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WEEKEND EDITION
October 23, 2021
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Pop artist Alex Boye to perform Oct. 30 in La Grande
Local couple arranges free concert to raise awareness about suicide
By ANDREW CUTLER
The Observer
Alex Boye/Contributed Photo
Utah pop artist Alex Boye will perform a suicide prevention concert
on Saturday, Oct. 30, at the Union County Fairgrounds.
Giving
a litt le
boost
CDC, FDA
recommend booster
shots to Americans
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
LA GRANDE —
The Centers for Disease
Control met virtually
on Thursday, Oct. 21,
and debated what guide-
lines will be in place
regarding who gets
priority in receiving
the booster shots, and
whether Americans
even need the vaccine.
With unanimous con-
sent, the organization
voted to recommend
booster shots to Ameri-
cans in the fi ght against
COVID-19, even as data
on booster doses — and
especially mix-and-
match boosters — was
limited.
That recommenda-
tion now goes up the
CDC chain of command
for fi nal approval before
it becomes the agency’s
offi cial recommendation
to the public.
The CDC, under the
FDA Emergency Use
Authorization, rec-
ommended the use of
booster shots for those
who received the Mod-
erna vaccine more than
six months ago and
belong to risk catego-
ries such as those 65
years of age and older,
or those 18 through 64
years of age at high risk
See, Boosters/Page A5
LA GRANDE — Cassy
Kellogg wanted to do some-
thing special for her chil-
dren and other kids after the
strain of nearly two years of
COVID-19 mandates.
So, one day earlier this
month, when Kellogg saw
a clip of an Alex Boye con-
cert on social media, on
a whim she reached out
to Boye’s camp to inquire
about possibly having the
Utah-based singer perform
in Union County.
“When I watched how
fun those concerts are, I just
thought I want my kids and
their friends and the kids in
our area to be able to have
that experience,” Kellogg
said.
Boye’s free, public “Bend
Not Break” suicide aware-
ness concert will begin at
1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30,
at the Union County Fair-
grounds. Magician/motiva-
tional speaker Brad Barton
will open for Boye. Don
Kellogg, Cassy Kellogg’s
husband, met Barton in
2000 at a Boy Scout camp
at Farragut State Park.
“You have all these acts
that like to go to the big
cities. We just like to go to
a city,” Boye said. “This
isn’t like an Alex Boye con-
cert, this is a mental health,
suicide prevention aware-
ness concert. That applies to
anyone and everyone.”
The Kelloggs have been
seeing to all the details that
go into bringing in a nation-
ally known artist in a short
See, Concert/Page A5
A lasting
LEGACY
Wolf Creek
Grange in North
Powder will
celebrate 100
years on Oct. 24
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Cecilia Lovely uses a paper cutter to slice out articles and photos from a newspaper at the Wolf Creek Grange
in North Powder on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021, in preparation for the grange’s 100th birthday party on Oct. 24.
By DICK MASON
The Observer
NORTH POWDER — The story of
the Wolf Creek Grange is one of commu-
nity service, dances, fairs and a fi re that
ultimately may have benefi ted it.
All of this and more likely will be dis-
cussed Sunday, Oct. 24, when the Wolf
Creek Grange celebrates its 100th year
of operation. The event will run from
1-3 p.m. at the Wolf Creek Grange, 215 E
St., North Powder.
The grange is one of the most vibrant
in Northeastern Oregon. Its hall is a gath-
ering place for a number of community
events and activities and it has a stable
membership of 20-25 men and women.
The Wolf Creek Grange is an anomaly
during a time when many granges have
declining memberships and are closing.
The continuing strength of the grange
refl ects the dedication of its members to
the grange and the community.
“It is an amazing group,” said Grange
Master Carol Bouchard.
She said its members bring the com-
munity together in a manner that binds it
in everlasting fashion.
“They help make this a village, not
just a group of houses,” Bouchard said.
The Wolf Creek Grange hall is per-
haps the most popular meeting place in
North Powder. It is the site of exercise
classes, weddings and city council meet-
ings; the weekly distribution of fresh
food and other items provided by the
Fresh Food Alliance operated by North-
east Oregon Food Bank; and a Lunch
Bunch program where lunches are served
by the grange each Friday to the com-
munity. The rent paid by the groups
involved in many of these events helps
keep the Wolf Creek Grange on solid
ground fi nancially.
People are likely drawn to the spa-
INDEX
Classified ...............B2
Comics ....................B5
Crossword .............B2
Dear Abby .............B6
Outdoors & Rec ...B1
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
A newspaper from the now defunct North Powder News in the early 20th century sits atop a table at
the Wolf Creek Grange on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. Volunteers with the grange association have been
restoring and working through the archives of photos to create a collage of the association’s history in
preparation for a celebration of the grange’s 100th birthday.
cious hall’s warm and inviting atmo-
sphere because it is so well kept and well
decorated. Another plus is that it is cen-
trally located and easy to reach. The site
is a far cry from its original location near
WEATHER
Horoscope .............B2
Lottery ....................A2
Records ..................A3
Obituaries ..............A3
Opinion ..................A4
TUESDAY
Sports .....................A7
State ........................A6
Sudoku ...................B5
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Sunday
42 LOW
53/45
A shower or two
Rainy times
WINE SAUCE ELEVATES STEAK
Wolf Creek, 8 miles northwest of North
Powder, where it was destroyed by a fi re
in the early 1940s, Bouchard said.
See, Grange/Page A5
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 125
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Email story ideas
to news@lagrande
observer.com.
More contact info
on Page 4A.
Online at lagrandeobserver.com