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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Barbecue represents good
food and good times at fair
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
It wouldn’t be a county
fair without barbecue, and
the savory smell of it was
wafting over the Umatilla
County fairgrounds on
Wednesday.
Some of it came from
the food vendors, and the
rest was from the annual
barbecue contest that gives
local aicionados the chance
to show off their skills on the
grill.
Karlos Oneal of Arizona
was working the grill and a
spit on Wednesday morning
at Piggly’s BBQ. The huge
cuts of beef rotating gently
over an open lame was
drawing longing looks from
passersby, many of whom
seemed to decide regretfully
that 10:30 a.m. was too early
for lunch.
Oneal said he has been
barbecuing since he was a
kid, learning from a variety
of mentors and a lot of trial
and error. When he was 13 he
was already having friends
over for barbecues where he
was doing all of the cooking,
so it only seemed natural that
he eventually landed a job
cooking barbecue dishes at
fairs around the country, a job
he said he thoroughly enjoys.
“I love the people,” he
said.
This was the irst time
Piggly’s BBQ was a vendor
at the Umatilla County Fair.
Oneal said great customer
service, good taste and quality
meat were all important
elements in the business,
but many of the secrets good
barbecuers use happen before
the meat and vegetables ever
hit the grill.
“The way of preparation is
key,” he said.
Over at the barbecue
competition, Jake Potter
of Hermiston agreed that
preparation is a key. He and
his brother-in-law entered the
competition for the irst time
last year, and Potter said they
quickly learned — as they
scrambled to inish dishes
while other teams relaxed —
they should have done more
prep work.
“We were busting our
butts the entire time,” he said.
This year, competing
with team Smokin’ Hot and
Kickin’ Ash, Potter made
sure to have ingredients
measured out ahead of time,
and said he was enjoying the
slower pace.
“It’s a good time,” he said.
“You get to be at the fair, you
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Umatilla County Fair Princess Raylee Lehnert
throws candy during the Umatilla County Fair
Kick-Off Parade on Saturday.
Fair announces parade winners
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Tyrel Burns of Weston squirts an apple-based concoction on his cuts of meat while
taking part in the Umatilla County Fair BBQ Contest on Wednesday in Hermiston.
2016 competition
results
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Cuts of beef rotate on a spit over wood coals at Piggy’s
BBQ stand at the Umatilla County Fair on Wednesday.
“It’s trial and error. I’ve grilled
plenty of things I didn’t like.”
— Jake Potter, of team Smokin’ Hot and Kickin’ Ash
get to have fun, you get to
cook and it’s a day off work.”
Like several barbecue
contestants, Potter said his
irst teacher was his father,
who taught Potter — the only
son in a family with ive girls
— how to grill a mean dish.
Since then he has experi-
mented with technique, often
working from scratch rather
than a recipe.
“It’s trial and error,” he
said. “I’ve grilled plenty of
things I didn’t like.”
Tyrel Burns of Weston,
competing with 3rd Degree
BBQ, said one of the great
things about barbecue is
“nothing’s ever the same.”
Burns also grew up
watching his dad at the
grill and eventually started
to branch out into his own
recipes.
“It’s usually just tweaking
CAMP: Also offers rock
journalism workshops
Continued from 1A
outreach and education
coordinator Bonnie Day. The
ultimate goal of the camp,
director Peter Walters said, is
to foster a “free-form way of
getting kids to be creative.”
The camp, free for teens,
allows them the freedom to
follow their interests.
Most campers form bands
at the beginning of the week
and set out to write their
own songs for a grand inale
concert Friday on Main
Street. Some of these bands
incorporate non-traditional
rock instruments to create a
unique sound.
A three-person band
features Madison Feller
on guitar, Noelle Texidor
alternating between horn and
string instruments, and Brit-
tany Mendel playing ukulele.
The trio are still kicking
around band names, though
all three are part of a larger
band outside of camp called
“The Hopeless Romantics.”
None of them had attended
Rock & Roll Camp prior
to this year, but all three are
enjoying it thus far.
“I just like being with
people who like music,”
Feller, 15, said. “Not
speciically the same genre
of music, but we all kind of
connect through it.”
Addison Schulberg, who
has never missed a day of
the program in 11 years as
either a camper or counselor,
offered his studio, located at
320 S.E. Emigrant Ave, for
the camp to use this year. He
and his band, Misty Mouth,
recently converted the space.
Campers have also picked
up tidbits on production
engineering. Schulberg led
a Tuesday class at the studio
in which several campers sat
in the control room during
a recording and told bands
afterward what they liked and
what needed to be improved.
Those who aren’t inter-
ested in creating music ind
plenty of ways to keep busy
during the week, too.
Casey Jarman, Michael
Heald and irst-year coun-
selor Jack Lewis — all from
Portland — lead the rock
journalism workshops that
incorporate art, writing,
interviewing, band promo-
tion, branding and podcast
creation. As the camp has
grown over the years, an
increasing number of campers
have gravitated toward these
courses during the week.
“The irst year they just had
music and some kids realized
after a day or two they didn’t
want to be in a band,” said
Jarman, a former Willamette
Week music editor. “We tried
to offer them something else
to get involved with.”
Regardless
of
their
roles, counselors encourage
campers to create rather than
cover. While other camps
may repurpose the work of
others, Rock & Roll Camp’s
concert at the end of the week
almost always features fresh-
ly-written material.
