WEEKLY UPDATE OF EVENTS

Wednesday, June 22nd
13 ASSASSINS at the OK Theatre – 7:00 p.m. 208 West Main Street, Enterprise
The Art Film Series 2011 Begins! This Special Engagement will include Kiyomi with green tea, genmaicha, AND Japanese snacks for purchase. Japanese cult director Takeshi Miike delivers a bravado period action film set at the end of Japan’s feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war torn future.
Admission: $7.50/$6.50/$5.50 (advance tickets are available online: www.theok.tk) 

Thursday, June 23rd
COURTHOUSE CONCERT SERIES PRESENTS LADDIE RAY MELVIN at the courthouse gazebo – 5:30p.m. – 7:00p.m. Enterprise
Original folk, comfortable as a well-worn heirloom quilt.  FREE and open to the public. A perfect opportunity to pack a picnic, bring family, meet up with friends and enjoy the music!
For more information contact: Wallowa Valley Music Alliance – 541-426-3390

WALLOWA COUNTY FARMERS’ MARKET on the courthouse lawn – 4:00p.m. – 7:00p.m. Enterprise
Featuring produce, plant starts, foods, and craft items. As in past years, the Enterprise market will be held in conjunction with the free courthouse concert series on the Courthouse lawn.
For more information call: 541-432-0209

THE MIRACLE OF GREENS LECTURE at Calderas Restaurant 6:00p.m. – 8:00p.m. Joseph
If you have ever wondered how greens can give you vibrant health as well as which wild plants are edible…this is your event!
For more information: 541-432-0585 www.calderasofjoseph.com

13 ASSASSINS at the OK Theatre – 7:00 p.m. 208 West Main Street, Enterprise
The Art Film Series 2011 Begins! This Special Engagement will include Kiyomi with green tea, genmaicha, AND Japanese snacks for purchase. Japanese cult director Takeshi Miike delivers a bravado period action film set at the end of Japan’s feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war torn future.
Admission: $7.50/$6.50/$5.50 (advance tickets are available online: www.theok.tk

Friday, June 24th
7TH ANNUAL WALLOWA RESOURCES’ WATERSHED FESTIVAL at the Wallowa County Fairgrounds – 12:00p.m. – 5:00p.m. Enterprise
The Watershed Festival is a celebration of our natural and cultural resources in Wallowa County: our mountains, canyons, forests, rivers, lakes, animals, grasslands, and people. Wallowa Resources coordinates and sponsors this event in partnership with the Wallowa Valley Music Alliance. Listen to some great music while you explore the wonderful exhibits with your family. Lineup of entertainment includes young songwriter Natalie Zeigler, the sweet old-timey stringband Homemade Jam, singer/songwriter/guitarist Janis Carper, and special guest from Washington state, Laura Love.
For more information contact Holly Akenson: 541-426-8053

THE MIRACLE OF GREENS LECTURE: WILD EDIBLES WALK at Joseph City Park 4:00p.m. – 6:00p.m. Joseph
If you have ever wondered how greens can give you vibrant health as well as which wild plants are edible…this is your event!
For more information: 541-432-0585 www.calderasofjoseph.com

4TH ANNUAL COUNTDOWN TO CHIEF JOSEPH DAYS RANCH RODEO at Harley Tucker Memorial Arena 2:00p.m. – Joseph
The trail ride, which is open to all who wish to participate leaves the rodeo grounds for the top of the Moraine.  After refreshments at the top, a return trip to the rodeo grounds will go through downtown Joseph. Following the trail ride there will be a cocktail hour, with music from ‘The Last Call’ from Imnaha.  A beef dinner will be served in the Thunder Room at the rodeo grounds, by the Outlaw Restaurant & Saloon and everyone is welcome.  Get your tickets early for the dinner as it will be limited to 200 People.  Tickets for the dinner, the Calcutta and auction on Friday night is $15 for adults and $7.50 for kids under 10.  After dinner the rodeo teams will auctioned off and 75% of the auction proceeds will be split by the lucky bidders if their team places in the aggregate. This benefit raises money for scholarships for local high school seniors

