McCary Meats is our community’s local slaughter and custom processing plant. It is one of the few USDA inspected custom kill plants remaining in the state of Washington. Originally started by Bud and Marlene McCary, they opened in 1968 with resilience and willing to work hard to weather a company through 50 years. And that is just what has happened as this business will be celebrating 50 years this summer. It is now being run by the second generation – son & daughter-in-law, Rick & DeAnna McCary.

McCary Meats offers custom kill/processing for livestock and game. They also have a retail shop offering handcrafted artisan smoked products – jerky, snack stick, summer sausage, marinated and smoked tri tips, hickory smoked bacon and hams. They are open Monday through Fridays 8-5pm but come June 1st through January 31st they are also open on Saturdays from 9 -12 noon.

During the peak season, McCary Meats employees 15-18 people while during the slower season they have 8-10 people working for them. Most employees are full time however they do employ an after-school student to help introduce and engage the younger generation into the workforce. They have enjoyed the experience of having the younger generation at the shop. McCary Meats has intentions to expand to the Tri-Cities with a storefront as the interest and demand has become greater for their retail products and they are always striving to meet that demand to make all of their customers happy. They ship products across the US as well as some international orders too. When asked what motivated them to return to this area – Rick stated, “We enjoy this community very much. We had a strong desire to come back to the area and give back to the community that has given us so much.” They are grateful to the community and their customers who have supported them and continue to do so. Rick & DeAnna are wanting to be more involved within the community and continue to give back. With that in mind they offer many donations of services and options of ways to give back to the community.

Something that sets McCary Meats apart and is unique is they are currently the only USDA plant in the area that offers scalded hogs versus skinned hogs. The level of processing in both quantity and quality are unparalleled. They are also said to have the best Bacon around as well as have a great line up of products in the retail shop. People travel from all around (or order online to have shipped) to get jerky and snack sticks. They are expanding the selection with additional flavors to cater to more clientele.

This year is the Golden Anniversary -50 years in business – and Rick & DeAnna are excited to celebrate the success of the business by hosting a Customer Appreciation BBQ & Celebration on June 9th from 10:30-2:30pm. There will be free raffles for all to enter for some great prizes (including ½ beef, ½ hog, gift baskets/certificates and much, much more!) You must be present to win so come and enjoy good food, music and games for the whole family. The BBQ will be at their retail shop in Basin City at 6880 Rd 170. All are invited to come but in order to adequately prepare, they would appreciate a RSVP by calling the shop.

Check out their website (launching June 1st) to place orders or to see the new products they are offering at mccarymeats.com or call 269-4488. The Retail shop is at 6880 Rd 170 Basin City and the Kill Plant is located at 21981 Glade Rd North.

At the south end of town, you will find one of the two motels in Connell – M&M Motel, located next to Michael Jay’s Restaurant, has been in Connell since the mid 1970’s. Patrice Hebel, the current manager, has been with the motel since 2014.

This family friendly motel offers large comfortable rooms with kitchenettes, has easy outdoor access and is also pet friendly (with a fee). Their mission statement “…is designed with you in mind. We’ve tailored each room, our hospitality and amenities to make your stay as enjoyable and relaxing as possible. We hope that our attention to detail shines through each moment of your stay.” The M&M Motel has easy access to the highway and offers easy parking for large semi trucks and trailers. They have 5 employees who operate and maintain the motel.

Located at 730 South Columbia Ave. To make reservations or for information regarding the apartments call 509-234-8811 or email mmmotel@outlook.com. M&M Motel is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Connell Heritage Museum, located in the OId Town Park, recently celebrated the addition of a new annex building and a restored homestead house with a re-grand opening on May 5th. The museum site features 5 exhibit areas now including the original building (formerly a church), the Hudlow Memorial Annex & Garden, the Adams Homestead circa 1910, the Pepiot Ranch House, and the 1974 Burlington Northern Caboose. The museum is served by a dedicated museum boar, many volunteers that work at the museum, and others that volunteer to research and gather more information about the history of Connell, the surrounding areas, and the different organizations in Connell.

Some history on the original building – the 1905 Gothic Revival church is a historical structure and has been the site of numerous churches of different denominations over the last century. The local historical society purchased the building to save it from being destroyed and later sold it to the city for use as a museum. After being restored to the original structure, it is now situated in a beautiful setting of old trees, grass, and rock walls. The church features a large meeting area, kitchen, public restrooms, and is also ADA accessible.

The museum’s mission is to invest, collect, preserve and share the history and culture of Connell and the surrounding areas. They have collected and displayed a wide variety of historic artifacts, pictures, tools, furniture, oral history, DVD’s, local history books, maps, pamphlets, obituaries and school pictures. There is also an extensive collection of the local newspaper publications covering 1905 to present.

Located at 350 W. Adams St, the museum is open on Saturdays from 9am-1pm, Sundays 1pm – 4pm, and Thursdays 3:30pm-7pm. To arrange a special tour outside of regular hours or to inquire about facility rental, contact them at 509-234-0482. Visit their Facebook page Connell Heritage Museum or email at connellheritagemuseum@outlook.com . The Museum holds special events throughout the year and is always happy to welcome new members and volunteers.

