Explore:NW explorenw_spr2019 | Page 46

An avid aviation enthusiast, Howard Wright has a private pilot’s license and enjoys flying in his free time. Lake Union. They purchased the land of a competitor and opened the terminal at 950 Westlake Ave N, where Beavers, Otters and Caravans now take off and land beneath the backdrop of the Space Needle. Lake Washington. They also started selling Seabees, another photogenic sea- plane which, under the skillful flying of Munro and others, would make daring glacial landings while in Kenmore Air’s fleet. Though based just outside Seattle, Kenmore Air grew up alongside the Northwest’s largest city and earned a reputation for hard work and safe flying. While Howard S. Wright Construction Company was at work getting the city ready for the Century 21 Exposition, Kenmore Air was expanding their Air Harbor on Lake Washington. In 1959, Bob Munro announced that Air Harbor was in a position to begin construction on a new office and shop building, built near the original hangar. Chartered flights would increase over the next few decades. During that time, the cities surrounding Seattle also grew, including Kenmore. The sleepy towns on the edge of the lake were getting 44 explore: NW | The Official Magazine for kenmore air | Spring 2019 busier, industries were growing, and flight service expanded. In the ’50s, Kenmore Air had also started flights to the San Juan Islands. The short flight from Air Harbor was ex- actly what the community was looking for when they wanted to connect with the seemingly far-flung outposts of the San Juan islands and beyond. The ’60s and ’70s were challeng- ing times in the Pacific Northwest. In 1971, a famous billboard asked, “Will the last person leaving Seattle turn off the lights?” Still, Kenmore Air and the Wrights soldiered on, and the city bounced back. In the ’80s, Kenmore made anoth- er expansion, this time towards the waterfront just a couple miles from the former site of the Century 21 Expo- sition, the Seattle World’s Fair. The company was growing, and room was to be made for expanded operations, in- cluding a seaplane terminal on Seattle’s REACHING NEW HEIGHTS In 2018, a new relationship between Kenmore Air and the grandson of How- ard H. Wright took root when Seattle Hospitality Group invested in Kenmore Air. Seattle Hospitality Group was found- ed in 2002 by H.S. Wright III, a grandson of the men whose company shaped much of Seattle’s modern-day skyline and whose weekly flights introduced him to what would become the largest seaplane operator in the world. As his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather did before him, this Wright also takes a personal interest in businesses that would enhance the city’s ethos of arts and culture. In the years since building the Space Needle, the construction business also built the Columbia Tower, the tallest building in the state. Though the construction business has since been sold and its headquarters moved, the company retains its original name. For visitors to the Pacific Northwest, stops at the Space Needle and seaplane flights with Kenmore Air often top their travel lists. The history of the region is intrinsically tied to these two icons, and longtime residents will often conjure the very image of the Beaver flying over Lake Union with the Olympic Moun- tains in the background as the perfect shot to describe the Pacific Northwest. The partnership established in 2018 between Seattle Hospitality Group and Kenmore Air is the result of a decades-long relationship between two companies and the families that shaped the Pacific Northwest. For more than 70 years, two fami- ly-owned companies shaped the Seattle skyline and filled the sky. Their build- ings and planes captured imaginations and inspired people to look up and dream higher. That legacy continues today as old partners discover new possibilities.