VANCOUVER, Wash. — They flock to the Dairy Queen on Main Street in the summer months for cones dipped in chocolate or hamburgers prepared with special fixings. They congregate at picnic tables outside to socialize.
Shumway neighborhood residents’ kids, grandkids and great-grandkids have worked for longtime owner Roger Ehle, mopping floors, taking orders or whipping up a Peanut Buster Parfait.
For 60 years, the Dairy Queen has been a staple of Vancouver, Wash., neighborhoods including Shumway, Arnada and Hough.
Now, residents fear, it may be in jeopardy if the Columbia River Crossing project builds a mass-transit line that travels through Main Street and Broadway, blocking both entrances to the iconic DQ and crippling its business.
That’s why Shumway residents have banded together and are distributing buttons with the message “Save Our Queen.”
“It’s a cornerstone of our neighborhood, and it’s also a cornerstone of the community,” said Shumway resident Anne McEnerny-Ogle. “It’s a heartbreak.”
Though they haven’t released an outline of the project yet, officials are brainstorming ideas.
One idea is building over a small portion of the parking lot. But Columbia River Crossing spokeswoman Danielle Cogan said there are no plans to completely remove the Dairy Queen.
Officials plan to release their recommendation on the light rail’s proposed route in late February, Cogan said. She couldn’t comment on the impact of the light rail’s route because officials don’t yet know it.
“We don’t see a greater impact than a sliver impact,” Cogan said of the possible construction over the parking lot. “I think this idea that the Dairy Queen is being removed is coming from personal perception instead of fact.”
But if the light rail blocks both entrances of the Dairy Queen, it would make business virtually impossible, said Chris Beatty, manager of the DQ. And even if the light rail travels through just Main Street, the business would still take a hit.
“We’re still going to be in trouble because a lot of our drive-up comes from Main,” Beatty said.
The Dairy Queen opened in 1948, making it the oldest in Clark County. Roger Ehle’s father, Herb Ehle, bought the restaurant in 1953 and passed it down to his son 30 years later.
It serves as a meeting place for Shumway residents, who take their children in strollers for an evening ice cream cone or host neighborhood picnics complete with donated ice cream.
“You see your friends there. You see your family there,” said Shumway resident Lisa Brown. “It’s kind of like a welcome sign to the neighborhood.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