The Connell Subway opened its doors in June 2012 by owner Josh Madsen. Known for fresh food – there is a wide variety of options available to customize your order for breakfast sandwiches, salads, pizza, signature wraps, and sandwiches. They also have fresh delicious cookies. It’s the perfect place to either dine in or take your food to go!

Subway also offers catering services….24 hr notice is recommended. There is a variety of party platters to choose from or you can customize giant sub sandwiches.

Located at 641 S. Columbia Ave, Subway is open 7 days a week Monday – Saturday 8-8:30pm and Sundays 9-8:30pm.

Visit the Subway website at subway.com for more information about their many food options and services and be sure to download the Subway app for your ordering convenience.

Community First Bank is one of two local banks in Connell. Community First Bank was organized in 1997 but the Connell branch didn’t open until 2004, making a total number of four branches in the area, including the three branches in Tri-cities. The business has grown as they have welcomed many new customers over the years. Community First Bank offers banking accounts for both personal and business, as well as a variety of loans and notary services. They have a great online banking system that allows you to check and manage your accounts easily. They also offer credit card services. For your convenience, there is an ATM located in the second drive-up lane that is available 24 hours a day. Molly Kunkel, as Branch Manager, as well the other 3 full time employees, Patty Pruett, Melissa Dixon, and Sonja Heinen, are readily available to help with whatever services are needed.

Community First Bank has freshly made cookies every Friday for customers to enjoy. Stop by to visit about opening an account or for any banking needs. Located at 630 S Columbia Ave, the bank is open from 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday. The Connell Branch phone number is 234-2265. Check out their website for additional information at community1st.com.

Rowley & Hawkins Fruit Farms is a family owned and operated business that is over 6 generations deep. They now have 3 sons and a daughter who are full time managers along with other family members who help and work on the farm. They grow a variety of fruits and vegetables but their main crop is tart cherries. They also grow several varieties of apples, sweet cherries, peaches, apricots, raspberries, blackberries, asparagus and some grapes, pears and plums.

Their busiest time of year is May through September with all the harvesting of several different crops happening. They have 10-15 year round employees that help with the orchards and during harvest they have friends and family come and help. During the peak of harvest they employee approx 160 people.

They say that fruit is in their blood and over the generations of sharing knowledge and the expansion of technology they have been able to improve their methods and expand on a better product for the customer. They have proven that a “family that works together, sticks together”. In 1981 the family left a successful family farm in Payson, Utah to move to Washington and pioneer the tart cherry industry. They currently operate 1000 acres centered in Basin City, WA. In 1984 the cherry processing line expanded and Northwest Tart Cherry Inc., a “sister” processing company for R&HFF was built to fulfill the tart cherry processing needs. They started selling fresh fruit at roadside stands and farmers markets and have now grown to have two labels Tasteatreat and FreshpicksWa brand, which includes two commercial store locations, a box-a-week delivery program, and a strong farmer’s market presence. The fruit stand in Moses Lake offers fresh fruit and vegetables and the Kennewick storefront Fresh Picks is open year round offering fruits, vegetables, smoothies and other fruit novelties.

You can also get fresh produce, fresh smoothies, and ciders at their store front location Fresh Picks, located at 8378 W Grandridge Blvd. Kennewick, WA 99336. Visit their websites freshpickswa.com, to order fruit locally for pickup or tasteatreat.com, to have fruit shipped anywhere is the US. Rowley and Hawkins Fruit Farm’s main goal is “to grow great fruit to grow great families.”

Mei-Ling Inn Chinese American Food is one of Connell’s favorite local family-owned and run restaurants in Connell. Owned by Vinai & Julie Nuntananusit, Mei Lings has been in business for 34 years. Vinai and an assistant cook; cook all the food and in addition to family members, they have 11 other employees who work at the restaurant.

Mei Lings is a great lunch spot as they offer a lunch buffet Monday-Friday from 11:00am-2:00pm for $7.75 plus tax.  Although they offer an extensive lunch and dinner menu, customer favorites include Siam Choi Mein, Almond Fried Chicken, Sweet & Sour Pork, and Fried Rice. Regardless what is ordered, every dish is delicious! Not only do they offer Chinese food but also have American food on the menu too. Dine-in or take-out options are available for both lunch and dinner.

The Nuntananusit family comes from Chinese descent but they don’t actually speak Chinese. Vinai moved to Connell in late 1983 from Thailand. Both he and Julie are graduates of Eastern Washington University. After marrying, Vinai and Julie raised their two daughters Maylinn and Jadenna in Connell along with opening and running the restaurant business. The name Mei-ling is very close to the Nuntananusit family as it is Julie’s middle name. They appreciate the support from the community for making their family business such a success. Mei Lings is located at 627 S Columbia Ave. They are open Monday-Friday from 11:00am to 7:30pm; closed Saturday and Sunday. To place an order or to reserve tables for larger groups call 234-0381.