For more information contact Robin Lewis: 541-432-5943

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES at the OK Theatre – 7:30p.m. 208 West Main Street, Enterprise
Admission: $6.50-Adults, $5.50-Senior/Military/Student, $4.50-Children 3-11

Saturday, June 25th
AMY HAFER RACE FOR AWARENESS & HEALTH FAIR at Wallowa Memorial Hospital – 8:00a.m. Enterprise
Sponsored by the Wallowa Valley Health Care Foundation Check in time: 8:00 – 8:30 a.m. Race Starts: 9:00 a.m. Place: Wallowa Memorial Hospital Cost: $30 with t-shirt $20 without t-shirt This is a breast cancer awareness run/walk. The race starts and ends at Wallowa Memorial Hospital. There is a 1 mile course and a 5k and 10k run. Event includes refreshments, awards, and door prizes. 
Contact: Stacy Green: 541-426-1913 or stacy.green@wchcd.org

WALLOWA COUNTY FARMERS’ MARKET on Main and Joseph Streets – 10:00a.m. – 2:00p.m. Joseph
Featuring Lynn Sampson Curry’s Summer Slaws for Barbecues and Picnics. Fresh-from-the-producer vegetables, fruit, meat, prepared foods, flowers, plants and crafts.
For more information call: 541-432-0209

4TH ANNUAL COUNTDOWN TO CHIEF JOSEPH DAYS RANCH RODEO at Harley Tucker Memorial Arena 3:30p.m. – Joseph
Tickets for the rodeo on Saturday will $5.00 at the gate.  The group will be selling raffle tickets during the events for a 4 days, and 3 nights at the South Point Hotel and 2 performances of the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada in December. The mutton busters start the action 4:30 pm, with team action at 5:00 pm.  Events begin with a branding contest where paint is used instead of a hot iron, followed by team penning, team roping, ranch team muggin’ and ranch style saddle bronc riding.
For more information contact Robin Lewis: 541-432-5943

LIVE MUSIC: BROTHERS BRANN BAND at Calderas Restaurant 6:00p.m. – 9:00p.m. Joseph
For more information: 541-432-0585 www.calderasofjoseph.com

 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES at the OK Theatre – 7:30p.m. 208 West Main Street, Enterprise
Admission: $6.50-Adults, $5.50-Senior/Military/Student, $4.50-Children 3-11

 Sunday, June 26th
 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES at the OK Theatre – 2:30p.m. & 6:00p.m. 208 West Main Street, Enterprise
Admission: $6.50-Adults, $5.50-Senior/Military/Student, $4.50-Children 3-11; $4.50 ALL Seats Sunday Matinee

Monday, June 27th
SPECIAL SCREENING: EXPEDITION INSPIRATION at the OK Theatre – 7:00p.m. 208 West Main Street, Enterprise
Wallowa Valley Health Care Foundation and Expedition Inspiration, a national nonprofit, will join forces to raise money for local cancer screenings and national cancer research with a special free showing of a documentary on breast cancer survivor Laura Evans and the founding of Expedition Inspiration. The screening is free, but donations are encouraged to support the causes.

–Other Announcements–

VOTE FOR THE OK!
The OK could win $25,000 towards facade restoration
Please support The OK Theatre, the oldest continuously operating theatre in Oregon, in its quest for a $25,000 restoration prize in the This Place Matters Community Challenge. Vote for us at: http://www.preservationnation.org/take-action/this-place-matters/community-challenge/places/enterprise-hometown.html
WALLOWA COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE YOUTH AMBASSADORS FOR THE CHIEF JOSEPH DAYS PARADE
Nominations are open from June 20th-July 20th
Here is a great opportunity to nominate that adorable little boy and/or a girl (ages 5 to 7) to represent the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce as youth ambassador and to ride in the Chief Joseph Day’s Grand Parade.
Details:

• Nominations can be made at all Wallowa County banks.
• The nomination application is simple, but must include all requested info.
• One boy (age 5-7) and one girl (age 5-7) will be selected in a random drawing one week prior to the parade.
• Families will be contacted immediately and provided with instructions for the parade.
• These kids will ride in the parade as Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce ambassadors.
• Their pictures will be in the chamber newsletter and hopefully in the Chieftain.
• The girl ambassador will receive a tiara and the boy ambassador will receive a scepter as souvenirs.

