vernonia’s
voice
september
community
2007
09
Mackenzie Carr-Our Rodeo Queen
By Scott Laird
Vernonia’s own Mackenzie Carr was named 2008 Columbia County Rodeo Queen at this year’s County Fair on July 21. Mackenzie, a 17-year-old senior
at Vernonia High School, served as a princess in the 2007 Rodeo Court. I had a chance to chat with Mackenzie about this exciting honor prior to the
Vernonia Jamboree Parade in which the 2007 Court was participating.
Vernonia’s Voice: Tell me about the horse you’re
riding today.
Mackenzie Carr: “I have two horses I ride. This
is Pedro, my parade horse. I also ride Charlie, my
Rodeo horse.”
VV: What are your plans after high school?
MC or Mackenzie unless she goes by Mac: “I
plan on going to University of Portland to study
Engineering unless I get a scholarship from some-
where for volleyball. Otherwise I’ll go to U of P.”
VV: What are your duties as a member of the Ro-
deo Court?
MC: “We go to a lot of civic functions, make ap-
pearances at schools and sign autographs for the
kids. And of course we make appearances at the
area rodeos and ride in parades. We won first prize
in this year’s Rose Festival Parade. Oh yes, and we
get to dance a lot!”
VV: How will your responsibilities be different next year
as the queen of the court?
MC: “Same duties, bigger crown!”(Laughs!) “No really,
the queen doesn’t really have anything special to do;
it’s just a bigger crown.”
VV: How do you think serving on the court and being
the queen will affect your future? What do you think
you will gain from this experience?
MC: “Well... I won’t be as shy.”
VV: Anything else about being the queen that you want
to tell our readers?
MC: “Yes, I’m looking forward to another year of huge
curls and lots of hairspray!”
Congratulations to our 2008 Columbia County Rodeo
Queen, Mackenzie Carr!
Ford Leadership Projects Move Forward
Staff Article
Many of you may have noticed
the two additions to Vernonia’s
downtown streetscape that were
added last winter. Two histori-
cally themed metal archways,
entitled the Vernonia Gateway
Project, were
designed and
installed by the first Ford Insti-
tute Leadership Program (FILP)
class, and took their place at the
openings of two pocket parks
on Bridge Street. A river/wild-
life themed archway is in place
at the outdoor seating area at
Black Bear Coffee Shop. A Mill
Pond themed arch was installed
next to Grey Dawn Gallery, future home to another public area. The first FILP
class is currently fundraising to complete the third archway in their series,
and is waiting to hear the results of a grant application through the Columbia
County Cultural Trust.
The third archway’s theme is Vernonia’s first schoolhouse and will be the
gateway for a newly poured walkway next to the Vernonia Community Learn-
ing Center. This new walkway is part of the second FILP class’ project, and
leads to the main project: the installation of a Garden Courtyard located at the
back of the Learning Center.
The second FILP class recently unveiled a design concept for their Court-
yard project. The public garden space will have an historic theme and will
feature native plants. The courtyard design features a small stage area for
concerts and other performances, benches, and other seating areas and a
paved walkway.
The two Leadership classes, Cohort One and Cohort Two, joined forces
to raise funds for their respective projects, each earning almost $1,000 during
the Cycle Oregon visit in June.
Cohort Two is also currently raising funds independently for their project.
They are selling garden stepping stones through the Learning Center and will
have them available at the Salmon Festival. Raffle tickets are being sold for
the quilt that class members are creating. There will also be a yard work raffle;
the winner receives an hour of labor by a crew of four.
The Vernonia Gateway Project’s group wanted to correct a mistake that
was published about their financial situation. During the recent city budget
process, it was noted that the Archway Project, which had used the city as
its financial administrator, had overspent its budget, which may have resulted
in the city incurring expenses of $3,000. Upon further investigation, this as-
sumption was proved incorrect. Mistakes resulted in other bills being paid
from the archway funds. The project did not overspend and did not cost the
city any additional funds to complete the first two archways. For the third
archway, the group is partnering with Hands on Art as its fiscal administrator.
If you would like more information a bout the Courtyard Project, you can
contact Josette Mitchell at (503) 429-7601. If you are interested in further in-
formation about the Vernonia Gateway Project, please contact Dan Brown at
Grey Dawn Gallery, (503) 429-2787. Dan also wanted to clarify a point made
in a previous newspaper edition, “A recent newspaper article graciously gave
much credit to me for the completion of the two previous archways. While I
certainly had an active part in the process, the project could not have been
finished without the help of many in our project group and we look forward to
working together again on this next archway.”
If you have enjoyed the archways and have found them to be a beautiful
addition to Vernonia’s downtown, you are invited to be a part of this project.
Donations can be sent to: Vernonia Gateway Projects, c/o Grey Dawn Gallery,
879 Bridge St., Vernonia Oregon 97064. Checks should be made payable to
Hands on Art Center and all donations are tax deductible.
Vernonia Has International Visitors
By Rhonda Persyn
Kevin Borders, long time Verno-
nia resident, returned from Japan with
his wife and two children this month.
Kevin has been living in Japan for the
past six years and now speaks English
and Japanese. He works for a high-
tech custom cabinet company called
Abe which mainly caters to large busi-
nesses in Tokyo and surrounding cit-
ies. His wife Chihiro teaches begin-
ning English as a second language
and they have two children the oldest
a boy, Chance, a girl Maria and their
third child is on the way.
“It’s always nice to
be home” Kevin said as
he was enjoying our cool
eighty degree afternoons
without the extreme hu-
midity they have in Ja-
pan. Kevin and his family
visited his father, Steve
Borders of Vernonia;
his grandparents, Bob
and JeanAnn Borders
of Baker; and his moth-
er, Lori Evjen of Forest
Grove. They also visited
the gravesides of Kevin’s
great grandparents, Hen-
ry and Isabelle Anderegg
who both passed away last year.
Kevin’s family enjoyed Vernonia
Lake the most; the ducks are prob-
ably still full from all of the bread and
popcorn! They watched several wild
bunnies as they began to walk around
the lake, remembering where the best
crappie and bass holes were. The
children were amazed at the blackber-
ries everywhere and picked and ate
until they were full. As they finished
their walk around the lake a Swallow
flew out of a birdhouse by the conces-
sion stand; they could not believe that
a birds really lived in there.
While in Oregon they shopped
for school clothes and visited OMSI,
Portland Saturday Market, Tillamook
Cheese Factory, and the coast. While
here, Chihiro also received a free
donation of books from Beaverton
School District, now in the process of
updating their literature, which she will
use in her classroom in Japan.
Learning about some of the differ-
ences between the US and Japan was
interesting. For instance the meals
served in US restaurants are two to
three times larger, they have a “Bullet
Train” that travels 180 mph yet the av-
erage driving speed is 35 mph. They
also drive on the left side of the road
and the steering wheel is on the right
side of the car.
It was exciting for the grandchil-
dren to experience hummingbirds for
the first time and to catch the thistle
seeds blowing in the wind and mak-
ing wishes - - they said they looked
like fireworks! Everything we take for
granted, or forget about as we grow
older, is always exciting and beauti-
ful through the eyes of a child. We
look forward to the arrival of the new
grandbaby and their next visit to Or-
egon.