FROM PAGE ONE
Tuesday, June 22, 2021
ELGIN
Continued from Page 1A
visitors from around Union
County and beyond took
take part in the event.
The breakfast kicked
off a full slate of activi-
ties across the community.
Vintage car owners parked
their vehicles throughout
the field next to the Elgin
Community Center, local
artists displayed their
exhibits at the opera house,
quilters showed their work
at Elgin High School and
local food venders lined
Baltimore Street to serve
those in attendance.
For the Elgin Fire
Department, the break-
fast serves as a means to
reach out to members of the
city as well as raise crucial
funds.
“This becomes a commu-
nity focal point,” Elgin fire-
fighter Mike Pearson said.
“It’s for a dang good cause.”
davis Carbaugh/The Observer
Community members gather in the Elgin Fire Hall for the annual Firemen’s Breakfast during Riverfest on
Saturday, June 19, 2021. The event was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but locals came
out in large quantities during the 2021 rendition.
The funds raised at
the breakfast contribute
toward Operation Santa
Claus, a program run by
the Elgin Fire Department
to bring gifts to local chil-
dren on Christmas Eve.
The chance to interact
with locals in an informal,
family-friendly environ-
ment was not taken for
granted by the firefighters
THe OBseRVeR — 5A
and support staff serving
breakfast.
“We get to see a lot of
people that we usually only
see when it’s a really bad
situation, when their house
has burned down or we’re
picking them up on a lift
assist,” Pearson said.
According to Silvernail,
the Elgin Fire Department
has been hosting the Fire-
man’s Breakfast for nearly
40 years. Silvernail has
served the department for
25 years and participates
in the breakfast every year.
“It’s good for the people
to see us, see inside the fire
department and see who
all the firefighters are,” he
said. “They can see that
their tax money is well
spent and well used.”
The Elgin Corner
Market, owned by Brad
and Kelly McLaughlin,
donated the breakfast sup-
plies for the Firemen’s
Breakfast. Local musicians
played folk music outside
the fire hall throughout the
duration of the event.
“It’s been a wonderful
way to get the commu-
nity together,” said Steve
Oliver, of the Elgin Lions
Club. “With the Firemen’s
Breakfast as well as the car
show, the quilt show, the
art show and all of this put
together, it’s a great com-
munity effort.”
Oliver and his wife,
Kathy, president of the
Elgin Lions Club, host
the annual event and help
coordinate the activi-
ties across the city. Fol-
lowing the conclusion of
the Firemen’s Breakfast,
the focal point of Riverfest
is the congregation of vin-
tage automobiles at the car
show.
“It feels wonderful to
get back out here and meet
people,” Steve Oliver said.
“People are just hungry to
be out and visit each other
after a year contained
inside.”
TRAM
Continued from Page 1A
some people would like to see that
expanded. But that’s unlikely, since
the “shoulder seasons” of late fall
and early spring are necessary for
their maintenance work.
Lockhart estimated the tram
would cost about $10 million to
replace.
However, he said, “It isn’t worth
$10 million and that’s why we’re
doing everything we can to restore
it to keep the place operating safely.
There’s very little here that dates
back to 1970.”
He said they are continually on
the lookout for parts they can use
on the tram — or have made new.
“A lot of the parts we have right
now we have to have made our-
selves” at a local machine shop,
he said, but “there are still parts
around” that can be purchased.
alex Wittwer/The Observer
Tavi Jacobson and Maddie Nordtvedt, playing as Erik and Ariel re-
spectively, rehearse “The Little Mermaid Jr.” behind the Elgin Opera
House on Tuesday, June 15, 2021.
Safety is key
Their efforts to keep the tram
operating safely have proven
successful.
“Back in the day, almost the very
first year, a bullwheel bearing went
out and we had to evacuate three
cabins,” Lockhart said.
A bullwheel is the big wheel that
drives the cable, easily visible at
each terminal.
The scheave wheels that support
each cabin alone cost about $1,000
each. Lockhart didn’t know the cost
of the bullwheels.
“We have to keep track of our
rates to keep up on this,” he said,
adding that replacing the entire
tramway is unlikely. “That’s prob-
ably not feasible because of the cash
flow. So it’s important that we do
this maintenance. We are the No. 1
attraction in Wallowa County and
there’s a lot of people who factor
that into when they come to Wal-
lowa County. We’re finding that out,
as will any accommodation person
will tell you. It’s a common ques-
tion they get asked when making
reservations (for lodging). Or, the
chamber could tell you that.”
Once, they had to evacuate the
top because of high winds.
“It’s all about safety, from every
operation we have from the lift to
food service to everything else,” he
said.
Evacuation is no easy task.
Under the seats of each car is a cord
that is used to let a rope down to
the ground and passengers get into
a harness to be lowered to ground.
Then they either walk to the ter-
minal or, “if necessary, we bring a
helicopter in,” Lockhart said.
He said the tram works with
local first-responders when neces-
sary. But such calls are rare.
“We haven’t had one in 20
years,” he said.
The only mishaps on the tram
have been minor injuries suffered,
such as a rider slipping upon get-
ting into or out of one of the cabins.
He said no loss/claim injuries have
been filed in his time as a tram
owner.
One thing that tram riders often
wonder is how supplies reach the
summit, particularly the Summit
Grill. Outside are two large pro-
pane tanks that would hardly fit in
a cabin. Lockhart said there is a
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
A “boxcar” used primarily to bring supplies to the Summit Grill prepares to make its run
down to the base terminal of the Wallowa Lake Tramway on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.
