FROM PAGE ONE
Saturday, June 19, 2021
tHe OBSerVer — 5A
Pendleton Round-Up announces kickoff concert act
Country singer
Billy Currington
headlines show
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Happy
Canyon and Round-Up
have found an act for their
reopening kickoff.
In a press release,
the two organizations
announced they were
hiring Grammy-nominated
country singer Billy Cur-
rington to take the stage at
Happy Canyon Arena on
Sept. 11.
The press release
touted his 11 No. 1 singles,
including songs like “Don’t
Hurt Like It Used To,”
Jack Plunkett/The Associated Press, File
Billy Currington performs at the iHeartCountry Festival at the Frank Erwin Center on Saturday, May 5,
2018, in Austin, Texas. Currington will take the stage at Happy Canyon Arena on Sept. 11 for the kickoff
concert to the Pendleton Round-Up.
CARS
Continued from Page 1A
run by nonprofit organiza-
tions, generate money that
allow the clubs to hand out
gift cards to residents, buy
school supplies for strug-
gling students or donate
to women’s shelters and
warming stations. He noted
shows such as the annual
Hermiston Cool Rides Car
Show attracts car owners
from as far as Seattle or
Portland to display their
chrome-covered rides for
thousands of visitors.
Lopez said the pandemic
last year shut down the
events, but this year, with
new guidance from the Cen-
ters for Disease Control and
Prevention, they can resume
as the shows take place out-
side, with minimal risk of
spreading the virus. That’s
good news for classic car
collectors who call Eastern
Oregon home.
“We have a lot of fun
with these cars. It’s almost
as if we’re in our right mind.
People say, ‘Look at those
guys, they’re still living like
they’re in the ‘50s and ‘60s
— and they’re right,” Lund
said.
Lund, who owns a
modest collection of cars
he’s acquired and restored
over 40 years, keeps dice
on every rearview mirror.
But the cars he owns aren’t
just for showing off. Rather,
they hold personal stories of
a time when drive-ins were
king, a few dollars would
buy a burger and a full tank
of gas and cruising “the gut”
was Friday night fun.
“My wife says I never get
rid of anything,” he said. “I
kept her for 51 years. She’s a
keeper.”
Of his collection,
most notable is the deep
mahogany 1951 Chevrolet
Bel-Air — round and sleek
with plenty of chrome. It’s
his wife Dixie’s favorite
car. It’s also the second car
he’d ever owned, though
upgraded with newer
mechanics and brakes, put-
ting some serious power
behind the wheel. And the
pair of fuzzy dice hanging
from the rearview mirror.
“You gotta have dice,” he
said.
Lund gets a kick out of
the reactions people have to
seeing a classic roll along.
“You can’t go down the
street without putting a
smile on people’s faces, and
that’s what it’s all about,”
Lund said as he drove
down Adams Avenue in La
Grande. “The whole idea,
for me, is bringing joy to
other people, and helping
them remember a much sim-
pler, less stressful time.”
Lund stepped on the gas
as he exited town and turned
on to Mount Glen Road.
The gentle hum of the 1951
Chevrolet Bel-Air turned
to a thunderous roar as he
shifted into second, then
third gear. He smiled and
cruised down the road.
“Yeah,” Lund said, “it’s
got some power.”
Lund drove to meet
fellow car enthusiast Ken
Leavitt, of Island City.
Leavitt, who long since has
sold off most of his collec-
tion of cars — nearly 30, at
one point — and now only
has a Chevrolet Corvair. It
was through Leavitt that
alex Wittwer/The Observer
Ken Leavitt and Ed Lund look through photos of classic cars that
Leavitt has restored or owned, inside Leavitt’s Island City home on
Friday, May 28, 2021. Leavitt, who at one point owned more than 30
classic cars, has sold most of them following his retirement, and now
collects smaller die-cast replicas of classic cars, as well as restores old
telephones to sell online.
Lund was able to restore
some of the cars he owns.
“We’ve been friends
since 1986. He’s been
helpful to me over the years,
whenever I run into prob-
lems fixing things,” Lund
said.
“And get you into deeper
problems,” Leavitt replied.
Car lovers
Love for classic cars, as it
turns out, is rather common
among Lund’s generation.
Around 40 members belong
to the Timber Cruisers
Car Club — and those are
just the dues-paying mem-
bers. Many more exist in La
Grande alone that have one
or two classic cars sitting
in a garage or barn or even
in front of their house col-
lecting rust.
It’s the latter that interests
local classic car restorers
such as Ken Bruce and
Leavitt.
Bruce is the type of
collector for whom a car
rusting in a field is a per-
sonal challenge, the silent
voice of a frozen engine like
a siren song of yesteryear.
He only needs to probe his
memory to recall what the
engine should sound like.
Along with restoring
the mechanics of classic
cars, Bruce is an especially
skilled mechanic in another
way — his ability to procure
obscure parts for classic
automobiles throughout
the country is remarkable.
He searched as far as Shel-
burne, Massachusetts, which
is where he got parts for a
1966 Chevrolet Corvair he
was working on. Little did
he know, a car collector in
California was working on
the same car, only three
serial numbers apart.
“I was working on that
‘66 one time and I called
up for something,” Bruce
recalled, “and the girl
answered — her name was
Cheyenne, I’ll never forget
it — and she answered
and she said, ‘What can I
get you today?’ and I gave
her the list and she said,
‘Y’know, would it be alright
if I put that on your friend’s
account?’”
Bruce became cautious.
“I said, ‘Well, let’s be
careful, I don’t have too
many friends, and I don’t
want to wear out the friends
I have,’” he recalled. “‘Do
you know who it is?’ And
she replied ‘Yeah, you know
him really well — it’s Jay
Leno.’”
