Longtime Yakima Valley businessman Gary Lukehart, who helped create the SunDome and erected the "Palm Springs of Washington" sign along Interstate 82, has died.

This article appears in print in the May 2018 issue, as part of the “Sunny Getaways” cover story. Click here to subscribe. Driving east on Interstate 82, you can’t miss the sign welcoming visitors to ...

YAKIMA -- A billboard proclaiming, "Welcome to Yakima: The Palm Springs of Washington," is back by Interstate 82 amid the snow and cold of winter. The sign is owned by Gary Lukehart, a Yakima ...

Soon she was contacted by Gary Lukehart, a Yakima businessman who came up with the slogan, “Yakima: The Palm Springs of Washington” and erected a sign with the phrase on property he owns off ...

A sign reads “Welcome to Yakima, the Palm Springs of Washington” near Interstate 82. (M. ... dotted with Spanish signs for businesses catering to a Mexican audience.

There’s a big sign declaring it “the Palm Springs of Washington” just north on Highway 97 that was put up by a guy named Gary in 1987 to get people from Seattle to visit.

Or maybe it should be Palm Springses. Did you know that both Yakima and Moses Lake have claimed that title? Well, at least people putting up signs near each city have at one time or another. Can ...

YAKIMA – A crudely painted sign on the north edge of town proudly proclaims, “The Palm Springs of Washington.” Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch.

Lukehart, 87, who among other achievements helped create the Yakima Valley SunDome and built the “Palm Springs of Washington” sign along Interstate 82, died Feb. 25, 2023, his wife Mary said.