Amid reports that a “K-shaped” recovery from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic is widening inequality, how do the different rates of recovery look for small business owners? The Wire sought to answer this question by meeting small business owners where they are, just over a year after COVID-19 shuttered the economy.

The Morning Wire: Keeping you informed on politics, policies, and personalities of Washington State.

On day three of our series on the K-shaped recovery in Washington State, we are publishing a short documentary based on interviews we conducted with three small business owners in Eastern Washington. Outside the flurry of pass through traffic in the Puget Sound region, we wanted to see how the recovery has looked for small businesses on the top of the K, as well as those at the bottom.

As the leisure and hospitality industry has been particularly hard hit, we hear from small business owners in this space, and offer a glimpse of how they are managing through crisis.

For Justin Wylie, Owner of Va Piano Vineyards in Walla Walla, the past year was one of increased sales and business innovation. For Nick Pitsilionis Chef/Owner of The Black Cypress Restaurant in Pullman and Christina Dingman, Co-Owner of the Weinhard Hotel in Dayton, the pandemic was a forced crash course in perseverance.

You can view the documentary above or at this link.

Your support matters.

Public service journalism is important today as ever. If you get something from our coverage, please consider making a donation to support our work. Thanks for reading our stuff.