Originally a small business owner himself, George Sharp, 61, of Olympia, has dedicated his life to working to help develop growing communities and promote tourism.
From helping create the We Love Rainier group to organizing the recent Tenino metal art banner project, Sharp’s fingerprints can be found on most projects in South Thurston County, and even throughout the rest of the state.
And despite battling stage 5 kidney failure while looking for a donor, he is still working.
“My personal message statement is to make a difference in the lives of other people, and I’m trying to do that,” Sharp said.
Sharp is currently the rural program manager for the Thurston Economic Development Council, also known as the South Thurston Economic Development Initiative (STEDI), just one of many hats he’s worn throughout his decades of service in communities throughout Washington state.
While not originally from Washington, Sharp still has his roots in the Pacific Northwest, as he was born in Hermiston, Oregon, just before his family moved to the Tri-Cities area in Washington.
“I then moved to Pullman in 1980, and went to Washington State University,” Sharp said.
He opened up his own restaurant called the Cougar Café while getting his degree at WSU and also bought and operated the Cougar Land Motel.
“Then, my wife and I opened up this store called Balloons Etcetera,” Sharp said. “We did balloons, gorilla-grams, chicken-grams, teddy-grams, and I did all of that. I was the gorilla.”
Balloons Etcetera only lasted a year and a half as Sharp and his wife lost nearly $50,000 trying to keep it open.
“Despite that, we never filed bankruptcy, and we paid our credit cards off,” he added.
During this time as a small-business owner, he was a member of the Pullman Chamber of Commerce and became inspired seeing how chambers help small-business owners, adding, “you can see you can make a difference in a community.”
“When I went broke and the chamber had a job opening, I applied, and that has become my love,” Sharp said.
By March of 1990, the Pullman Chamber of Commerce hired Sharp to be the convention bureau director and the director of the National Lentil Festival held in Pullman. He worked there for nearly eight years before leaving for the Bellingham Chamber of Commerce.
“Then, in 1998, I got hired by the (Washington) State Tourism Office,” Sharp said.
There, he worked with communities around the state on increasing tourism by fostering economic development within those communities through public relations development or product development. He helped organize many projects and festivals, including the Lewis and Clark expedition bicentennial celebration in 2004.
One of the biggest things he’s known for is a project that sadly never saw completion, when the community of Soap Lake proposed building the world’s largest lava lamp.
“I believe all projects, no matter how crazy they are, should get due diligence,” Sharp said.
The giant lava lamp was proposed by a local artist, Brent Blake, to increase tourism to the central Washington community.
He told Soap Lake’s economic development council and local government if they were serious about the project to get it in the works, and they did. Talks of the lava lamp even ended up getting coverage internationally, including stories featured in the Los Angles Times and The Boston Herald, Sharp said.
Blake died before the lava lamp could be constructed though.
“The dreamer passed away from cancer,” Sharp said.
Then, in 2010, Sharp found himself out of a job after budget reductions ordered by former Gov. Chris Gregoire eliminated his position. He then went to work for the Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater Visitor and Convention Bureau, now known as Experience Olympia and Beyond.
At the beginning of 2017, Sharp was hired by the Thurston Economic Development Council to be its veterans grant program coordinator and also help local businesses apply for government contracts and grants.
He became the STEDI manager in June 2017 when the position opened up, and he has been doing that ever since. While managing STEDI, he helped foster the creation of the We Love Rainier program, the annual month-long “Boo-coda” Halloween festival in Bucoda, the Tenino Creative District and the district’s recent metal banner project, among other pursuits.
“With the Creative District, we created six weekend-long holiday markets because none of the local artists could go to the festivals in 2020,” Sharp said.
The holiday markets enabled local artisans to still sell their work without being present due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the Tenino Area Chamber of Commerce operating retail sales, although the markets ended up getting shut down by Gov. Jay Inslee.
“I got a call from (the Washington State Department of) Labor & Industries, and they said, ‘we’re going to ask you to cease and desist your holiday market because you’re holding it in a conference center, and that’s against the governor’s rules, but you won’t get your letter until after your last market,’” Sharp said.
Thanks to L&I delaying the cease and desist letter, all six pandemic holiday markets were able to be held. Now that COVID-era restrictions have been lifted, the holiday markets continue, including one held just this past weekend at The Kodiak Room in downtown Tenino.
“The holiday markets have been super successful and are a partnership between the Tenino Creative District, Tenino Arts … and the Tenino Area Chamber of Commerce,” Sharp said.
This last year, he also became the coordinator for the Tenino Oregon Trail Days festival, setting up events and running social media for the event.
He also does work for the Grand Mound Rochester Chamber of Commerce. During his decades in aiding community development, Sharp has come up with his own formula for success — 3I+7P+CS+Q+A=S.
The three I’s stand for imagination, intuition and initiative, while the seven P’s stand for passion, personality, planning, partnerships, politics, perseverance and purpose. CS in the formula stands for common sense, Q for quality, A for attitude and S, of course, is for success.
All are vital parts of ensuring a community’s success with any kind of project, according to Sharp.
Throughout all of his work, Sharp estimated he’s helped more than 1,000 local elected officials and business owners develop their communities and projects over the years, and has even had some attempt to be a kidney donor for him.
“George Johnson (of We Love Rainier) has really touched my heart. He offered to give me a kidney,” Sharp added.
Suffering from stage 5 kidney failure, Sharp has been on dialysis since April of this year. Thurston County Commissioner Gary Edwards has also offered him a kidney, but doctors told Edwards he was too old to be a donor.
For those interested in becoming a kidney donor for Sharp, his blood type is O-positive.
“If somebody really wants to donate a kidney, even if they aren’t the right blood type, they can still donate and get matched up with another person, and then that moves me up to the top of the list,” said Sharp.
For those interested in being a possible kidney donor for Sharp, they can contact him at gsharp@thurstonedc.com for more information along with filling out the potential living kidney donor screening form found on the University of Washington’s website, https://www.uwmedicine.org/specialties/transplant/kidney-transplant.
Meanwhile, Sharp’s work in South Thurston County and beyond hasn’t gone without acknowledgment, even as he battles kidney failure.
Last October, he was inducted into the Washington Festivals and Events Association Hall of Fame.
“George's dedication, passion, and tireless commitment to community and economic development through festivals and events have earned him this prestigious honor,” the Thurston Economic Development Council wrote after the honor was announced. “Although he couldn't be there in person to accept the award due to a recent hospital stay, his close friend Robin Hailstone Kelley graciously accepted it on his behalf. George's journey in the world of festivals and events began over three decades ago, and his impact has been extraordinary. From the National Lentil Festival to the Ski to Sea Festival in Bellingham, his influence has left an indelible mark on the industry. We're immensely proud of George's accomplishments, and we extend our heartfelt congratulations to him. Thank you, George, for your unwavering dedication to enriching our communities.”
