Friday, May 14, 2021
CapitalPress.com 11
Loop: ‘For us, propane heaters were the fall’s version of the toilet paper rush’
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Capital Press the Fruit Loop
felt like a ghost town.
Ali Mclaughlin is a
tour guide and founder of
MountNBarrel, a company
that takes hundreds of peo-
ple annually on scenic bike
tours between farms along
the Fruit Loop. Last spring,
she said, nearly every group
on her reservation list
canceled.
“It killed us,” she said.
Mclaughlin canceled all
remaining tours until June.
Tourism picked up over the
summer, but at the end of
the year, she had made about
80% less revenue than in
2019.
Events that normally sup-
port local farmers were can-
celed, too.
Ashley May, who pro-
motes the loop and was pre-
viously executive director
of Visit Hood River, a tour-
ism organization, said it was
sad to see the Fruit Loop’s
two biggest events canceled
last year: the spring Cider
Fest, which usually brings in
5,000 people, and the week-
end Harvest Fest, which
draws up to 12,000 people.
The Cider Fest was again
canceled this year. A deci-
sion has yet to be made
about the Harvest Fest.
Revenue loss from those
events meant Visit Hood
River went from 10 full-
time staffers to the equiva-
lent of one-and-a-half staff.
Tourism lodging tax data
show the number of over-
night guests in the area also
dropped — a reduction of
almost 100% in spring,
and about two-thirds fewer
guests than normal during
summer.
Hood River winery
and vineyard owners, who
were required to close tast-
ing rooms several times
throughout the year, were
especially hard-hit.
Wy’East Vineyards
The Wy’East Vine-
yards tasting room is set
on a family farm with live-
stock, farmhouses and pear
orchards with a view of
Mount Adams to the north.
Mount Hood graces the
southern sky, visible from
the family’s main vineyard,
where vines sprawl across
hills about 1,600 feet above
sea level — one of Oregon’s
highest-elevation vineyards.
Dick and Christie Reed
founded the farm in 1992
after shirking city life in
Chicago. They, along with
daughter Keely Reed Kop-
etz, now general manager,
run the business together.
When Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown ordered wine tast-
ing rooms and restaurants
to close last spring, Chris-
tie Reed says it was “finan-
cially devastating.” The main
income, Keely Kopetz said,
came from generous wine
club members.
Fall and winter were espe-
cially difficult as wineries
statewide rushed to buy tents,
outdoor lights and propane
heaters when the governor
again banned indoor tasting.
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Trina McAlexander, owner of The Grateful Vineyard and Mt. View Orchards, drives her Gator through an orchard.
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Ciders at The Grateful Vineyard created with fruit from
the farm.
Ali Mclaughlin, founder and tour guide at MountNBarrel,
rides past farmland with Mount Hood in the background.
Reed said her family was for-
tunate to secure heaters when
they were in demand.
“For us, propane heaters
were the fall’s version of the
toilet paper rush,” said Reed.
She laughed.
As more Oregonians are
getting vaccinated and start-
ing to travel again, Reed
and Kopetz say they’re see-
ing visitation pick up. The
winery this spring is already
bustling.
“We’re anticipating a
really big summer,” said
Kopetz.
Koptez’s optimism is
widely shared.
May, the tourism expert,
said hotels are surging with
overnight bookings again.
And Mclaughlin, the bike
tour guide, said her reserva-
tion slots are quickly filling
— especially for later in the
summer.
“I think it’s gonna be a
really, really, really good sea-
son,” said Mclaughlin.
Packer Orchards
& Bakery
Tammi Packer, co-owner
of Packer Orchards & Bak-
ery, said she’s also seeing
traffic pick up. About 150
to 200 people per day vis-
ited her bakery in April, and
momentum is building.
She represents the third
generation on a family farm
established in 1915.
During
springtime,
most of Packer’s sales are
through her bakery, which
sells value-added goods
Packer said focusing on
the DTC market was eco-
nomically good for the farm.
Packer Orchards sells only
20% of its pears DTC, with
the rest going wholesale, but
that 20% volume accounts
for 60% of the farm’s pear
revenue.
