05/07/07 Update On Clore Center

Update on Clore Center. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Parick McFarlan is the new Executive Director of the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center. He created the Washington Wine Highway event in Woodinville. MCFARLAN: This year the show is Memorial Day weekend and we'll have we're hoping 5000 people and the show is 75 wineries, 45 restaurants and another 35 travel partners so hotels and tour companies and bus companies. He hopes the proposed center will help unite the states wine tourism industry by bringing together local communities. MCFARLAN: Is it possible to pull Yakima and Prosser and Tri-Cities and Walla Walla together with events and with marketing and with top of mind awareness and drive that message as a group into western Washington&I think so. Unfortunately things have not progressed quite as planned for the new center. MCFARLAN: We had hoped that by the end of the summer of '07 that we could begin construction. We got a curve. We had requested 2.1 million from Olympia this year and that money was not appropriated and that actually was a huge surprise to us. There's still conversation that Olympia still has a portion of those dollars; in conversation, whatever that means. We've just been told that they've ran the political gauntlet and now they want to go back and see where they might be able to appropriate some dollars. McFarlan says there is still hope that ground will be broken this year. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.