Tour hot to handle
The Moses Lake Fire Department handled a residential fire Friday night in Moses Lake. There were no injuries. Photo by Candice Boutilier/Columbia Basin Herald.
Annual ag tour fills to capacity
By Chrystal Doucette
Herald staff writer
MOSES LAKE - A select number of Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce members toured local businesses Tuesday during the chamber's annual Business/Ag Tour.
Not everyone who wanted to go on the tour could go. A waiting list was formed.
"It was a very successful ag tour again this year," said Ag Committee Chair Terri Riley-Brown. "We look forward to getting some feedback from everyone and some ideas for next year."
Chamber members toured D & L Foundry, National Frozen Foods and Basic American Foods.
D & L Foundry Operations Manager Jason McGowan called the site the end of the recycling chain.
"We're able to pour that molten metal into useable parts," McGowan said.
McGowan showed chamber members the process of creating a manhole cover, from design creation to the finished product. The foundry makes 100 tons of manhole rings and covers each day, he said.
Washington Trust Bank employee Jeff Strumski said he enjoys learning new things, and he never considered where manholes come from.
"That type of stuff I find fascinating," Strumski said.
The National Frozen Foods Tour led chamber members through the production of corn. The corn is husked and goes through a process of becoming either frozen kernels or frozen ears. The remaining cob and husk is sold for livestock feed.
When the corn season is through, the facility will produce 80 million to 85 million pounds of corn, said General Manager Gary Ash.
"We work around the clock. We never stop," Ash said. The only break is an hour each morning for sanitation and maintenance.
In addition to corn, the facility produces peas, lima beans and carrots.
"We can freeze up to 50 tons per hour of finished frozen product," Ash said.
The last stop for Chamber of Commerce members was Basic American Foods.
Human Resources Manager Dave Cooper said the company was founded in 1933, and the Moses Lake facility was founded in 1965.
The facility dehydrates potatoes.
"It looks very much like flour when it's done," Cooper said.
Following the tour, Rep. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, spoke to the chamber about the beginning of the Business/Ag Tour.
Warnick said the tour started around 1989 or 1990, when she became the president of the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
"It's been a great experience I think for the chamber to build this up," she said.
She said she was impressed with the number of people attending the tour.
The day concluded with a presentation from state Department of Ecology Regional Director Derek Sandison on the state of water management in the Columbia Basin.