Gamble Sands-Gebbers

Gamble Sands-Gebbers

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Take a drive through Okanogan County and you're likely to see some of the world's finest apples. But if you pass through Brewster, you might also see one of the world's finest golf courses.

Two years ago, Golf Digest called Gamble Sands the top new golf course in the nation. It was built on land owned by the Gebbers' family since the 1800's.

The course sits atop a plateau of rolling hills with expansive views of the Columbia River, and both Brewster and Pateros below.

Farmer Tory Wulf, who married into the Gebbers family, tells KIRO Radio that all of the attention is bringing golfers to town in droves ...

TORY WULF-GS-4 = 20 sec ... "There wasn't a lot of Lamborghinis driving through Brewster or even Corvettes, you know. Just pickup trucks and dump trucks and people who were working here or headed to Canada, but now there's a lot of those types of cars that you see coming from different areas or planes coming in that, you know, wouldn't be here if it wasn't something we undertook and was good enough to bring em."

Corinna Gebbers says the local economy has also benefited ..

CORINNA GEBBERS-GS-5 = 17 sec ... "I think a huge part of this is the economic diversity, what it brings to not only employment around her, but to other businesses in town, bringing other people in to spend money in other places. And also with just our growing family, we need opportunities for what everybody can be involved in."

The Gebbers recently opened an inn at Gamble Sands with rooms overlooking the Columbia, that they hope will attract even more visitors.

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