment in Adams County and Othello is projected to be profitable, and that positive signal creates momentum that we can build upon.

For STCU, this is a credit union that outgrew its own infrastructure and built its way to a better solution in stages. Phase one went in during 2022: an 803 square foot building attached to a 1,300 square foot drive-thru canopy spanning five lanes. That solved the drive-thru bottleneck at the previous Othello location but left the branch without a real lobby.

Phase two is what we celebrated today. A permit filed in September 2025 covers a 3,300 square foot addition for the new branch: A six-figure investment that reflects the kind of capital commitment Othello and Adams County want to see. With multiple offices, teller stations, a grand lobby, and a parking lot sized for increased demand, STCU is here for good.

With branches in both Othello and Ritzville and 3,000 Adams County members, STCU is firmly planted here. Thank you, STCU, for further investing in Othello and Adams County.

Special shoutout to one of my favorite people I've ever worked with, STCU CEO Lindsey Myhre. The investment in people at STCU should be used as a business case study. Good people stay when leadership is worth staying for.

Business belongs in Adams County.

06/12/2026

When a certain Seattle-based (or is it Tennessee?) coffee company announced they were closing their Ritzville location, I wrote about what that kind of loss means to a rural community. Jobs. A vacant storefront. One less reason for an out-of-town traveler on I-90 to pull off the interstate.

I also wrote that we can't control every corporate decision, but we can control how we respond. It was what it was, a corporate decision from people that had never been to Ritzville.

Today, Thomas Hammer Coffee announced they are opening in Ritzville back in the former Starbucks space. This is a huge win for Adams County.

This is a local chain with significant regional name recognition. A founder and owner who is directly involved in the company, and a genuinely good person. Thomas Hammer isn't a multinational with a spreadsheet and an exit strategy, they're a true PNW company with roots in our region, built by people who understand what it means to invest in a community.

Balancing small business with big business is a fundamental rural challenge. Thomas Hammer is the best of both worlds. Recognized regional and national brands aren't competition, they are complementary. They're what pulls outsiders off the highway in the first place. A familiar name creates the exit decision, and once that traveler is in Ritzville, they can find our local people and places. It’s momentum for our small businesses and foot and vehicle traffic for our existing businesses. There's room for every type of business here, and a healthy mix of both is exactly what a community on I-90 needs to grow.

ACDC worked to help make this happen in collaboration with the City of Ritzville. I'm proud of that, and I'm proud of the team at Thomas Hammer for choosing to invest in Ritzville.

This is rural economic development. It's not one big announcement that fixes everything. It's filling the gap left by a departure with something that fits better. 21,000 vehicles pass through Ritzville every day. This allows us to recapture some of that lost traffic and revenue, backfilling a critical commercial pad that anchors our retail and travel amenities hub at exit 221.

Welcome to town, Thomas Hammer. Business belongs in Adams County.

RITZVILLE, WA!
The HAMMER is landing 🔨
August, 2026

(Formerly SBUX)

05/20/2026

Headed home from my annual trip to the ICSC commercial real estate conference in Las Vegas. 66,000 steps and 33.8 miles later, it’s nice to be flying back into GEG.

The Alaska Air route from Spokane to Portland took us directly across Adams County, allowing me to capture some cool photos of Othello from 30,000 feet.

After our booth with Grant County EDC and Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce was set up, I had an impromptu booth assembly session with the Port of Pasco and Tridec - Tri-City Development Council after the rest of their team experienced flight delays. Glad to help a neighbor, and it never hurts to build some ADO network social credits and IOUs!

This year’s ICSC crowd was roughly 25,000 attendees, all contained in 2.5 million square feet of floor space. Adams County has about 22,000 residents spread out in roughly 53.8 billion square feet. Safe to say the population density at ICSC is only slightly higher than at home.

This was my sixth iteration of ICSC, and each time, the conversations get better. Familiarity pays dividends. These are not cold conversations anymore with purely transactional intentions. Brokers and site selectors who have heard the Adams County story before are engaging, giving feedback, and are talking about progress, projects and specific locations with the kind of detail that only comes from remembered conversations. This has gone from the 30,000 foot level to the 10,000 foot. The goal is to get us to final approach, and land some of these opportunities.

The brokers and developers at ICSC are familiar with us, but each site selection is still fundamentally a math problem. To land this plane full of commercial and retail development, we need to show that investment dollars in our area will produce. Capitalism drives every decision, at every level. Our story is important, but the data is what drives decisions. For the Othello area, retail follows rooftops. I was told point blank by multiple reps that they need to see more houses being built for us to go from “on the radar” to the “in development” phase. For Ritzville and east Adams County, the story there is primarily driven (quite literally) by highway traffic counts, where efficient transportation access to our development sites is fundamental (read: roundabouts and WSDOT).

Every year, I go into ICSC with hesitation, and each year, I leave ICSC with worthwhile information and professional relationships. I had conversations and engagement that produced tangible points for me to take back to Adams County. These are facts, figures and insights that allow us all to advance our commercial and retail amenities. These details refine how I talk about our sites back home, how I market our opportunities, and how we craft our investment plans countywide.