This year, Packer said
her family plans to con-
tinue expanding the DTC
and agritourism arms of the
business.
“I think it’s going to be
an even busier season,” she
said.
Mt. View Orchards
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Keely Reed Kopetz, general manager at Wy’East Vine-
yards, pours glasses of Pinot noir.
like jam, honey, pickles and
fruit-filled pies. Because
pears are Packer’s largest
crop, she incorporates pears
in nearly every recipe.
In the summer and fall,
shoppers also buy sea-
sonal fruits and vegetables
from the “farm place” or
pick their own in Packer’s
U-pick orchards.
Last spring, Packer said,
the initial lockdown was
scary.
“We were thinking,
‘What are we going to do?’
We really had to be innova-
tive. It seemed like every
day we had to make a dif-
ferent big decision,” she
said.
COVID prompted Pack-
er’s family to remake their
website, provide deliv-
ery and curbside pickup
options, offer new baked
goods and expand direct-
to-consumer, or DTC,
channels.
Packer said sales went
better than she could have
dreamed. Although fewer
international guests were
traveling, more people from
Pacific Northwest cities vis-
ited, eager to get outside and
buy directly from farmers.
“I think COVID actually
made people more aware of
us and what we have,” said
Packer.
As she spoke, she worked
alongside employees in the
bakery kitchen, filling jars
with Marionberry jam. The
room smelled sweet.
Trina McAlexander, a
third-generation farmer and
fermenter, drove a John
Deere Gator that kicked up
dust as it passed orchard
blocks: pears, peaches,
100-year-old apple trees.
McAlexander said she’s
grateful her farm is part of
the Hood River Fruit Loop,
so even when the world
went into lockdown, peo-
ple found her farm through
the Fruit Loop website and
maps.
“The Fruit Loop hon-
estly has been a lifesaver
for us,” she said.
When COVID first hit,
McAlexander had just
opened “The Grateful Vine-
yard,” an on-farm winery
and tasting room. Using
the farm’s fruit, McAlex-
ander had created ciders,
beers and wines, while her
brother had invented gour-
met pizzas and salads using
farm produce. One popular
pizza is topped with Bosc
pears, bacon, gorgonzola
and caramelized onions.
McAlexander said it was
sad to close her indoor din-
ing space immediately after
opening it, but she was for-
tunately able to set up out-
door dining in a meadow
facing Mount Hood.
Between outdoor visi-
tors to The Grateful Vine-
yard and farm-direct sales
at her farmstand, McAlex-
ander said she saw “no dip
in sales” during 2020.
COVID did prompt her
to cancel some activities,
like hay rides. And many
couples who planned to rent
the farm space for weddings
postponed. The wedding
cancellations were hard,
McAlexander said, because
she uses those revenues to
pay for farm inputs, includ-
ing chemicals and labor
expenses.
But 2021, according to
McAlexander and other
farmers who talked to the
Capital Press, is shap-
ing up to be “the year of
weddings.”
Like Tammi Packer,
McAlexander said the best
profit margins come from
the DTC market, so she
plans to keep expanding her
farmstand, food and bever-
age options and agritourism
activities.
Overall, McAlexander
said, 2020 was hard but
beautiful.
“People
just
really
seemed to rally for Amer-
ican farmers,” she said.
“That just melted us last
year. I almost want to cry
about it. We were growing
crops and wondering, ‘Are
people going to come and
support us farmers?’ And
the resounding answer was
‘Yes.’”
Agritourism
takes wing
Farmers, industry experts
and community leaders say
the Hood River Fruit Loop
is just one example of how
agritourism is growing in
the Pacific Northwest —
both before and during the
COVID pandemic.
Just a decade ago, wine
experts say, the Hood River
Valley had only a few vine-
yards. Today, the region is
home to dozens of major
vineyards and wineries.
New farms are joining
the Fruit Loop each year,
including the first meat-
only farm in 2021.
Farmers are creating
product lines and invent-
ing new on-farm activities.
Packer, for example, is in
the permitting process for
a teaching kitchen, where
visitors can take cooking
classes.
The pandemic has been
hard, but many Fruit Loop
farmers say it pushed them
to new heights.
