FROM PAGE ONE
A6 — THE OBSERVER
WILDHORSE
Continued from Page A1
George said.
He said there was
already an Epson Tour
Security Preparedness plan
in place for the tournament
to mitigate any potential
threats. Wildhorse’s secu-
rity, the tribal police and
emergency medical services
will be onsite for the entire
week of the tournament
Driving the economy
and international
media exposure
There are 132 contes-
tants competing in the
Epson Tour during the stop
in Umatilla County.
Each contestant is sup-
ported by an entourage of
three to fi ve individuals,
which means the tournament
will bring upward of 600
people to the Pendleton area
just with players, staff sup-
port and family members.
George also believes
locals will attend, and
people from the sur-
rounding area will make the
day trip or weekend trip to
enjoy the tournament.
The economic boost will
not be limited to Wildhorse
Resort & Casino, but will
spill over to local business,
George said. Tournament
organizers put together a
fact sheet for players listing
hotels, restaurants and other
stores.
“We think the economic
benefi ts from it will be
reaped by and enjoyed by
the local economy,” George
said of the tournament.
“Our hotel doesn’t have
enough rooms for everyone,
so they are going to have
to stay at local hotels. They
are going to have to eat
somewhere. They are going
to have to get their gas and
other products that they
need for the tournament.
So we think that it’s going
to have a huge economic
impact.”
The tournament will
also bring national and
international media expo-
sure to Pendleton. The
tour is already generating
attention from news out-
lets in Portland, Boise and
Washington’s Tri-Cities,
according to George. The
professionals that make up
the Epson Tour represent
around 32 diff erent coun-
tries, which also means
there will be international
coverage.
“It won’t be on the scale
of an offi cial LPGA event,
but it’s the next best thing
to it,” he said.
Growing the
game of golf
Wildhorse is hosting two
youth golf clinics as part of
the tournament events. The
fi rst is being held at Birch
Creek Golf Course on Aug.
29 and is open to the gen-
eral public.
Members of the Epson
Tour and Nike are helping
run the camp.
The following day
there will be a Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Uma-
tilla Indian Reservation
youth clinic at Wildhorse
Golf Course, which is spon-
sored by N7 — the Native
American division of Nike.
The clinic will be hosted
by Gabby Lemieux — a
member of the Shosho-
ne-Paiute Tribe of Duck
Valley Indian Reserva-
tion and an N7 ambassador.
She helped Vallivue High
School in Caldwell, Idaho,
win a state title in 2014 and
played golf at the collegiate
level for Texas Tech Uni-
versity, where she earned
Big 12 Conference Player
of the Year honors in 2016
and the No. 1-ranking in the
country.
Following the youth
clinics early in the week,
there will be Pro-Am tour-
naments on Aug. 31 and
Sept. 1.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2022
MORE INFORMATION
The Wildhorse Ladies Classic,
an Epson Tour event, is set
for Sept. 2-4, 2022. Find full
details — tickets, clinics and
volunteer opportunities —
at www.wildhorseresort.
com/2022-epson-tour-page.
“We brought (the Epson
Tour) here with the idea
that these are younger pro-
fessionals, young ladies,
who are aspiring to move
onto something greater, to
become a member of the
LGPA. We hope that people
can see that. I know that
when you play with one of
the professionals, you’re
just in awe and inspired by
what they’ve been able to
accomplish,” George said.
“We hope that some of
those traits and qualities are
observed by our youth from
the region.”
Another goal of the
tournament is to provide
more exposure to the world
of golf to young women.
George said that a lot of
the time women’s sports do
not get the level of recogni-
tion they deserve, but that
has slowly been changing.
There has been a rising
interest in women’s sports
and recognition of female
athletes.
“Golf can be played by
both men and women, and
we want to grow the game
of golf,” George said. “To
grow the game of golf is to
have more exposure to golf
and what you could do with
golf as a young lady.”
Hub of entertainment
Wildhorse Resort &
Casino hosts a number of
events from concerts to
comedy shows throughout
the year.
According to George,
they aim to bring in a
diverse group of per-
formers to cater to a wide
variety of audiences from
Pendleton and the sur-
rounding area.
“We at Wildhorse like to
think that we’re the hub of
entertainment around here,”
he said.
Whether Wildhorse
will host other other pro-
fessional sporting events
and tournaments of sim-
ilar standing depends on the
price point. George said that
the Epson Tour — which
costs $200,000 to host
— was a price Wildhorse
could aff ord. The resort and
casino is partnering with 47
sponsors at both the local
and national level to help
off set the cost, George said,
adding sponsors were also
how Wildhorse was able
to keep the cost of atten-
dance low — with a day
pass costing $5 and a week
pass $20.
“There’s a lot of possi-
bilities out there, so I don’t
want to discount any of
them. We bring in a lot of
events now, and especially
bringing in the Epson Tour
helps bring us to another
level,” he said. “So now, we
hope we might become a
host site for USGA national
events, like the amateur
women’s and amateur
junior boys and girls.”
There are plans to build
a new hotel tower — the
current building was built
in 1996 — which would
add 214 rooms and a larger
multi-purpose event space.
George said WRC would
like to build the event space
on hydraulic risers, which
would allow for the area to
be confi gured in diff erent
ways for each event.
