SHINE — The Olympic Peninsula Gateway Visitor Center at the intersection of state highways 19 and 104 will remain open after a county proposal almost closed the facility for three years.
Jefferson County contracts with the Port Ludlow Chamber of Commerce to staff the visitor center, and chamber members expressed concerns when they heard the county was thinking of temporarily closing the facility.
“By shutting down the visitor center, we shut down an avenue for marketing small businesses in the area,” said Dana Petrick, president of the Port Ludlow Chamber of Commerce and a small business owner.
County Commissioner Pat Rodgers, R-Brinnon, and Administrator John Fischbach met with Petrick and other Port Ludlow Chamber of Commerce members last week to discuss the possible closure and heard overwhelming support for keeping the center open.
Fischbach called Petrick Wednesday morning to inform him that commissioners had decided not to close the center.