Gov. Gregoire, Guardian president to attend

MOSES LAKE - The state of Washington joins Moses Lake in welcoming a project long in the works next week.

A groundbreaking ceremony for Guardian Industries, located at 3937 Road N N.E., takes place at 12:30 p.m. Monday.

"Guardian is a very large project we've been working on for the last two and a half years," said Grant County Economic Development Council Administrative Team Leader Melissa Schindler. "It represents a large capital investment with around 100 jobs, is what they're looking at. Just a diversified manufacturing company we don't presently have in Washington state."

Guardian produces fiberglass insulation.

Gov. Chris Gregoire and the president of Guardian Industries will attend alongside City of Moses Lake officials at the invitation-only event.

"Actual broken ground will happen and we will have a small social hour afterward with some refreshments and everything, and people can meet some of the people from Guardian and understand what is going on there," Schindler said. "They'll have some poster boards of what they actually do."

Schindler said the council is planning for roughly 100 people to be in attendance.

"I think we're just hoping to accomplish for not only our members but the public to see what the EDC does and what we try to accomplish," she said. "It is a long process but we are there every step of the way and we like to see things finalize from start to finish. This is a large project and we've been there from the beginning on it. We're glad to see it finally come to fruition."

For more information, call the council at 509-764-6579.