Special Section: Legends Casino Hotel—A Yakama Retreat and Education

Legends Casino Hotel

A Yakama retreat and education

courtesy of Legends Casino Hotel

THE BUZZ OF LEGENDS’ CASINO is itself a thrill. Slot machines, more than 1,500 of them, ring and clang as people watch for lucky combinations that will pay out.

Banter around the craps table is jovial. Players push chips onto their numbers, numbers that have worked for them before and are bound to again—birthdays, anniversaries, jersey numbers of sports icons, any even number, any odd number. One of them has to hit!

The blackjack table is subdued, strategic. The dealer is showing a six. The roulette table is a social gathering with a rollercoaster of spontaneous emotion.

courtesy of Legends Casino Hotel

In 2017, Legends Casino Hotel completed a $90 million renovation that added a 200-room hotel that includes eighteen luxury suites, an indoor pool and an expanded buffet. Live entertainment is also on the menu again. Musical acts such as The Commodores, Melissa Etheridge and Tesla, to name a few, have upcoming dates beginning this year.

One of the luxury suites, the Celilo Suite, is a sanctuary from the buzz of the casino. An 800-square-foot room space with a kitchen, dining table, seating area nicely furnished with a 52- inch flat screen. The adjoining bedroom is on the same scale, with a king bed, a master bath, an indulgent soaking tub and another 52-inch flat screen. Lose yourself in a fragrant bath or indulge in a movie on HBO or Cinemax.

courtesy of Legends Casino Hotel

courtesy of Legends Casino Hotel

courtesy of Legends Casino Hotel

Around Legends Casino Hotel, you’ll notice symbols and objects that are part of the Yakama Nation culture. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn more about the early Yakama people as well as the 13 other bands and tribes that comprise the Yakama Nation at the Yakama Nation Museum. Lifesize dwellings of Plateau People, and dioramas and exhibits help tell the story of the Yakama people.

In a treaty in 1855 with the U.S. federal government, the Yakama and other tribes of this region ceded nearly twelve million acres of land in exchange for federal recognition, a vastly smaller reservation, $200,000 paid out over decades and two schools. The museum tells more of the story of this contract between the Yakama Nation and the U.S. government.

One of the life stories not to miss at the museum is that of Nipo Tach Num Strongheart, an honorary member of the Yakama Nation, who at age 11 in 1902 performed as a trick horseback rider for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. At age 14 in 1912, he would appear in his first motion picture in the incipient movie industry.

courtesy of Legends Casino Hotel

courtesy of Legends Casino Hotel

Perhaps the first thing that any visitor will notice when driving to legends in the town of Toppenish is the number and stunning quality of murals throughout town. Nearly eighty murals throughout the Western-themed town tell the history of the area. Strictly vetted for historical accuracy, these murals depict scenes from 1840 to 1940 and begin with “Clearing the Land,” a striking composition of a white settler and horse rigorously plowing and burning brush for farmland in the foreground, with tipis passively in the background.

The Toppenish mural program began in 1989 as part of a Washington State centennial celebration. Local stakeholders gathered and created the concept of a mural-in-a-day through which a dozen or more artists would together paint one large mural that has been approved by the local Mural Society.

Another outing from Legends is the American Hops Museum. Any craft beer drinker knows that Washington is by far the biggest hops producer than any other state. It seems only fitting then that the American Hop Museum is in the heart of Yakima Valley, from where 75 percent of the United States’ hop production comes. Become a more educated consumer and learn about the history of hop production and the intricacies of the humulus lupulus, which is the basis for so much happiness and employment throughout the Pacific Northwest.

When your Toppenish tour is done, head back to Legends for an evening of good luck at the tables and slots and pleasant rooms to retire to at the end of a great night.