Applegater Winter 2020
17
Christmas on a covered bridge, 2020 edition
BY LAURA AHEARN
McKee Bridge will once again be
dressed up this holiday season with fir
boughs, twinkling lights, fancy wreaths,
and glittering decorations. McKee Bridge
Historical Society (MBHS) is working
with A Greater Applegate (AGA), Ruch
Outdoor Community School (ROCS),
and other groups to organize a community-
wide Holiday Festival of Lights in the
Applegate.
MBHS plans to have decorations up
no later than December 17 and will set
up generators to illuminate everything on
December 19, 20, and 24, and maybe at
other times (weather permitting). If we
have enough supplies and volunteer help,
we’ll also deck out Star Ranger Station and
the kitchen shelter at the picnic grounds.
With these treats added to the perennial
dazzling display at Cameron Bridge
(northern junction of Eastside and Upper
Applegate Roads), taking an evening drive
through the Upper Applegate will be a sure
way to brighten up the end of 2020.
Do you have spare lights or artificial
trees to donate? Would you like to help put
up or take down the decorations? Please let
us know at mckeebridge1917@gmail.com.
While MBHS can’t host “close-up”
activities like last year’s—we won’t be
decorating cookies, caroling, or enjoying
the third-grade orchestra from ROCS—we
will open the museum trailer with many
new items on display and sell a new line
of MBHS T-shirts sporting classy logos by
local artist Whit Whitney and other nice
merchandise to complete your holiday
shopping. Unisex and women’s style tees
are just $12 ($15 for XXL), youth sizes
$10. Plus we’ll have special illuminated
Director,
Office in 2021
Term
Laura
Sept 2019-2022
Ahearn, President
P a u l T i p t o n , Sept 2020-2023
Vi c e Pre s i d e n t
Barbara
Sept 2018-2021
Mumblo, Secretary
Dale
Sept 2020-2023
Petrasek,Treasurer
A gentle lamb watches over Wilda, daughter
of Deb and Leila McKee, in the Logtown
Cemetery, where volunteers have cleaned
markers. Photo: Alan Caddell.
Holiday Gnomes for sale, $20 each while
supplies last. You can reserve yours by
purchasing through Paypal or contacting
the email address above.
These are just a few of the initiatives
discussed at the MBHS annual meeting
on Saturday, October 17, at the Applegate
Valley Fire District Training Center.
Members also reviewed a series of business
matters—the condition of MBHS’s
finances (solid), challenges to planning
events in 2021 (insurance and permits in
addition to pandemic restrictions), the
timeline for the mandatory engineering
inspection of McKee Bridge—and
unanimously approved this slate of
directors and officers:
Bob Van Heuit
Sept 2018-2021
Pamela Sewell
Sept 2020-2023
Steve Ahearn
Sept 2020-2023
The meeting then turned to ongoing
and planned projects to preserve and
promote the fascinating stories of
Applegate Valley’s past. A slide show
offered a sneak preview of the Logtown-
McKee Bridge History Trail, which will
take its initial form as a nine- by sixteen-
inch tri-fold brochure if pending grant
applications are successful. Work on the
ground to prepare the trail is already
under way, thanks to a $500 grant
from AGA. Volunteers have inspected
and cleaned dozens of monuments
and plaques marking the graves of
early pioneers at Logtown Cemetery.
Exquisite carvings often emerge as the
layers of moss, lichen, and grime are
gently removed. (If you would like to
help with this ongoing work, send a
note to mckeebridge1917@gmail.com.)
MBHS is extremely grateful for the
generous financial support received
from the Covered Bridge Society
of Oregon, which is folding due to
dwindling membership and lack of
community involvement. We trust
this will not be the case here in the
Applegate, where we have the most
beautiful, second-oldest, authentic
covered bridge left in Oregon!
Please consider becoming a MBHS
member for 2021. Rene w a past
membership, or give a membership as a
holiday gift (a certificate of membership
will be mailed per your instructions).
It’s still only $20 per household for the
entire calendar year.
Laura Ahearn
mckeebridge1917@gmail.com
Applegate Fire District provided a safe location for the socially
distanced MBHS annual meeting. Photo: Pam Sewell.
Friends of Ruch Library
Bookstore News
Our bookstore is closed until our volunteers feel it is
safe to reopen. In the meantime, check out our
community Little Libraries for free books.
• Ruch Community School
• China Gulch Road
• McKee Bridge