Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The building’s heat is still on and the coolers still run.
But the water is shut off for another winter at the vacant building which was the site of Smokin’ Papas and the long-time location of Cher’s Restaurant at Garfield.
After a year and a half of vacancy, the Garfield City Council began to discuss another use for the building at their Dec. 5 meeting. It might become a town community center?
“We’re just in the infancy of starting to talk about it,” said Councilman Daymon Marple, who is also president of Garfield’s Public Development Authority, which owns the building.
Councilman Tim Southern indicated he liked the idea of a community center, but noted doing that would limit the town’s restaurant option in the event the economy turns around.
Discussion followed with Marple saying it would be easy to move the community center out of it later, since little would need to be moved. Tables and chairs and the kitchen are already in place.
The existing center is behind the fire station, which shares bathrooms with the fire department.
Marple said that if the community center was moved to the P.D.A. building, a benefit would be that people could see activities going on inside, compared to the hidden quality of the existing space. An added benefit would be more room for the fire department, he said.
It was brought up that if the fire department switches out one or two of their engines for smaller “fast-attack” vehicles, such as Tekoa has – better for getting into fields – then the fire department may not need any more space.
The P.D.A. building’s last occupant, Smokin’ Papas, closed in the summer of 2011. Since then, the space has been available. It was used for Garfield’s Orchard Fest in September and May Day events.
The building remains stocked with the restaurant equipment.
“It’s a turnkey operation, with a bar in the back,” Marple noted.
Any change to the building’s use would need to be approved by the P.D.A. board followed by the city council, representing the town’s ownership of the community center.
A change almost came this spring, when Noah’s Ark Foods of Palouse applied several times for a USDA Rural Development loan, in order to manufacture their Dutch Apple Rings product in the building.
Ultimately, the operation owned by Mike and Mindy Hicks was turned down.
“It went across about 10 different desks and it took three months but to no avail,” said Marple.
In the meantime, the coolers run – in order to keep freon from leaking and protective o-rings from drying out.
“We’ve learned along the way,” said Marple. “Anybody wants to mothball something, we know how to do it.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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