12 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2015
Local
Eagle Valley Days fills streets Hells Canyon
Jr. Rodeo held
Carmelita Holland / The Baker County Press
Members of the Eagle Valley 4-H Club rode the parade route along with some of their fair animals.
• PARADE GROWS
FROM LAST YEAR,
HAS MORE FLOATS,
PARTICIPANTS
BY CARMELITA HOLLAND
News@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Eagle Valley Days, held
June 20th, was well at-
tended this year.
The parade was much
larger than in earlier years,
featuring many more floats
depicting community in-
terests— and the ladies at
the park kitchen were kept
busy most of the day.
Walter and Norma For-
sea were Grand Marshals,
driven by Dan Mitchell in
a golf cart.
“The golf cart was not
really in the plans for the
Grand Marshals to ride
in,” said Mitchell, “but the
antique car they were plan-
ning to ride in the parade
broke down.
“I had to run the golf
cart over to their house
for them to get in to it, to
make sure there was room
under the roof for Walt’s
cowboy hat.”
“What I liked about the
golf cart,” said Norma,
“was the roof that shaded
us from the hot sun.”
A somewhat similar
conveyance, without a
roof, carried the Junior
Grand Lady, Savannah
Brown, and Junior Grande
Marshall Daniel Brown, a
new addition to the parade.
Another outstanding
float was entered by Frank
Randall, who has been
making sure for years that
all the kids in Eagle Valley
have a free bicycle.
The bikes on the float
are only a small example
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of those he has rebuilt at
his own expense of time,
labor, and parts.
A portable jail also
drew much attention, hold-
ing a prisoner protesting
his innocence, claiming
he had simply “borrowed”
the horse; it is believed to
be a Pauly Jail constructed
about 1883.
Generous amounts of
sweets were thrown to
children along the parade
route.
During games and
other activities at the Eagle
Valley Grange Park, there
were 181 hamburgers, one
hundred ninety one hot
dogs consumed, besides
75 pounds of beef used in
barbecue dinners.
No record was kept of
other foods, but it was
estimated that near two
hundred servings of straw-
berries and shortcake were
distributed.
The winner of the pie
making contest was Sarah
Backstrom from New
Jersey, who is the daughter
of Jane Ellis.
Sonja and Larry Weems
of Hermiston, purchased
the pie. Kandice Holland,
age 14, made an Oreo
Cream pie that brought
fifty dollars at the auction.
Bethany Garrison who
has won many cooking
prizes in the past, con-
tributed eight pies to the
auction.
Music for the evening
was outstanding, provided
by D. J. and Birdie Smith,
and daughter Shelley,
members of the family of
Patricia Matheson. Shelley
Paskett took the opportu-
nity to honor her grand-
mother, Patricia, on the
stage on her eighty-ninth
birthday.
Roseann Riggs was
Chairman of Eagle Val-
ley Days this year. Gayle
Haga was in charge of the
Kitchen.
Eagle Valley Days is the
major fund raiser for the
Eagle Valley Grange which
provides a hall and kitchen
at the Community Center,
a park with a large green
lawn and a kitchen on the
west side of Richland,
emergency services; EMTs
and the Eagle Valley Am-
bulance, besides promoting
the Boy Scouts and various
other community services.
The Eagle Valley
Grange wants to express
their appreciation to every
one who worked to make
Eagle Valley Days a huge
success, and acknowl-
edges that this grange
alone could not achieve
such success without the
cooperation and hard work
contributed by everyone.
Those who contribute in-
clude churches, the VFW,
the New Bridge Grange
and Cindy Plano for work-
ing for parade entries, Gar
Rovang announcing entries
in the parade, Mib and
Jacque Dailey, auction-
eers, the Richland Fire
Department, all of the local
businesses, Art and Mary
Jane Walker for donating
buns, the Eagle Valley RV
for donating ice—the list
goes on.
A meeting was held the
following Monday and it
was agreed there will be
another Eagle Valley Days
celebration in 2016.
Carmelita Holland / The Baker County Press
Princess Karmen Molina.
BY CARMELITA HOLLAND
News@TheBakerCountyPress.com
The 2015 Hells Canyon Junior Rodeo Princess was
Karmen Molina, the ten-year-old daughter of Tana
Molina, granddaughter of Sandy and Pete Bigelow of
Halfway. She rides a big buckskin paint gelding she calls
“Little Joe,” which she tells everyone she loves very
much.
Princess Karmen was accompanied by grandpa Big-
elow in Richland, June 20th, where she rode in the Eagle
Valley Days parade. Her day to ride in the Hells Canyon
Junior Rodeo Parade was Saturday, June 27, leading to
the Rodeo which began at noon at the Pine Valley Fair-
grounds.
Sunday morning the Pine Eagle FFA, Joe Denig and
son, Shane, cooked the Cowboy Breakfast, served by
Trinity Butner and Kandice Holland. The concessions
stand was then handed over to the 4H Club.
A Cowboy Church Service was held at 10 a.m.
The Sunday Rodeo performance began with toddlers
entering the Mini Mite Dummy Roping Contest to rope a
pair of plastic cow horns on part of a head, fastened to the
end of a bale of hay, with the same gusto and determina-
tion of any adult intent on roping a maddened Brahma
bull.
This contest was followed by children of all ages
participating wholeheartedly in every event they qualified
for. On occasion, a parent of the very young had to “help
out.”
Mini Mite competitions included Dummy Roping,
Mutton Busting, and Goat Tails.
Under Pee Wee were Girls Breakaway, Boys Break-
away, Girls Goat Tying, Boys Goat Tying, Boys Steer/
Calf Riding, Girls Calf/Steer Riding, Boys Barrel racing,
Girls Barrel racing, Boys Poles, and Girls Poles.
Cow kids; Dummy Roping, Goat Tail untying, Barrel
Racing, Calf Riding, Figure and Race.
Junior Boys, Calf Tying, Boys Breakaways, Girls
Breakaways, Ribbon Roping, and Girls Goat Tying.
Senior Boys Calf Roping, Bull Riding, Chute Dogging,
Girls Poles, Team Roping, Girls Steer/Cow Riding, Girls
Barrel Racing, Saddle Bronc, and Ranch Bronc.
The popularity and fine reputation of this rodeo grows
each year and the addresses of contestants tend to reflects
this. Besides many from the local area, Halfway, Oxbow,
Richland, and Baker City, the list of origin in the records
include Haines, North Powder, Harper, Middleton, Elgin,
Caldwell, Midvale, Meridian, Homedale, Lakeview, Long
Creek, Redmond, Albany, Jordan Valley, Dayton, Wash-
ington, and Winnemucca.