Ritzville, Washington taps roots to cultivate tourism

More than 10,000 cars and trucks whiz past Ritzville on Interstate 90 each day. Some in the town of roughly 1,700 residents hope a wheat-themed interpretive center could lure some of those drivers to stop.

The goal is simple, they say: boost tourism and make Ritzville more than a potty stop.

In Ritzville, as in many rural towns across the Northwest, the population is shrinking, local businesses are closing, and the farm economy that fueled growth in the past has suffered disruptive ups and downs.

Over the past two years a group of Ritzville civic leaders has begun pushing an economic development project that would create a small roadside wheat farm linked with a museum, shopping complex and visitors center.

Tom Sowa The Spokesman-Review

Full Story: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/feb/06/ritzville-taps-roots-to-cultivate-tourism/