“The Fruit Loop is see-
ing a huge increase in
growth, and agritourism
seems to be on the rise in
general,” said Packer. “I’m
excited for what the future
holds.”
Initiative: ‘Petition is biggest threat to Oregon’s livestock industry’
Continued from Page 1
George Plaven/Capital Press File
Water flows from Upper Klamath Lake into the A Canal,
part of the Klamath Project.
Canal: ‘To say that it’s gloomy
is a gross understatement’
Continued from Page 1
morning. He said it is the
first time in 114 years of
operation the A Canal will
deliver no water for an entire
year.
“To say that it’s gloomy
is a gross understatement,”
Simmons said. “It’s a devas-
tating situation. It’s going to
be bad.”
Reclamation says it has
previously committed $15
million in immediate aid
for agricultural producers
through the Klamath Project
Drought Response Agency,
and an additional $3 million
in technical assistance will be
available to tribes for ecosys-
tem activities in the Klamath
Basin.
“Reclamation is dedicated
to working with our water
users, tribes and partners to
get through this difficult year
and developing long-term
solutions for the basin,” Tou-
ton said.
to collect 112,020 signatures to place
the initiative on the November 2022
ballot.
Michelson did not return calls for
comment.
According to state law, a person
commits animal abuse if they “inten-
tionally, knowingly or recklessly
cause physical injury to an animal,”
or “cruelly cause the death of an ani-
mal,” except when practicing good ani-
mal husbandry. The petition seeks to
remove that exemption.
“IP13 doesn’t change our defini-
tion of abuse, it merely changes who is
considered above the law,” the “Yes on
IP13” website states.
Cooper said the petition is the big-
gest threat to Oregon’s livestock indus-
try in decades.
“I think it would leave producers
in incredibly uncertain territory,” she
said. “It is very dangerous territory for
folks.”
Perhaps the cruelest twist, Cooper
said, is the effect the initiative would
have on 4-H and FFA programs. Ani-
mal abuse in Oregon is considered a
Class A a misdemeanor but is a felony
if committed in the presence of a minor
child.
“You think of 4-H programs, and
people who have artificial insemina-
tion programs, and all of a sudden any-
body helping them with their projects
could be considered a felon,” Cooper
said. “That’s just wild.”
Supporters say the initiative would
not ban the sale of meat, leather and fur
in Oregon.
“It would require that animals
be allowed to truly live a good life
free from abuse, neglect and sexual
assault,” the campaign website states.
“After an animal lives a full life, and
exits the world naturally and humanely,
this initiative does not prohibit a farmer
from processing and distributing their
body for consumption.”
But Tom Sharp, a Harney County
rancher and president of the Oregon
Cattlemen’s Association, said that is
not an economically viable business
model for producers.
“How would a producer ever plan
on managing a herd of cattle, until
some uncertain date when that herd has
reached their full and natural lifespan?”
Sharp said. “At that point, it’s impracti-
cal to take those animals to market for
processing.”
Oregon has 13,000 cattle ranchers
statewide with 1.3 million head of cat-
tle. In 2019, cattle and calves ranked as
the second-most valuable agricultural
commodity, at $652 million. Sharp said
the petition could put those businesses
at risk.
“I don’t see, from a business stand-
point, how that would pencil out for
any of these beef producers,” he said.
The initiative doesn’t only target
agriculture. It would also erase animal
cruelty exemptions for hunting, fish-
ing, wildlife management, rodeos and
scientific research, among others.
Amy Patrick, outreach coordina-
tor for the Oregon Hunters Associa-
tion, said the initiative is ringing alarm
bells and could potentially make hunt-
ing illegal in the state.
“It’s an attempt to get at fishing,
trapping, hunting and additional wild-
life management practices,” Pat-
rick said. “Removing the exemptions
would allow them to be classified as
animal abuse. ... It’s not animal abuse
by any stretch of the imagination.”
Dave Dillon, executive vice presi-
dent of the Oregon Farm Bureau, said
the organization is assembling a broad
coalition of groups and businesses to
oppose the initiative.
“There is a lot of concern among
members,” Dillon said. “It’s going to
take a lot of hands. That’s the job ahead
of us, and we’ll be ready to do it.”