Scenic byway panel eyes yard sales date along route

At its meeting last Wednesday in Colfax, members of the Palouse Scenic Byway committee discussed a one-day yard sale at sites along the route as a way of promoting the byway. Proposed date was May 4, the first Saturday in May.

Rosalia has been considering a yard sale for May 4, which is the same weekend as Washington State University graduation. Communities would provide maps of yard sales that could be available at local libraries.

The Palouse Scenic Byway encompasses 208 miles of highway through rolling hills and farmland with Rosalia on the north end and Colton -Uniontown on the south. Towns along Highways 26 and 27 also are included.

Among the interesting sites listed along the byway are Tekoa Mountain, Tekoa Trestle, the Rosalia Texaco station, Barrons Flour Mill at Oakesdale, Elberton’s ghost town, Manning-Rye covered bridge and Palouse Falls.

Tours of the wind farm also were discussed by the committee last week. Vicki Leeper, Pullman Chamber of Commerce tourism director, said she is hopeful that tours could be held at some point. Tours have not been held during the winter months because of the hazard of ice falling from the turbine blades.

A kiosk with information about the turbines is planned for the Horn School rest area along Highway 195 south of Rosalia.

Ron Hall, a web site consultant for the byway committee, introduced meeting attendees to Google Maps and how the byway could utilize the maps in different ways.

Not only could the maps promote interesting tourist attractions, but they can provide business information as well.

“Ninety-seven percent of people go onto Google to search for local businesses,” he said.

Hall also said all types of businesses could be promoted on the maps for each community. These types of promotions are free, he said.

Members also discussed the community kiosks. Each community will have its own interpretive kiosk that will be displayed along the byway. It will include a map pinpointing the community and a map of the community with a short history, nearby sites to visit and suggested day trips.

The byway web site also had a record number of users, registering 185,000 views, according to Leeper.