Coulee Flats Dairy is located just a few miles outside Mesa, WA. The dairy has been here for 10 years now but Coulee Flats Dairy in Sunnyside was started 15 years ago. Case VanderMeulen, the owner of Coulee Flats Dairy, and his family live near the dairy. Case grew up on a family dairy in Holland, which his brother still runs. He came to the US in 1989 first finding dairy work in California.

Coulee Flats Dairy was originally two dairies in Sunnyside. When there was no room to expand and grow, the two operations combined and then built into becoming Coulee Flats Dairy with 2,300 head. Upon expanding the Coulee Flats Dairy to Mesa in 2008, they started out with 3,000 head have grown to now have 6,800 head of Holstein cows. In the beginning, they employed 45 workers but have grown their operation to now providing 95 jobs locally.

Being one of many dairy’s in the area – Coulee Flats sells all their milk to the Darigold Co-Op to then be processed and marketed to consumers. They also offer organic Gold Compost to farmers and individuals as well. The Mesa Coulee Flats Dairy runs 24/7, with the cows on a schedule to be milked 3 times a day on rotation in the parallel double 50 and double 30 milking parlors. Cows take a 45-day maternity leave and have their calves under staff supervision in the special maternity barn.

When talking about expanding the Coulee Flats Dairy, Case stated “If there is one constant, change never stops.” Case and his team of employee’s live by the motto “Our Teamwork makes the Dream work.” Case enjoys talking about the dairy and his passion to people and loves visiting and showing the dairy to those who come by to learn more about the process and production of dairy products. In his spare time, Case enjoys reading and researching the original farmers and the history of the Columbia Basin. In addition to running a business, Case is very generous in supporting various community events including being a premium donor for the Connell Fireworks Extravaganza, Fall Festival, and the Harvest Festival, just to name a few. For several years, he previously had teamed with the local grocery store in Mesa, to raise money for Mesa Elementary through milk sales.

To find out more information about the Coulee Flats Dairy, I encourage you to look at their website cfdairy.com. If you have time and want even more hands on information and possibly a tour please call their office beforehand at 509-205-2077. The office is open Monday – Friday from 8am-4pm. Coulee Flats Dairy is located at 1321 Pepiot Rd, Mesa WA.

Avista is a utility company that serves eastern Washington, portions of southern Oregon and northern Idaho and Sanders County, Montana. The company has been around since 1889. The energy they produce at Avista-owned generating facilities and their long-term contracts ranks the company as one of the cleanest utilities when it comes to greenhouse gases, and their prices are among the lowest in the nation among investor-owned utilities.
Their diverse energy mix as of December 2016 at Avista-owned generating facilities and long-term contracts balances reliability with renewable energy sources while managing costs for customers. Avista’s energy mix consists of coal, wind, biomass, hydro, and natural gas.
Their mission statement speaks to the quality of partnerships they seek. They want to: Provide efficient and effective services through best practices, increase financial value and minimize risk, and maintain Avista’s core values of trust, integrity, honesty, and collaboration to best serve our employees, customers and community.

Avista offers many avenues to give back to the community through assistance programs, scholarships, sponsoring community programs, as well as offering education and outreach classes/sessions to the community.

The myavista.com website offers an abundance of information about the company, additional services they offer, safety information, a kid’s zone, access to account/bill management, energy saving tips, articles, updates on current outages and projects that may be happening in your area.

The Connell Grange Supply is a good ol’ traditional local hardware store that was incorporated in 1932. Owned by the people/farmers/ranchers, they currently have 450 members and a 5 member board which is voted on by the members.
The Grange Supply came to be by the local farmers who formed a Co-Op so that they could get the best buying power and then the savings would be passed on to the farmers. Kevin Besel has been the manager for 29 years and is the 4th manager since it opened. There are also 5 full time employees and 1 part time employee at the Grange – and all will happily help you find what you need for your farm/ranch or household project.

The Grange Supply offers a multitude of inventory that is always changing based on the needs of the customers and community. A few products include: hardware, paint, key making/duplicating, livestock products, tires, lube/oil, and petroleum products (cardlock or farm delivery). Their shop in the back also offers lube/oil changes, tire install/rotation/flat repair services. The Grange Supply doesn’t have plans on expanding their business but rather continuing to serve their customers with quality product and updating inventory as needed based on customer requests and needs. Manager Kevin stated “We offer a place to shop locally for Connell and surrounding farms. We offer personal customer service that you don’t get at the big box stores.” Personal customer service is important, and customers can place special orders if items are not in stock with a turnaround time of 2 days.

One thing you may not know and not something everyone buys every day but the Grange Supply has hot water tanks in stock and can also order other appliances as well – washer, dryer, stove/oven, dishwasher, refrigerator, etc. The plumbing department at the Grange is the most complete and fully stocked department in the store – offering toilets, sinks, fixtures and more. “You could put together an entire home bathroom with everything coming from the Grange for your home,” stated Besel.

The Grange Supply motto is “Where the Customer is still the Company” and they are deeply rooted in the community offering quality service, quality products and great support to the community. In the middle of downtown Connell located at 343 S Columbia Ave, the Grange Supply is open 6 days a week Monday – Friday 8am – 5:30pm and Saturdays 8am – 12noon. Check out their website connellgrange.com or call 234-2631. Stop by, walk through, and shop local!