As we strive for growth, we have to balance locally grown vs national brands, and I know that conversation can have a lot of emotion behind it. Our rural lifestyle will always remain at the core of our Adams County identity, but there is room and opportunity to pursue growth from all avenues.

Our local businesses are the core of our communities and ensuring the longevity of those businesses matters. Our local businesses are also carrying a heavy burden, and we know that the small business environment in Washington State is challenging. Support for our local businesses is essential, but in the Economic Development environment of today, it takes all kinds of kinds. Growth is the difference maker for many of our locally grown family businesses, and the right national brands can aid that growth.

National brands bring consistent capital and physical investment into our areas, and they signal to other investors that our market is viable. They also bring significant sales tax and property tax revenue that lessens the burden the rest of us already shoulder. The industrial employers we work to recruit and retain are also making location decisions that weigh quality of life for their workforce. These site selectors we engage with are evaluating whether their employees will have somewhere to eat, shop, and build a life. As we recruit national brands, we reduce our retail leakage, keeping dollars earned in Adams County spent in Adams County.

Our role in economic development is to foster enough momentum that we stay stable, relevant, and on the list when the next decision gets made. Retail and commercial growth leads to industrial growth, and industrial growth is where family-wage jobs and long-term sustainability come from. We can’t change Olympia. We cannot change DC. We can, however, work to grow our regional economy, ensuring that the Adams County we have today is sustainable and growing for generations to come.

04/20/2026

Adams County farmers, farm workers, and farming community at large: Your input is needed at the state level. The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) is seeking input from all of us in search of data that will continue to tell the troubled story of agriculture in Washington State.

WSDA is now gathering input for their Phase 2 report, and they need voices from the ground that complements the data in the spreadsheets. There are three surveys: one for agricultural producers and farm owners, one for farmworkers and farmworker representatives, and one for businesses, advocates, and community members who touch the food and agriculture system. That last category includes a lot of us.

The stresses facing farming are numerous, and yes, some are political. This is a chance to provide data, insights, and testimony that will aid in the advocacy for political changes needed to mitigate (and hopefully reverse) some of the damage done to our robust agricultural economy in Washington State.

The WSDA has spent the past year building a baseline picture of agricultural viability across our state. This SWOT analysis completed in phase 1 quantified some of the data that directly results in the physical, financial, and emotional stress our ag industry is feeling, both locally in Adams County and statewide. When ag is stressed, our local communities feel that stress, as the secondary and tertiary impacts affect us all directly.

The numbers are not comfortable reading. Washington producers logged an estimated -$300 million in returns to operators in 2024, the lowest in the nation. Yes, that is a negative three hundred million dollars. Production expenses have nearly doubled since 2016 while net farm income sits at 42nd in the country.

Agriculture makes up ~12% of Washington State’s GDP, and directly supports our state’s immense export dominance. This data gathered in phase 1, and the input they are seeking for phase 2 is critical in correcting the course and finding profitable and sustainable solutions for our ag sector.

Adams County is squarely in the middle of that story. Our 500+ farm entities sit at the heart of the Columbia Basin, producing potatoes, wheat, hay, cattle, eggs, milk and numerous other specialty crops that move through the same strained infrastructure, the same volatile trade markets, and the same labor pressures the report documents statewide.

If you farm, work in ag, process food, or simply care about keeping Adams County's agricultural economy intact, your perspective belongs in this report. It takes 10-15 minutes.

This is the input that shapes what WSDA brings to the Legislature.

Find all three surveys and the phase 1 report at agr.wa.gov. Take 15 minutes. Make the data better. Strong ag is good for all of us.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) recognizes the critical role that profitability, sustainability and responsible land stewardship play in the success of Washington’s agricultural industry. We acknowledge that farmers, ranchers, and agricultural businesses are confronting both ...

04/16/2026

Got stopped by a tractor in the middle of Benge-Winona / Endicott Rd right on the Adams County and Whitman County border, en route to a meeting with the Port of Whitman.

The tractor was centered in the lane on the crest of a hill with his flashers on, so I assumed he was providing pilot services for an even larger tractor.

Wrong. Shortly after pulling over into the conveniently located culvert and field access, a couple hundred head of sheep crested the hill. They meandered on by, filling the entire width of the rural county road, completely unfazed by my car or my phone sticking out the window to capture some footage. I see a lot of cows. Sheep is not a common sight for me.

Agriculture is the cornerstone of Adams (and Whitman) County. Unfortunately, that cornerstone industry is feeling immense pressure and financial strains. I wouldn’t stop them to ask their thoughts on the financial outlook of the industry. That would be weird. How many times can they answer the same question anyway? I waved hello, they said thanks for waiting, and we both carried on our respective ways.

I know ag is facing a really tough time right now, across most sectors. We can acknowledge it, but it feels that acknowledgement isn’t enough. Ag continues to face internal and external threats, yet our farmers, ranchers, and producers show up each day and give it their all to produce the agricultural commodities that our economy, county, state, nation, and world depend on.

Working to explore economic opportunities that complement ag is fundamental to ACDC. We want ag to thrive, and when it can’t thrive, we want it to be supported.

We have the land. We have the workforce. We have the utilities. We have the strategic location. Complementary diversification is vital to building a strong and resilient Adams County economy.

The sheep were available for comment, but no useful data was acquired.