Olympic Stadium Renovation Workshop June 13

The City of Hoquiam is currently undergoing major renovations at our Historic Olympic Stadium. The current project includes structural repairs, construction of a new ADA accessible restroom at the main entrance and replacement of the cedar shingles along Cherry Street and at the main entryway.

With Olympic Stadium on the National Register of Historic Places and the City of Hoquiam’s Local Register of historic buildings, the City was required to have the construction work reviewed by the City’s Historic Preservation Commission. The guidelines used by the Historic Preservation Commission are established by the National Park Service within the United States Department of the Interior.

Those guidelines recommend preserving wood features that are important in defining overall historical character including paints, finishes and colors. The guidelines also state that is in not recommended to change “the type of finish, coating, historic color of wood features, thereby diminishing the historical character of the exterior.” When the project was reviewed by the Historic Preservation Commission, the history of Olympic Stadium showed that the original facility was natural wood, was later painted green, and then changed to the current gray exterior.

At the May 23rd City Council meeting, the Council approved a recommendation by the City’s Historic Preservation Commission that would change the exterior colors from crimson and grey to a stain more closely resembling natural cedar which would have been the colors when the facility was original constructed in the 1930’s.

On June 13th, the Mayor and City Council will hold a workshop from 6:30-7:00 pm, prior to the 7 pm Council meeting, in the City Council chambers to revisit the recommended stain color on Olympic Stadium and will discuss opportunities to fund replacement of additional siding along the west and north ends of the stadium.

Citizens who would like to provide feedback on the color scheme for Olympic Stadium are urged to contact your city council member or City Administrator Brian Shay by e-mail at bshay@cityofhoquiam.com preferably no later than June 7th at 5 pm.

The current project at Olympic Stadium is funded through a $900,000 Washington State Community Development Block Grant, $30,000 from the Grays Harbor Community Foundation and $20,000 from Grays Harbor County Tourism. The cost estimate to replace the additional siding on the west and north ends of the stadium totals $735,000. Any individuals, businesses or groups who would like to make a financial contribution to this community project are encouraged to contact City Administrator Brian Shay.

For more information about the history of Olympic Stadium, please visit our website at