This is a lot of fun for the kids and we take lots of pictures.  This may be their first community experience representing Wallowa County.  We invite all families to nominate their children, nieces, nephews, grand children, etc. to serve as our next 2011 Chamber Ambassadors!  Thank you for participating.

Nominations: 3 Community Banks, Sterling Savings Bank, and Bank of Eastern Oregon.

Courtesy of the Wallowa County Humane Society: The Wallowa County Humane Society can help you find a new pet. For more information call: 541-432-1630 or visit www.wallowacountyhumanesociety.org or facebook
For more information about upcoming events and activities, please visit our community calendar online:

http://www.wallowacountychamber.com/event_cal/community_event_cal.php

Have a great week!

~Bridget

Bridget Brown  

Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce

309 South River Street, Suite B * P.O. Box 427

Enterprise, Oregon 97828

Phone: 541.426.4622  *  800.585.4121

bridget@wallowacounty.org

www.wallowacountychamber.com

Plans are to rebuild and the staff would love to hear your input for the new visitor center for the Wallowas. Please leave your comment here or contact the U.S. Forest Service Visitor Center by phone at 541-426-5546.

You’ll find the spot off state highway 82 in eastern Oregon outside of Joseph. Named in Nez Perce after the tribe that summered at the edge of the lake, the county’s newest park is called Iwetemlaykin (ee-weh-TEMM-lye-kinn). Here’s a map.

From the parking lot, follow the trail that winds up the glacial moraine and you’ll quickly reach a remote and tranquil place. The trail is less than a mile long overall, but feels longer as it meanders through the grasslands and along waterways with likely wildlife encounters. Within minutes you’ll reach a reflecting pond with views of Chief Joseph Mountain worthy of a strenuous all-day hike.

The 62-acre preserve, once known as the Marr Ranch, was slated for housing development. It opened to the public in 2009, a joint triumph for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, the Nez Perce tribe, the Confederated Tribes of Colville and the Oregon State Parks.To the Native Americans, this is a sacred place. For everyday visitors, it feels timeless, and you can imagine Nez Perce pulling salmon from the Wallowa River you can hear flowing nearby. From the pond, you can continue on the easy-access trail to the tops of the moraine that contains the lake and visit the Old Chief Joseph Gravesite. This is the Nez Perce National Historic Site and the beginning of the Nee-Me-Poo National Historic Trail that commemorates the Nez Perce’s flight from the Wallowas over 130 years ago.

Iwetemlaykin State Heritage Site is a convenient new place to encounter nature, history, culture within footsteps of your car, complete with restrooms. On Saturday, August 28th, join Tim Nitz of the National Park Service for a half-day field trip through the Wallowa Land Trust and learn about the Nez Perce story on site.

Wallowa County is home base for four renown bronze foundries. Artists from around the country send their work to these trusted artisans for molding and casting. The bronzes–from table-top sizes to some so large they ship out on flatbed trucks–are for public art projects, installations and private collections from Seattle to Washington, DC.

It’s astounding to get inside one of the these workshops and witness sculptures in every stage of the 12-step process. You’ll see finished pieces as you enter, some of them towering over your head. It’s a long, arduous and fascinating journey from artist rendition to finished piece. On a foundry tour you’ll get to see some of the wax copies of the originals that get hard shells formed around them that are then melted out in preparation for casting. If you get lucky, you’ll watch molten bronze at 2100 degrees Farenheit glowing orange-red while it’s poured. Once the piece is cast, it’s time for welding and a patina finish. All along the way, there are an amazing number of talented people who are committed to their role in the work.

