P R IN T : News
Wednesday, May 8,2013
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FESTIVAL: Gators and Bison
and Elk OH MY!
Continued from Page 1
After some time walking
around, enjoying rides and shop
ping for treasures, shoppers may
become hungry and decide to
stop at one of the food stands to
eat. Or attendees might want to
stop for a lighter snack at The
Jerky Hut and try out their selec
tion of ’gator, bison, elk, beef or
venison jerky. The business was
bought out by Ray Nelson III and
his family about eight months
ago.
They say that they are a
local, family-run business that
has really turned The Jerky Hut
around. Nelsons stepson, Andrew
Keheley, was at the Pioneer
Festival booth as well to help run
the family business. They strive
to offer high quality, local and
exceptionally tasty jerky to their
customers and have a variety of
meats and flavors such as garlic
and ghost.
“Alligator [jerky] is really
popular and so is the ghost,” said
Nelson. He says that it is due
to only using a particular cut of
the alligator meat and creating
a great flavor. The ghost flavor
refers to the ghost pepper used to
flavor and turn up the heat, one of
the hottest peppers in the world.
All of these vendors: Tom
Geil the hobbyist, Sheri O’Brien
the historian and informant and
Ray Nelson the local business
man all call him by first name,
Rocky. But what is an art teacher
and Oregon City Commissioner
doing planning a festival every
year for a decade and a half? He
said that the funds from the fes
tival go towards funding various
youth programs in the area.
“The first year I did it, it was
for Doembecher’s and since then
it’s been for the Optimist Club,”
said Smith. “We do the local high
school grad parties, the summer
reading program, have a partner
ship with JROTC ....”
One win-win from the partner
ship with the local JROTC pro
gram allowed the Pioneer Family
Festival to have the parking lot
staffed by volunteers and reduce
chaos. In return JROTC received
a $1 parking fee “donation” per
vehicle. This was a fairly popular
option, even though there was
a line of cars parked for free on
each side of the road going into
the park.
“This is probably the best,
we’ve been doing the festival 15
years and this is the best, if not
tied with the best. One year had
80 degree weather and I think
the nice weather this weekend
brought people down.”
Sheri O ’Brien smiles and shows o ff a new henna tattoo from a festival ven
dor.
A favorite o f all festival goers, the Ferris wheel was an impressive landmark at the Pioneer Family Festival. The classic
ride was a popular attraction at last weekend’s annual celebration.
Adults and children alike enjoy the dart throwing game. The goal is to pop balloons to win a picture prize. Almost every
dart results in a popped balloon and many people walked away with prizes.