Washington Business Spring 2018 | Washington Business | Page 42

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42 association of washington business
The two buses headed in different
directions, stopping at a combined
12 locations. At Cardinal Glass in
Winlock, the driver of Bus No. 1
maneuvered the 45-foot motor
coach onto the shopfloor, stopping
for a photo op between stacks of
glass sheets. A few miles south
at Lower Columbia College, AWB
President Kris Johnson discussed
workforce development and
education with students and staff.
“We make really cool things here
in Washington,” he said. Bus No. 2
started the day in Bellingham with
visits to an oil refinery, an organic
beer-maker, a cabinet-maker and
more before heading east over the
Cascades to Wenatchee.
The tour began on the Olympic
Peninsula with a maritime theme,
visiting with Rep. Mike Chapman,
D-Port Angeles, at the Northwest
School of Wooden Boatbuilding
near Port Townsend. Next was
SAFE Boats International, near
Bremerton. The 20-year-old
company exports defense and
security boats around the world.
Afternoon tours included Taylor
Shellfish in Shelton, which sends
the equivalent of three semi-
truckloads of shellfish out of
Sea-Tac Airport each day. The
day ended in Hoquiam, where
City Manager Brian Shay signed
the bus along with manufacturing
employees in Grays Harbor
County.
Notes from the Road
In Kennewick, employees at Lamb
Weston decorated Bus No. 1 with
pro-french fry stickers and notes
reading, “Make every day a fry
day” and “Enjoy Fries.” Other stops
i n c l u d e d M a n h a s s e t S p e c i a l ty
Company, one of the world’s biggest
manufacturers of music stands, and
Rankin Equipment in Yakima before
a memorable stop at Lampson
International in the Tri-Cities. The
group climbed up to the cab of the
LTL-3000, the world’s largest mobile
crawler crane, which was originally
built for use at the Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear plant in Japan. Sen. Sharon
Brown, R-Kennewick, and Rep. Mary
Dye, R-Pomeroy, joined the tour. So
did Rep. Mike Steele, R-Chelan, who
met up with Bus No. 2 for a look at
the scenic Tsillan Cellars vineyard and
winery. The bus ended the day with
a gorgeous sunset over the Vaagen
Bros. mill in Colville.