Massage Therapy by Ana Pahua is a new business in Connell that just opened this past winter. We first got to meet Ana as a cottage business at last year’s November Wine & Brew.  Ana Pahua has been practicing massage for 3 years. Previously working in Othello, she had many clients from the Connell and surrounding areas that were driving an hour to receive massage therapy services so she decided to open her own office in Connell.  Ana offers deep tissue, relaxation, prenatal massage, cupping, hot stones, leg and foot massages as well as foot soaks. She plans on expanding and offering additional services in the future.

Ana has always enjoyed working with people. For five years, she worked as a front desk receptionist at a chiropractic office. She knew she wanted to continue to help people but to do so differently. She found massage therapy and knew that this is what she was looking for to achieve her goals. Massage therapy is more than just a relaxing back rub – in many cases it is alternative medical care without medicine.  Massage Therapy by Ana is open in Connell 4 days a week – Monday 10:00am-6:00pm, Wednesdays 9:00-5:00pm, Fridays 9:00-5:00pm and Saturdays 7:45 – 12:30pm. Check out her website at www.massagebook.com/Connell~Massage~MassageTherapyByAna. To make an appointment, you can stop by her office at 650 S. Columbia Ave, call 509-431-0603, or email her at massagetherapybyana9@gmail.com

Mid Columbia Libraries (MCL) first opened the Connell Branch in November 1965 after a group of citizens worked for many years to establish a permanent library in the community. In 2015 the Connell Branch celebrated its 50^th anniversary.

MCL has 12 branches that serve residents in Benton, Franklin and parts of Adams counties. Branch locations include: Basin City, Benton City, Connell, Kahlotus, Keewaydin Park, Kennewick, Merrills Corner, Othello, Pasco, Prosser, West Pasco, and West Richland. Through the MCL system, cardholders have access to more than 400,000 books, audiobooks, magazines, and videos including more than 50,000 downloadable eBooks, eAudiobooks, and eMagazines. Using the on-line system, customers can search the catalog and request items for pick up at their home branch. MCL has a floating collection…thanks to the daily courier service, materials are available to customers in any of the twelve branches in a timely manner.

The MCL digital collection is the largest in the state outside of the Seattle metro area. Not only do customers enjoy eBooks and eAudiobook for reading and listening on their devices, but they can also access digital resources such as the Chilton Library auto repair manual, Pronunciator language learning service, Procitizen U.S. citizenship test prep, Tri-City Herald archive and obituaries, and much more.

The Connell library provides free public Wi-fi accessible both inside and outside the building with no password. They have seven public computers that customers can use with two free prints daily. There is also a copy machine for public use for a nominal fee.

Connell offers weekly storytime for preschoolers to help prepare children with the social and developmental skills needed to enter kindergarten. Storytimes are held each Wednesday at 10 am. Elementary activities are held for school-age children as well. The annual Summer Reading Challenge is popular with all ages. Check the online calendar for more information.

There has been much discussion about expanding the library over the years. The Connell branch has been in the same building since 1995 and has outgrown the confined space. For more than just book materials, space is needed for public computers as well as a meeting room that could be used by the community. Over the years they have had to take out bookshelves to make room for people to come in and use the library and for events that are held. The discussion continues as to how this larger space could be acquired and funded. If you have any helpful ideas, stop by the library as they would love to hear them!

The Connell Branch is located downtown at 118 N. Columbia Avenue (next to the movie theatre). Information about the other local branches (Basin City, Kahlotus, and Merrills Corner) can be found on the website. To reserve/checkout/download items or for much more information about MCL, visit their extensive website at midcolumbialibraries.org. The Connell library is open daily Monday through Friday 2 to 7 pm and Saturdays 10 am to 4 pm. The branch phone number is (509) 234-4971

For over 79 years Big Bend Electric Coop has been supplying power to the rural areas of Franklin and Adams counties. Being a cooperative they are owned by those they serve – the community. They provide power for residential, commercial, agriculture and irrigation. They provide energy efficiency and energy saving tips that are available on their website as well as online bill pay and account management.

Big Bend give back to the community by offering college scholarships to high school seniors every year. Each scholarship is worth $500 a year for 4 years of continuing education. They also annually award 2 youth applicants to participate in a Washington DC tour in June and to attend the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Youth Tour. This tour program supports the cooperative principle of education, training and information to the next generation youth. Youth will compete in Washington DC against other Washington State youth to be the youth representative of Washington at the annual NRECA meeting.  High school students are also able to job shadow Big Bend employees; Power Lineman, Accounting, Engineering and Member Services are the positions that are open for job shadow students to get more insight on the company and career day to day duties. Big Bend also created a non-profit group called Caring Neighbors – this group allows them to give back to other non-profit organizations in the community.  For more information on college scholarships, the youth tour, job shadowing and Caring Neighbors check the website  bbec.org

The main office is in Ritzville located at 1373 N Hwy 261 and they also have an Operations Center in Mesa. Big Bend has just 39 employees, relatively small for offering such important and widespread services. The mailing address is PO Box 348 Ritzville WA 99169.  The office is open Monday to Thursdays from 7:00am-5:30pm.  You can reach the office by calling 509-659-1700 or toll free at 866-844-2363.  And always remember CALL BEFORE YOU DIG – it will save a life, your property, your money and it’s the law. Simply dial 811.