Dancers at the annual Tamkaliks Celebration and Friendship Feast

For the 20th year, there is drumming, dancing and feasting at the Nez Perce pow wow in Wallowa–and everyone is invited.

Located on the site of the Wallowa Band Nez Perce Trail Interpretive Center, this celebration is called Tamkaliks, meaning “from where you can see the mountains.” Over the course of the three-day event, there is so much to see, from toddlers to elders in traditional Native American dress, the horse parade and teepees along the Wallowa River. All of it is in celebration of Nez Perce culture, history and its deep roots in Wallowa County.

Like many pow wows across the country, Tamkaliks is free and there is dancing all day long and into the night. The drummers and the audience form a circle around the dancers and the encampment encircles the whole gathering, a symbol of the life cycle. Dancing,, which was outlawed by the federal government from 1880 to the 1920s, is the centerpiece of the pow wow. Some it is competitive for prizes and money, while other dances are purely social.

Tamkaliks runs from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. from Friday, July 16 through Sunday, July 18 and includes over two dozen vendors selling crafts and snacks. A smaller encampment and friendship feast takes place just outside the rodeo grounds during the Chief Joseph Days Rodeo, this year July 21-25, 2010.

For many people, the highlight of this pow wow is the Friendship Feast held on the last day every year. The communal meal features deer and elk, hunted by Nez Perce exercising their treaty rights, along with salmon. Pot luck dishes brought by community members round out the meal, which was attended by over 500 people in 2009. There’s always room at this table for more.

One of the agricultural artifacts at Sunrise Iron

When you approach Sunrise Iron on a gravel road above Enterprise, the scattering of antique farm equipment only hints at what’s in store. From the property owned by Erl and Mary Ann McLaughlin, fantastic views clear over to Idaho in the east and to the northern Zumwalt Prairie distract you from the main attraction–a regular, old metal hay barn.

Only when Erl opens the door do you realize that this outbuilding houses a one-of-a-kind private history museum. Inside, is a treasure trove of tractors and other agricultural machinery dating from the last century. There is not a parking space left, and visitors wend their way through mint-condition machinery–the life work of Erl, rancher, collector, restorer and artisan.

“It started with one tractor,” says Mary Ann. “You could say it’s a hobby run amuck.”

Erl agrees with a smile that a single steel tractor was the beginning of lifelong love of agricultural artifacts. ”I have a fascination with preserving our heritage. It’s kinda going away, and I just like agricultural things.”

His collection now encompasses valuable and rare cast-iron tractor seats, horse-drawn plows, and vintage fire-fighting and logging equipment. Large and small things fill the space to awe-inspiring capacity. It is only about half of his entire collection. The rest, Erl confesses, is in buildings all over Wallowa County.

For nearly 30 years, Erl has restored each and every piece of equipment back to working condition. When someone sells him rusted, grimy and greasy farm machinery, they’ll often some to see the finished product. “Some people are incredulous it’s the same piece of equipment,” Erl says.

In addition to innumerable restoration projects, Erl also crafts metal artwork and wagon wheel tables and chandeliers, all on view in an adjacent gallery on-site.

Erl McLaughlin in his hay barn chock-full of valuable, vintage farm equipment

Sunrise Iron invites visitors to view the collection by appointment by visiting their site or calling 541-263-0755.

On July 31st, Erl and Mary Ann will host the 13th annual Sunrise Iron Antique Tractor Show. Throughout the day, the doors will be thrown open for viewing the waterwagon used to haul and hand-pump water to steam engines, a stone plow and a 1915 Model 10-20 three-wheeled Case tractor.

These are a only a few notables among the hundreds of pieces of history salvaged and preserved for all to enjoy.

photo by Dave Jensen

 Have you ever hiked a moraine? Worked on a ranch? Followed a river? From July through September, a series of adventure-based trips take you on out-of-the-ordinary experiences. 

Two local natural resource organizations are hosting exciting weekly field trips to diverse destinations throughout the county. Complete with guides, including geologists and biologists specializing in plants, wildlife and fish, the trips get you up close and personal with nature. 

