Whatchama Column
By Jeb Bladine

I stopped by the Evergreen museum complex to get a closer look at its expansion plans. In a word, Wow!

It’s one thing to read stories about adding a luxury lodge and water park to the sprawling Evergreen campus. It’s something else to look down on things from the second floor of the IMAX Theater, seeing the landscape and visualizing construction of those magnificent models.

Looking south, straight across Highway 18, reminded me of the movie, “Field of Dreams.” But instead of plowing corn under to build a baseball field, Evergreen has cut a huge swath in the adjacent field for placement of a pad to hold an incoming Boeing 747 jetliner.

But that’s only temporary. Eventually, that huge aircraft will be hoisted onto the roof of a 60,000-square-foot water park, extending the height to nearly 100 feet. Visitors will exit the 747 on water slides leading into aviation-themed pools, making that facility one of the region’s most imaginative visitor attractions.

First, however, comes construction of a 90,000-square-foot, alpine-style luxury lodge with about 90 guest rooms, meeting rooms, wine bar, restaurant and gym. Small, up-scale conferences and conventions will follow, further enhancing the local economy.

It all seems improbable, almost impossible, until you review the history of this amazing local institution:

Feb. 27, 1993, the Spruce Goose arrives in McMinnville. It’s a long journey that will last eight more years before it traverses Highway 18 to its final home.

June 6, 2001 (D-Day), Evergreen Aviation Museum opens its doors to 121,500 square feet of aviation exhibits and related facilities.

April 14, 2007, three years after project launch, the IMAX Theater opens. I like to call it the “little building” at 58,000 square feet. It encases a spectacular 80-by-60-foot screen and theater, and provides an event venue unlike any other for dinner-and-a-movie.

June 6, 2008, after just 18 months of construction, the mirror-image Evergreen Space Museum opens its doors. The aviation circle is complete, with more great exhibits to come.

Altogether, it is Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum and The Captain Michael King Smith Educational Institute. Its mission is “To inspire and educate, to promote and preserve aviation and space history, and to honor the patriotic service of our veterans.”

It’s world-scale. But it also is local and community-connected, and we’re lucky to have it here.

Jeb Bladine is editor and publisher of the News-Register.