Continued from Page 1A
roadway up the back side of Mount
Howard that comes up near Fer-
guson Ridge. Large items can be
brought up that way. Most supplies,
however, are brought up on the tram
via a “boxcar” — an open, yellow
car.
A road accessible only by all-ter-
rain vehicle provides access to each
of the towers that carry the cable.
Improvements made
Most of the improvements made
by the current owners have been
about maintenance, Lockhart said.
“Over the past three years, we’ve
done some extensive remodeling,”
he said, replacing parts where
needed.
“We started a very aggressive
maintenance program. We’ve taken
every assembly off,” Lockhart said,
and had a machine shop in Enter-
prise refurbish parts during the
offseason.
“In addition to that, we’re
replacing all the wheels,” he said.
“Over two-thirds of those will be
done this year.”
They also have made some addi-
tions to the attraction. When they
bought it, there was only the ter-
minal at the summit. Riders would
go up, hike around, enjoy the view
and ride back down. But the cur-
rent owners poured a concrete slab,
added a patio and the Summit Grill.
The grill, Lockhart said, has
“Kind of a bistro menu. We don’t
want people to feel they have to
go someplace else to eat, so we’re
pretty competitive.”
Improvements considered
The owners also are considering
additions they can create. Already
the tram does some catering to
skiers.
“We take people up in the spring
and they hike over to East Peak
and do a mountaineering-type of
skiing,” Lockhart said.
In the 1990s, they considered
adding ski runs down the back of
Mount Howard that would end near
Ferguson Ridge Ski Area. However,
when they did a master plan for
the area — that would’ve included
the ski runs — they got some local
resistance. That, and the fact that an
environmental impact statement for
the project would cost $4 million —
with no guarantee it would pay off
— shelved the idea.
Lockhart hopes to be able to
add interpretive tours of the moun-
taintop, including the history of the
moraines, if they can find the right
person to do the interpreting.
“That could be happening soon,”
he said. “But that’s a special person
we’d have to find.”
There also has been discussion
of campsites in the area, but those
would depend on the markets, the
economy and what the U.S. Forest
Service says of the ideas, since two-
thirds of the tram is on USFS land.
Local support
While the tram largely survives
on tourist dollars, the owners don’t
neglect the locals who support it.
A planned “Business After Hours”
event for Wallowa County Chamber
of Commerce members is planned
soon, as is a Father’s Day event for
first-responders. Lockhart said they
also want to honor educators and
others who worked hard during the
coronavirus pandemic.
“They worked extra hard here
in Wallowa County, as compared
with what was going on nationally,”
he said of the educators. “They
worked hard for our children — we
put them first. There may be a few
other groups, but there’s a limit as
far as what we can do. We can’t
ignore our businesspeople who
were at risk, but at least they got
some reward for their endeavors.
We just feel we want to do some-
thing to say thank you.”
The future?
Lockhart has hopes for the future
of the tram.
“There’s things we would like to
see happen,” he said. “There’s a pos-
sibility someone besides me could
think (more) about winter sports.”
But for now, they just want to
keep improving what’s there.
“We’ve been going 50 years and
we’d like to add a few more things,”
he said. “We don’t know what the life
of the lift is, so we’ll have to see.”
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of 2021.
“The Junior Theater
Festival’s core objective
has always been to cele-
brate and support young
people and their teachers,
who make the world a
better place one musical
at a time,” Junior The-
ater Festival CEO Tim-
othy McDonald said in
a press release. “This
past year has taken a tre-
mendous toll on students
and educators, and our
team is drawing on all
our creativity and prob-
lem-solving to give young
people the chance to come
together with people who
love this art form just as
much as they do.”
According to Hunter
Adams, who has been with
OHYA since its incep-
tion in 2017, the best part
of the festival is the sense
of community that he has
experienced every year.
“There is nothing but
support and love from
everybody competing, it’s
not really as much of a
competition as it is a cel-
ebration of the arts,” he
said.
Adams, who plays
Sebastian in the perfor-
mance, recently grad-
uated from La Grande
High School with hopes
of one day performing on
Broadway. In 2019, he won
the Outstanding Perfor-
mance by a male. Now in
his last year, Adams says
he has been inspired by
some of the younger mem-
bers of the group.
“It’s been amazing to
get to see them,” Adams
said of the younger mem-
bers. “We have a lot of new
kids, and I’ve just seen
them put their heart and
soul into the performance,
and it’s really inspiring.”
Besides performing
alex Wittwer/The Observer
Hunter Adams, playing as Se-
bastian, rehearses with the
Opera House Youth Actors out-
side the Elgin Opera House on
Tuesday, June 15, 2021. Adams,
a recent high school graduate
and long-time member of the
theater, will be heading to Sugar
Land, Texas, along with the rest
of the cast for a theater festival
on June 25-27.
PUTTING ON A SHOW
Opera House Youth Actors will
be performing a show for the
public at the Elgin Opera House
at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 22.
and watching the 49 other
groups that will be in
attendance, participants
will attend workshops and
professional performances.
According to Hale, this
festival is a great opportu-
nity for students to develop
their skills and learn from
their peers.
“It’s really exciting,
there’s a great energy to
this festival. The kids get
to go and be with other
musical theater kids all
over the world,” Hale said.
“It’s been amazing getting
to see these kids grow as a
group and individuals. We
want them to be successful
and just leave the festival
being proud of what they’ve
done.”
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