Walla Walla 2020 and Beyond: Walla Walla 2020 has been key in downtown Walla Walla renewal

From its beginning in 1988, Walla Walla 2020 members have been interested in strengthening and renewing Walla Walla’s downtown.

In those early years, the city’s core had been weakened by sprawling development and the construction of outlying shopping malls as well as by the demolition of a number of multi-story, mixed-use downtown buildings to create parking lots or to construct one-story, single-use buildings in their place.

In 1984, the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation had been formed and has since done wonderful work revitalizing the downtown, on a number of occasions with Walla Walla 2020 as a partner.

Our goals were to preserve the existing historic building stock, promote reuse of abandoned upper floors and assist in activities that would make the downtown more vital and attractive as a cultural, social, civic and commercial center for the community.

To focus attention on the wealth of unused second-floor space in the downtown, we began the 2020 Second Story Mannequin Project in 1992, which we also called Upstairs Downtown, led by members Jeanne McMenemy, Shirley Hagaman and others.

This project featured retired mannequins donated by the J.C. Penney department store, which we began by placing in the windows of the abandoned second floor of the Bee Hive Building at Second Avenue and Main Street, dressed and positioned by 2020 members to look out and wave at passersby.

This was noticed by the public, and before long the Bee Hive space was rented, after which we moved the mannequins to the abandoned second floor of the Book Nook or Die Brucke Building.

Once it was renovated for reuse, we moved them to the closed second story Walla Walla Hotel, where local artist Abigail Bridges took responsibility for costuming the mannequins and setting them up in creative poses. The Walla Walla Hotel was then remodeled and reopened as Walla Walla Residential Suites.

All of these placements drew people’s attention to the buildings as well as considerable newspaper publicity.

Along with the Downtown Foundation, we also wanted to preserve and reuse the old Liberty Theater on Main Street. To avoid the demolition of the abandoned theater with its gargoyles and gothic façade, we proposed that it be leased and renovated by a coalition of community groups and local colleges for use as a community and conference center, dance hall and theater.

Others also rallied with ideas, and the building was finally acquired by the nonprofit National Development Council and leased to the neighboring Bon Marche department store, which expanded into it, preserving and restoring both the façade and some of the internal theater structure and garnering the grand prize in our Walla Walla 2020 Architectural Awards competition in 1991.

In our Walla Walla 2020 brainstorming session in 1988, one of the elements of our vision was a farmers market to be located in the city hall parking lot, which the Downtown Foundation established there in 1997, with 2020 members making up a majority of the market committee in the initial years.

Later, Walla Walla 2020 sponsored the placement of a fanciful roof over the market stage designed and built by local sculptor and 2020 member Wayne Chabre that we donated to the city. The market, including its Music at the Market series coordinated by a 2020 member for the first three years, has added much to the sociability of the downtown and has been a great success for the public as well as for vendors.

The Downtown Foundation’s watershed achievement, in cooperation with the city of Walla Walla, was the completion of the Downtown Revival Project in 1992 involving the addition of trees, new sidewalks, lighting and other improvements, giving the city’s center an appealing new look.

This project won the grand prize in the 1992 architectural awards competition sponsored by Walla Walla 2020 along with the establishment of Heritage Park, a partnership project involving Walla Walla 2020, the Downtown Foundation, the city and the Blue Mountain Arts Alliance.

Since our founding, Walla Walla’s downtown has also seen the installation of a variety of other public art pieces, a further goal Walla Walla 2020 has worked toward together with other groups.

Progress has also been made through our leadership in partnership with the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation in achieving Certified Local Government status for the city of Walla Walla and the establishment of a Walla Walla Historic Preservation Commission.

In addition to major national awards received by the city, many historic buildings and homes have been restored, often honored by plaques created by 2020 along with our research reports establishing the property’s
history.

Over the years, Walla Walla 2020 and the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation have also cooperated on a variety of other projects and events to strengthen the downtown and the community, with a number of 2020 members serving on Downtown Foundation committees and as volunteers at downtown events.

As a result of projects such as these and the dramatic revitalization of the city’s center resulting from creative activities by a variety of interests as well as the booming new wine industry, the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation received the Great American Main Street Award in 2001, the highest national honor given to downtown associations, in recognition of a renaissance and vitality in Walla Walla not seen in previous decades.

Recently, there are other encouraging signs of downtown renewal, including plans for further investment in Heritage Park as a community gathering and performance space and the renovation and reuse of a variety of other downtown buildings.

For the future as the heart of our community, Walla Walla’s downtown deserves to be a focus of continuing creativity as we respond to the inevitable challenges from changes that lie ahead. Walla Walla 2020 hopes to be a continuing contributor to those efforts.

Daniel Clark is a retired attorney who has coordinated Walla Walla 2020 since its founding, and has served on its Downtown and Neighborhoods committee.