Leno, American come-
dian and TV host, is an avid
collector, with some sources
pegging his sprawling col-
lection at more than 150
cars and 160 motorcycles,
from a 427 Shelby Cobra to
McLaren P1 supercars. Leno
and Bruce had long since
shared correspondence, rel-
ishing over new project cars
they had been working on,
and how much labor goes
into restoring the classic
cars to their former glory.
“They represent the
ability to appreciate what
we did in an earlier time,”
Bruce said. “This is how we
got to where we are today.”
Bruce said Leno once
relayed that his restorations
would cost tens of thousands
to finish only to turn around
and sell the car to a neighbor
for a fraction of the cost.
“If you go into this sort
of craft or this sort of pro-
fession, don’t ever go into it
with the intention of making
any money because you
probably won’t,” Bruce said.
“If you do, it’s going to be
an exception.”
Maintenance comes with
the territory.
In the past, cars came
with instructions in the user
manuals on how to adjust
valve timings and other
involved procedures, a far
cry from the types of guid-
ance you receive with a
newer car. Older cars also
had a certain panache,
according to the collectors.
The kind of style that you
don’t see on newer models.
“The stylings (on new
cars), really, are not good,”
said Leonard Wolf, a classic
car collector from Baker
City, during a meetup at the
Baker City Truck Corral,
just off Interstate 84 in
Baker City.
A few of the collectors
who met for the Sunday
gathering nodded in agree-
ment. The group, which
was formerly known as
the Charley’s Angels due
to meeting up at Charley’s
Deli & Ice Cream in Baker
City, has nearly a dozen
members.
“There’s a few of them
out there that look pretty
nice,” Wolf said. “Others
you can’t even tell the brand
because they all look the
same.”
The collectors gave
varying responses to what
they find appealing about
yesteryear’s rides, from
form to quality, but they all
agreed on one point:
“Chrome,” said Ken
Schuh, an avid collector and
long-time car enthusiast.
CHANGE THE WORLD
With a Gift for the Future
Take your charitable giving to the next level.
Passionate and forward-thinking visionaries like you help us continue
OHSU’s tradition of heath care excellence. Transform human health
– and change the world – with a planned gift to OHSU. Whether it’s a
scholarship, annuity, endowment, IRA charitable gift, or other ideas,
we’ll work with you to make a difference.
Call us or visit us online. Learn how you can reach important financial
goals while building a better tomorrow.
OFFICE OF GIFT PLANNING
503-228-1730
giftplanning.ohsufoundation.org
“That’s How Country Boys
Roll,” and “Pretty Good at
Drinkin’ Beer.” A Georgia
native, Currington grew up
listening to Waylon Jen-
nings, Kenny Rogers and
Willie Nelson.
Both Happy Canyon
President Tanner Hawkins
and Round-Up President
Randy Bracher expressed
excitement at booking
Currington.
“Billy Currington has
a great combination of
high-energy crowd pleasers
and relatable ballads that
will connect with so many
different people,” Bracher
said. “He’s a great fit to kick
off the week after such a
crazy year.”
The Round-Up, Happy
Canyon and all of their
associated events were can-
“So much chrome,”
continued Sandy Payton,
another collector.
Lee Swiger, sitting across
from Wolf, flicked through
his phone while waiting for
his breakfast to arrive.
“I have lots of pictures of
cars on my phone,” Swiger
said, looking for a photo of
a DeSoto he owns. “I don’t
have any pictures of grand-
kids, but I’ve got pictures of
cars.”
Who comes next?
Classic cars and their
owners shared eras. As an
older generation leaves, a
question remains.
“What will kids restore
as they get older? What will
they like?” Lund said.
A fair few will, of
course, find an interest in
the cars, especially those
for whom classic cars run in
the family. Others, the col-
lectors contemplated, will
move on to start their own
classic car clubs with now-
modern vehicles.
“When they hit 50 years
old, they’ll be trying to
find a Datsun or a Nissan,”
Swiger said.
“We’re caretakers of the
cars,” Lund said. “We’re just
caretakers for this time in
our lives, and we’ll pass it
on to somebody else. Hope-
fully they’ll appreciate the
hobby, and hopefully make
people smile just as much
as we do today.”
celed last year during the
COVID-19 pandemic, the
first time Pendleton didn’t
host its signature rodeo
since World War II.
The Round-Up spent
2020 raising money for
businesses and organiza-
tions affected by the rodeo’s
cancelation and quickly
committed to a come-
back event in 2021. With
COVID-19 restrictions
beginning to ease across the
state, Gov. Kate Brown has
repeatedly expressed con-
fidence that the Round-Up
will meet its goal.
Tickets will go on sale
on June 24 at 10 a.m, with
prices ranging from $46 to
$150. Tickets can be pur-
chased at www.pendleton-
roundup.com or by calling
541-612-3421.
CATS
Continued from Page 1A
Animal Control Ordi-
nance 2021-03, men-
tions them at least a half
a dozen times, including
in section four where
it states that the Union
County Sheriff may “…
enforce all of the county
and state laws relating
to the control of dogs/
cats within the county,
including that of making
arrests.”
The proposed updated
ordinance also stipu-
lates how responsibility
for cats would be deter-
mined in the event that
a cat is found to be a
nuisance. It states that
anyone who has provided
shelter for a cat and fed
it for at least seven con-
secutive days would be
deemed responsible for
the animal.
Union County’s animal
control ordinance was last
updated about six years
ago.
The Union County
Board of Commissioners
approved a first reading
of the proposed ordinance
on Wednesday, June 16.
Commissioners will vote
on a second reading at
their June 30 meeting.
If passed, the ordinance
would go into effect
immediately.