MOSES LAKE — Besides Sportsman’s Warehouse expecting to hire 50 employees for its new store in Moses Lake, there are even more job opportunities for Columbia Basin residents.

Colville Fuels Half-Sun Travel Plaza in Moses Lake is moving closer to its opening date and will be hosting a job fair from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday at WorkSource Central Basin at 309 E. Fifth Ave, Suite A, in Moses Lake.

Colville Fuels Half-Sun Travel Plaza is the third and largest off-rez project for the Confederated Tribes of Colville and the tribe is currently in the process of hiring an estimated 30 employees, including one general manager, two shift managers, approximately 20 cashiers and a variety of maintenance staff for its travel plaza at the southwest corner of South Wanapum Drive and West Lakeshore Drive off exit 178.

On Wednesday, applicants will be signed in on a first-come, first-serve basis after verification of full and complete WorkSource registration at www.worksourcewa.com.

“It’s being handled by WorkSource. We’ll be taking applications and resumes, but won’t be doing interviews at this time,” said chief operating officer Nathan Moulton. “We don’t have an exact number of people to be hired, but it will be somewhere around 30 at this time.”

The tribal-owned convenience store and gas station, on a 9.25-acre parcel of land, is expected to open sometime in February with a soft opening and ribbon cutting. Confederated Tribes of the Colville plans a major event in May.

For now, Colville Fuels Half-Sun Travel Plaza will refuel both automobiles and trucks, as well as people.

“We’re bringing in the San Francisco Sourdough franchise in there. It’s a high-end sandwich shop. It’s a lot better bread, better ingredients, than the other sandwich shops. It’s just a better product,” Moulton said. “The tribe is very close to finalizing a liquor contract, so we will also be offering alcohol. We’ll also be offering local beers. Everybody seems to like the Iron Horse beer out of Ellensburg, but I’ve heard a lot about the Moses Lake breweries and we’re anxious to talk to them.”

The travel plaza will have outdoor seating in the summertime to complement its indoor lounge and seating arrangement.

“All of the front canopies will be branded Chevron for the automobiles and the diesel canopy is branded Xtreme Diesel, which is a real good power source additive,” Moulton said.

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville hopes to educate travelers on the proud history and heritage of its nation with black and white photographs and statues of important tribal leaders.

“We’re going to have a nine-foot statue of Chief Moses,” he said. “We’re going to have a monument with lights. We’re going to have the black and whites inside a panoramic of what life in the 1900s. There be a lot of portraits of important people.”