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SMALL CITY SUCCESS:
A Q&A with Sumner Mayor Dave Enslow
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By Josh Cohen, Media Associate
The City of Sumner, WA sits in the north end of Pierce
County, forming a triangle with Bonney Lake to the
southeast and Puyallup to the southwest. Home to almost
9,500 residents, it exemplifies what it means to be a
small city with unique challenges and unique advantages
in our ever-changing Puget Sound Region. Forterra has
worked closely with Sumner on the Orton Junction project,
a development plan that would conserve 500 acres of
farmland while bringing to town retail stores, residences, a
farmers market, medical offices and a coveted YMCA.
Sumner Mayor Dave Enslow was elected to office in 2005
and began his second term in 2009. We spoke to Mayor
Enslow about the challenges and successes Sumner has
seen as a small city, the way Sumner’s working to stay
relevant in the region, their status as rhubarb pie capital of
the world and more.
Let’s start with the most important question. How did
you become the rhubarb pie capital of the world?
Well, it’s an interesting history that includes a bit of a
mystery. For over 100 years, the area around Sumner
has been a huge producer of rhubarb. In 1893, Adam
Knoblauch shipped the first field rhubarb to Seattle
in gunny sacks. His son Henry was the first grower of
commercial hot-house rhubarb in the Sumner area, starting
about 1914. In the mid-20th century, one of the two
rhubarb growers associations actually hired a promoter to
travel across the nation to visit state fairs and encourage
cooking with rhubarb. We think that somewhere in there,
they came up with the “rhubarb pie capital of the world”
claim. We can trace it in newspapers as far back as 1946
but don’t know who actually started it. As of 2007, the
USDA census shows that 27 percent of the nation’s acres
growing rhubarb are still around Sumner.
What do you see as the biggest challenges of our region
today?
Well, there are the obvious answers like employment,
transportation, health care and affordable housing. Let me
go with something not often discussed: unique identity.
Sumner, like many cities in this region, has a proud history
and distinct character. How do we preserve those unique
identities so that our region is a collection of strong,
independent, complete cities instead of just one big
unending mass of urban sprawl?
As a small city, how
do those challenges
impact Sumner in
ways they might not
impact larger cities?
How has your city
been dealing with
those challenges?
Being small, we could
quickly become
irrelevant on the
regional scale. No one
worries that Seattle will
merge with Bellevue,
but how many realize
that Ballard used to be an independent small community?
We deal with it by doing what we can to be strong and
relevant so that when it does make sense to partner with
other cities we are a valuable, if small, partner.
Conceptually, we asserted our independence by bringing
back the Rhubarb Pie Capital celebration. It’s cute and fun,
but it also distinctly defines us. On a more serious side, we
moved forward to build Orton Junction. That one project
brings us health care, a gathering place, a farmer’s market
and additional retail options that residents are currently
seeking in Tacoma or even King County. Critics of the
project say our residents should just travel to Parkland
for new jobs and to Kent for retail and to Puyallup for
health care. I like partnering and visiting our neighbors,
but wouldn’t it make more sense to encourage Sumner to
bring back health care, retail, recreation and jobs here so
that people could access them by walking or biking instead
of a long trip in a car?
Alternatively, how do you think Sumner can be part of
the solution? One example that comes to mind is your
embrace of the Sounder rail line and providing parkand-ride
parking.
Sumner’s vision is to set the standard of excellence for a
progressive small town, and that’s how we can be part of
the solution. There are lifestyle options here that are old
but also popular again. On Main Street, you can still visit
the eye doctor, the bank, the pharmacy, City Hall, a few
restaurants and great shops within a two-block walk. No
car travel required. I love riding my bike the two miles from
my house to City Hall, and I’m 70, so if I can do it, anyone
can do it.
FORTERRA.ORG
Mayor Dave Enslow. Photo courtesy of the City of Sumner