Supreme Court Justice Gerry Alexander shares a laugh during Wednesday’s kickoff event.  (Photos courtesy of Washington State Archives)

We’re having a big celebration on the Capitol Campus in Olympia to mark the century-mark for Walter Wilder and Harry White winning the nationwide competition for the design of the Capitol group of buildings.

Wednesday evening was the kickoff event, an outdoor program with a tribal blessing, stories about Wilder & White’s dazzling and audacious design, and witty talks by the 92-year-old  Norm Johnston (an architecture professor who literally wrote the book on the Wilder & White Capitol), Secretary of State Sam Reed and his predecessor, Ralph Munro (whose Scots grandfather was stone carver on the project), Sen. Karen Fraser, Wilder & White re-enactors, and Supreme Court Justice Gerry Alexander, now finishing his final year working in the first W&W building to be occupied, the Temple of Justice. (Watch TVW’s coverage of the event here.)

The event was planned, not at public expense, by the Office of Secretary of State and the Department of General Administration, in tandem with Olympia and a large number of public and private partners, including the state Capital Museum, State Archives, and citizen volunteers, including Allen Miller (shown speaking in photo below, standing next to Les Eldridge)  and Sue Lean.

Many more activities still are on tap, culminating in a family-oriented Sunday afternoon, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., including Olmsted landscape tours, Capitol and Temple of Justice open house and tours, kids’ activities, and a free outdoor concert on the Grand Lawn by the Olympia Symphony. For more history and the schedule, please visit www.wilderandwhite.com.