Burger Factory has been a town favorite eatery since it first opened its doors in 1980 by the Yager family. Since then it has only had 3 owners – Yager’s, Chase’s and now Mike and Rhonda Erstad (both CHS graduates) who bought it in 2012. They have done some remodeling and upgrades to the building and added new daily specials to the menu but the high-quality customer service and food has always been a standard with Burger Factory. When it came up for sale Rhonda stated “We felt the community needed Burger Factory. Many families have worked here – my family has had 3 generations work here at some point since its first opening.” In addition to Mike and Rhonda, their daughter Jill, Mike’s sister (who helped Max Yager open) and Rhonda’s mom have all shared memories behind the counter working at Burger Factory.

A little history on Burger Factory – there used to be 3 of them. Back when it first opened the Connell was the 2nd location – the first was in Prosser and then a 3rd location in Othello. Both the Prosser and Othello locations are now closed and no longer standing but the Connell’s Burger Factory is still a fun place to grab a bite to eat and visit whether you call ahead to place your order, dine in, or go through the drive in.
Burger Factory menu offers good All-American food – burgers, chicken strips, fries, tator tots, onion rings, 16 flavors of milkshakes with real ice cream, slushies and cream slushies – are just a few of the local favorites. However, they are most known for the Eagle Burger as Connell is the only place to get it – it’s the most popular Daily Special which is offered on Wednesdays and comes with a large fry, and don’t forget the famous Fry Sauce either! There is also a kid’s menu.

Burger Factory currently has 7 employees. Burger Factory and the Erstad family are great community supporters and she stated “We try our best!”…. not only does that apply to the their successful 6 year long business with Burger Factory but also in all that they do to help the community too. Burger Factory is located at 452 S Columbia Ave, their phone number is 234-4511. Open 6 days a week their hours are Monday – Friday 10:30am – 7pm and Saturday 11am – 7pm. Stop by and get a shake or a slushie or a quick bite to eat with a friend on these hot summer days!!

Connell Napa Auto Parts has been a business in Connell for approximately 35 years. Napa has only had 2 owners, originally opened under Jim Bailie and as of 2012 the Connell Grange Co-Op bought it becoming the 2nd owner in history. Following the retirement of Mike Harrington, Napa Auto Parts new manager, Raul Villa, and the 3 part time employees strive to offer the products and services the community needs and requests. You can always find truck/auto parts, batteries, starters, alternators, tools, equipment for heavy trucks, marine and farm equipment in their store. In addition they also offer U-Haul rentals. And if you don’t find what you need in stock, they do offer special orders that will arrive in just a few days. Napa’s goal is to stay up to date with the latest items and to serve the community and customers with high quality service.

Prior to its current location – many years ago Napa used to be on the north end of town in the space that Pizza Station now occupies. The Grange Co-Op board saw the need for Napa to have a location in Connell not only for the convenience but also to provide residents and local farmers to stay in town and shop local. Once people leave town for 1 or 2 things, they do ALL of their shopping for the day out of town – taking commerce away from the businesses in Connell.

Napa is located at 506 S Columbia Ave. They are open Monday – Friday from 8am-5pm and Saturdays 8am-4pm
To see more products that are available at Napa visit their website napaonline.com – from there you can order items, search what items are needed for a particular vehicle and more! If you need to order parts or check availability at the Connell Napa, call 234-0313.

Columbia Basin Health Association started in Connell in 2007 as a modular dental unit and finally opened a full medical clinic in Connell at the south part of town in 2011. It soon saw the need in the community to add a pharmacy and eye clinic. Not only do they offer medical, dental, and eye care but they also offer family support services, behavioral health and twice a month there is a Psychologist ARNP at the Connell clinic. As of the end of 2017, CBHA overall has treated 34,716 patients with 367 employees. This number is growing every day.

CBHA has served the local community by offering a “one stop shop” of healthcare services that are available and easily accessible. Making it convenient to seek treatment or schedule an appointment quicker without sacrificing the quality of care while lessening the travel time. CBHA was founded in 1971, by citizens in the community of Othello who wanted to guarantee equal access to health care to all people living and working within the Othello’s trade area. They saw the expressing need for healthcare in the agricultural community and though there was a lot of opposition to their vision they pushed forward. Finally a clinic opened with only 1 staff physician and 4 exam rooms, the first patient was seen in August 1973. In addition to healthcare, CBHA has offered many new jobs/careers to the community - the Connell Clinic staff are all residents of Connell or the area; currently there are 25 full time and 4 part time employees.

There are now 3 clinics – Connell, Othello and Wahluke (Mattawa). CBHA plans to expand their business and clinic by offering more services to the community and area of Connell – they recently added early intervention home visits to be available to the community. The Othello clinic in addition to the already listed services also offers prenatal and WIC services as well.

As Connell Clinic Manager, Nohely Velazquez stated, “we offer quality customer service in addition to healthcare…we are confident in our staff that they are equipped to help the community navigate not only CBHA resources but also community resources as well.” She talked about the newest facet to the Connell clinic – free transportation for those who live in Connell to make it to their morning appointments – we hope to soon add to that by serving those who live within a 10+ mile radius soon. If you would like to use the transportation services just call the front desk when you make your appointment to also schedule a pickup time.

The Connell clinic is open 7am -6pm Monday through Friday the individual services vary in opening/closing times. The clinic is located at 1051 S Columbia Ave (past US Bank). To schedule an appointment or to get additional information please call 509-234-0866 or visit their website cbha.org
The website offers more information on the clinic and quick facts overall for the 3 clinic sites.