Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in George, WA

George is a small city in Grant County, Washington, that together with its state forms the full name of the first president, George Washington; the city describes itself as the only city in the nation with a president's full name, and the name has landed George on lists of unusual place names.

George began as a planned townsite in a large irrigation district between Quincy and Moses Lake, when in the early 1950s the Bureau of Land Management agreed to set aside 339 acres for a town to support local agricultural businesses.

Quincy pharmacist Charlie Brown placed the sole bid of $100,000 for the townsite, invested his own money in the venture, and named the town for George Washington; Brown later became the town's first elected mayor.

George was dedicated on July 4, 1957, at a ceremony attended by Governor Albert Rosellini that featured a giant cherry pie; the city dates its incorporation to 1961, when it had a population of about 300.

The town's streets are named after varieties of cherries grown in the area, such as Bing and Royal Anne.

George sits on Interstate 90 at exit 149, roughly midway between Seattle and Spokane, and a large bust of George Washington stands beside the freeway exit.

Every Fourth of July, George bakes what is billed as the world's largest cherry pie, weighing about 1,000 pounds, and serves it with ice cream to a crowd that swells the little city's population to around 5,000.

About six miles west of town is the Gorge Amphitheatre, a roughly 24,000-capacity outdoor concert venue overlooking the Columbia River that is nicknamed "The Gorge at George" and hosted the annual Sasquatch! Music Festival.

The 2020 census counted 809 residents in George, up sharply from 501 in 2010, living in 219 households.

George is a young and predominantly Hispanic or Latino community: at the 2020 census 89.2 percent of residents were Hispanic or Latino and the median age was just 24.4 years.