The possibilities are end-
less — the room could be
fl at for a conference, raised
into stadium seating for
boxing or tiered for a play.
He believes an event space
of this caliber would help to
diff erentiate Wildhorse as a
venue.
“It will be an exciting
venue in Eastern Oregon,”
he said.
Shannon Golden/The Observer
Trevor Winder on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, joins young actors on stage during a rehearsal for the Elgin Opera House’s production
of “School of Rock.” With a new grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust the Opera House has big plans for its upcoming performances.
GRANT
Continued from Page A1
“That’s kind of a pre-
carious way to run an
organization,” Bonney
admitted, noting that show-
by-show funding makes it
hard to build a sustainable
program.
With the help of Rep.
Bobby Levy and her team,
Hale and Bonney began
working with the Oregon
Cultural Trust Foundation
and the Oregon Arts Com-
mission to explore grant
opportunities for the the-
ater’s programs.
The pair applied for
the Cultural Develop-
ment Grant in the spring of
this year, and learned that
they received the award in
August.
The Cultural Trust
awarded $3,422,748 in
grants this year to 138 arts,
heritage and humanities
organizations across the
state. More than $1.7 mil-
lion of this money funds
Cultural Development
Grants like the one Friends
of the Opera House was
awarded. The organiza-
tion is one of 11 in the state
receiving its fi rst-ever Cul-
tural Trust award.
Within the grant guide-
lines, the Cultural Trust
emphasizes that funding
must support “the devel-
opment of artists, cultural
experts, or scholars who
promote culture as a core
part of vibrant communi-
ties.” According to Bonney,
the Opera House provides
cultural enrichment not
just for the Union County
community, but the greater
Eastern Oregon region.
“Our mission is to pro-
vide quality theatrical,
voice and choreography
education to our general
public and provide a safe
and nonjudgmental envi-
ronment for any and all,”
she said.
Bonney noted that,
based on ticket sales,
almost two-thirds of the
Opera House’s audience
comes from outside of
Union County. She also
emphasized that the venue
garners a regional draw for
its youth camps and pro-
grams. During this year’s
FUNDING
THE PROPOSED
PROJECTS
Continued from Page A1
Based on the work ses-
sion, the top priority proj-
ects that would receive
funding are road work on
16th Street, land acquisition
for a new police station, an
east-side housing water and
sewer infrastructure project,
purchasing a wildland fi re
engine and road work on
12th Street. Road work on N
Avenue would also be par-
tially funded.
“The city council is
very interested in engaging
the public to share details
about the projects under
consideration and hear
from the citizens of La
Grande before they fi nalize
their decision,” Strope said
in a press release.
Comments and ques-
tions can be submitted
in advance to Strope at
rstrope@cityofl agrande.org
before 5 p.m. on Sept. 9.
summer camp, almost
100 kids from around the
region attended.
“It’s really important to
us to be able to off er this to
kids,” said Bonney. “Some
kids that might not fi t in in
a normal academic struc-
ture fi nd their home here.”
But Bonney said that
grant funding is just part of
how the Opera House aims
to bolster its educational
and theatrical programs
each year. She noted that
the Friends of the Opera
House receive tax-deduct-
ible donations from 75 to
100 participating members
each year.
“We wanted to be able
to hire additional resources
to help our kids be their
very best,” Bonney said.
The Observer, File
Union County’s law enforcement building, La Grande, shown on
Tuesday, April 26, 2022, houses the La Grande Police Department,
the Union County Sheriff ’s Offi ce and the Union County Jail. The
police department is hoping to acquire land for a new building
with funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Counselors will also
address comments and
questions live during the
town hall.
According to Strope,
the comments feed on
Facebook will be moni-
tored and there will also
be an email address shared
during the meeting for
people to submit inquiries.
The virtual town hall
GRH Children’s Clinic
Call 541-663-3150
Monday 9-12-22
GRH Union Clinic
Call 541-562-6180
Wednesday 9-21-22
GRH Elgin Clinic
Call 541-437-2273
Friday 9-9-22
will be shown live on
Charter Communica-
tions channel 180, on the
La Grande Alive website
and on the Eastern Oregon
Alive.TV Facebook page.
After the meeting con-
cludes, counselors will
come to a consensus on
project priority. This will
be an agenda item for the
October city council ses-
Seventeen projects totaling
more than $7 million are vying
for $3 million available. Those
projects are:
• Eleven separate street and
road projects for 16th Street,
12th Street, N Avenue, Willow
Street, Division Street, Walnut
Street, Sixth Street, Monroe
Avenue, Harrison Avenue, East
L Avenue and Alder Street.
• An east-side housing water
and infrastructure project to lay
the groundwork for more than
200 new residential lots.
• Downtown revitalization plan
implantation.
• Destination retail develop-
ment to help strengthen La
Grande businesses.
• Land acquisition for a new
police station.
• Wildland fi re engine to help
fi ght wildfi res.
• New recreation center.
sion. Public comments will
also be open during the
Oct. 5 meeting before the
council votes.
Three opportunities
left this school year to
make an appointment for a
FREE Sports Physical !
Check up before you suit up!
College students? Find out about sports physicals for the
discounted fee of $50! Call our Union or Elgin clinic today!
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