With only 24-hours notice to Wallowa Mountain Institute, you could be helping on a ranch on Thursday morning and learning the glacial landscape from atop Mount Howard (via the Wallowa Lake Tramway) in the afternoon.  

On Fridays through Sundays, you can hike into the Eagle Cap Wilderness where experts will open your eyes to the amazing natural systems at play. Suitable for all ages, these excursions run weekly and include transportation (full-day trips include lunch) for a fee. Call 541-426-8053 or look here for registration information. 

Sign up for one of the free Saturday excursions through the Wallowa Land Trust, and you’ll follow a natural history specialist into a unique and wondrous landscape. You can hike along the rims of the moraines that form Wallowa Lake and learn about the forces that shaped them. 

Other trips venture in the lower valley to explore the confluence of the Wallowa and Lostine Rivers and the homeland site for the Nez Perce tribe. All trips are scheduled from 9:30 to noon, and some  (like the moraine hike) are suitable for children. Call 541-426-2042 for details or to sign up and look here for the summer 2010 schedule.

Maxville Interpretive Center founder Gwen Trice at the new center in Enterprise

 Once upon a time, a railroad logging town called Maxville was one of the largest towns in Wallowa County. Now, it doesn’t exist. 

What happened in that town, and to the loggers and their families who inhabited it during the 1920s, is a story that Gwen Trice is dying to tell. 

A native of LaGrande, Oregon, Trice took years to learn about her African-American ancestors who emigrated from Arkansas to the company town near Wallowa, Oregon. There, they endured the winters living in railroad cars and used their steam locomotive and crosscut sawing skills alongside their white peers. By 1926, the 400 residents in Maxville included roughly 50 African-American families. One of the residents was Trice’s father, Lafayette, “Lucky.” 

The unique and isolated community contained segregated schools for whites and blacks, a company store, hotel, medical center, post office, and social center. When the town officially closed with the lagging lumber market during the Great Depression, Lucky moved to LaGrande and later established himself as a businessman active in many civic affairs. It took his daughter, Gwen, years to learn about his past–and her family’s legacy. 

Trice trained as a videographer in Seattle before returning to eastern Oregon in 2007 where she began exploring Maxville and its unwritten history. She has since been on a mission to reconstruct Maxville’s past through videos, interviews, photographs, stories, and plays. Trice created the Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center to further her mission to create a cultural educational and research organization. The downtown Enterprise visitor center opened in 2010. 

The town of Maxville now contains a single building and a railroad trestle, but Trice is committed to making it come alive at least once a year with an Annual Maxville Gathering, this year on August 14. Her aim is to connect people to that particular story of Maxville and the histories of other African-American logging communities in the West, including Weed, California and McNary, Arizona. 

The Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center is open on Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.and all other days by appointment by calling 541-263-8895. You can view “The Loggers Daughter,” the Oregon Public Broadcasting documentary about Trice’s discovery and the town of Maxville online.

After a string of four Oregon state record-breaking kokanee catches this past winter and spring, Ron Campbell of Pendleton hauled out the biggest fish to date on Sunday, June 13th. At 9.67 pounds and over 27 inches long, this kokanee looks as big as its wild river-running sokeye salmon. The catch breaks the world record, last set in British Columbia.

Wallowa Lake hasn’t always produced gargantuan kokanee, but these landlocked salmon are reportedly fattening up on the thriving populations of mysis shrimp. Campbell isn’t telling what lure and flasher attracted his world record fish, but he did catch it from a boat from the middle of the 4.5 mile lake with depths up to 298 feet. As the legend goes, the monster dwells in the middle.

Wallowa Lake Marina rents all types of watercraft, from rowboats to pontoon boats, for interested anglers who will be pouring into the lake this summer. Some of them will be happy to snag a rainbow trout from the stocks, but others will be determined to get the next prize-winning catch.

An employee at the marina is convinced that there’s a 10 pound kokanee in there somewhere.