More about Prosser

There was also a Harvest Festival going on during the Great Prosser Balloon Rally this past weekend. 
The streets in Historic Old Town were closed to traffic and taken over by visiting vendors and local merchants showcasing arts, crafts, and food. 

the historic downtown where the street painting took place

On Saturday and Sunday there was also a Street Painting Festival.  
Local and regional artists had the opportunity to create pavement masterpieces in chalk. 


It's such a pity that when the festival ended on Sunday night, these works of art were power-washed to clean the street. 
But it was fun to watch the artists at work.




These were some of the more outstanding works I enjoyed:

Michael's favorite nemesis

Prosser is right in the heart of Washington's Viticulture region. With 300 days of sunshine a year, Prosser is also one of the nation's richest agricultural areas with orchards, vineyards, wheat fields, and also livestock. Area hop growers supply nearly 80% of the US and 20% of the world's hops. 

We were here back in 2006. When we attended an RV Show in Seattle that spring, I won a couple of free nights at this same Wine Country RV Resort which had just been built and opened. We had not heard of Prosser so decided to investigate this part of the state and use our free stay coupon. We soon learned about and experienced the burgeoning wine culture in this small town. 
Back in 2006 I had posted about our visit to Prosser. I read the post again to remind myself what we did and what we saw, and my impressions of the area: 
http://www.t-tales.blogspot.com/2006_11_19_archive.html
We were here over the Veteran's Day long weekend and stopped in at the Chamber of Commerce Building to get maps and information. The gentleman helping us was quite chatty, singing the praises of the small town and very excited that there was a Starbucks opening within a week. 

Nine years later, it appears that Starbucks has been a boon to the small sleepy town we first visited because Prosser has exploded and grown. There are many more wineries, and in fact Prosser is home to over 30 now.  There are many new buildings too, with names of wines. Around the corner from the RV Resort, for instance, there is a Chardonnay Dental practice, which I find most amusing. 

The same reader board with Prosser's many church groups is still there. I took a photo to see if there were any changes from the one I photographed in 2006.

Eighteen churches were listed in 2006. Now there are twenty one. 

That is still a lot of places to worship for a town of 5,800 people.

I noticed that one new addition is the Cowboy Ministry. 

And just for the record, the town may have swelled and grown, but the folks here remain friendly and kind, which is something I noticed in 2006. Once again, I got the distinct impression that Prosserians are family oriented. On Saturday evening the entire town and surrounding areas must have been at the stadium for the Night Glow event.  Likewise, the morning of the scrapped balloon launch, the roads were lined two and more deep to watch, and the field was jam-packed with throngs of folks. Children, babies, buggies, and pets were out in the cold crisp morning with their families, and there was a sense of camaraderie and friendliness. There is a lot to be said for living in a small town, where folks know the officer directing the traffic slowly streaming back home again after an event, or personally greet the officer guiding a mass of us across an intersection safely who greets you by name.