“I was never a big cover
guy — I always wanted to
write my own songs,” Schul-
berg said. “I think we all try to
push that pretty heavily.”
things, taking recipes that are
proven and modifying them,”
he said.
He said he enjoyed the
camaraderie of relaxing
around the grill as every-
one’s dishes simmered and
smoked. For the competition
he was making smoked
tri-tip, grilled lamb, potato
wedges, blooming onions
and a blueberry tart.
Paula Morgan of Herm-
iston, competing with Grillin
N Chillin, said it was her
husband that got her into
barbecue. She was cooking
without him on Wednesday
because he was out of town,
but the back of her neon
orange shirt displayed a long
list of awards from previous
barbecue
competitions
the couple had completed
together.
“We get recipes off the
Overall winner:
Die Hard BBQ
Onion irst place:
Die Hard BBQ
Onion second place:
3rd Degree BBQ
Onion third place:
Princess Raylee
Potato irst place:
Princess JaNessa
Potato second place:
Grillin N Chillin
Potato third place:
3rd Degree BBQ
Beef irst place:
Cozy Corner
Beef second place:
Princess Raylee
Beef third place:
Smokin’ Hot and Kickin’ Ash
Lamb irst place:
Die Hard BBQ
Lamb second place:
Princess Raylee
Lamb third place:
Smokin’ Hot and Kickin’ Ash
Blueberry irst place:
3rd Degree BBQ
Blueberry second place:
Die Hard BBQ
Blueberry third place:
Smokin’ Hot and Kickin’ Ash
internet and then experi-
ment,” she said. “We use
family and friends as guinea
pigs.”
The double-blind taste test
by judges Wednesday after-
noon involved ive entries
from each team: an onion
dish, a potato dish, tri-tip
beef, lamb and a blueberry
dessert.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at
jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
Walchli Farms won the overall sweepstakes award
and the best business loat during the Umatilla County
Fair parade.
The event, which was held Aug. 6, kicked of fair
week in Hermiston. Also, Hermiston Drug & Gift
won the fair theme award, which depicts Traditions and
Transitions.
The parade drew 145 entries and 11 received irst
place ribbons in different categories. Those included:
Youth Band: Hermiston High School Marching
Band; Youth Dance Group: All American Gymnastics
and Cheer; Adult Equestrian Group: Ixtapa Family
Mexican Restaurant; Youth Equestrian Group:
Contreras Family; Non-Proit Float: Umatilla &
Morrow County Child Welfare Program; Motorized
Group: Cub Scouts Pack No. 645; Single Motorized:
Don Waters; Business Non-Float: First Community
Credit Union; Non-Proit Non-Float: OSU HAREC
1942 Dodge; and Royalty: Happy Canyon Princesses.
The Umatilla County Fair runs through Saturday.
Gates open daily at 9 a.m. and admission is $10 for
adults, $8 for seniors, $6 for ages 6-12 and free for those
5 and under.
For more information, visit www.co.umatilla.or.us/
fair or call 541-567-6121.
ANIMALS: ‘Those goats
and lambs are pretty naughty’
Continued from 1A
Her friend had to tackle
Lenny to bring him back,
she said, and now the lamb
seemed a bit spooked.
She said she had seen two
other sheep escape so far.
Not all the sheep were
eager to escape, however.
Madeline White, 12, of
Pendleton, said she isn’t
worried about her lamb
jumping the fence.
“Marvin is the king of
laziness,” she said. “He
doesn’t like to exercise. I
think he’s too fat.”
He does cause problems
by eating things he’s not
supposed to, however,
including paper, fake lowers
and decorations.
At the fairgrounds, White
pointed out where the white
paint on Marvin’s panels
had been stripped away in
chunks as he gnawed on the
bars.
GiGi Follett, 10, of
Hermiston, said it’s not
just sheep that escape their
conines on a regular basis.
At her grandparents’ house,
her pig joined forces with
her cousin Cadence Cool-
ey’s pig to escape. The girls
had to brave a snake-infested
ield to round them up again.
“We started crying
because we were scared,”
she said.
Their
pigs
haven’t
escaped yet at the fair, but
another pig used its snout to
push up the latch on its pen,
and they watched someone
else’s pig take off from the
weighing station, knocking
its owner over as it went.
“I feel bad I started
laughing, but it was kind of
funny,” Follett said.
She said they were also
reminded by their 4-H
leaders that they needed to
keep their feed bags rolled
up tight after a goat escaped
its pen to come visit the pigs
and steal some of their food.
“Those goats and lambs
are pretty naughty,” she said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
SERVICES: Budget could change if Measure 97 passes
Continued from 1A
System.
The projections are based
on the state’s June economic
and revenue forecast and
could change with the
September and subsequent
forecasts.
A DAS spokesperson
emphasized in a tweet that
Wednesday’s projection is
only a “starting point.”
The state’s budget picture
could change dramatically if
voters in November approve
Measure 97, a controversial
corporate sales tax measure.
The 2.5 percent tax on the
Oregon sales of certain
corporations
exceeding
$25 million would yield an
estimated $3 billion per year
in additional state revenue.
Sen. Richard Devlin,
D-Tualatin, a co-chair-
person of the Ways and
Means Committee, has said
state services likely will face
cuts if the ballot measure
fails. But he also has warned
that the rising costs of the
state’s pension plan in the
next several years and the
Affordable Care Act would
quickly eat up that supple-
mental revenue.
With those expenses,
“the money is gone from
that measure, so you should
quit thinking about all these
other programs you would
like to expand,” Devlin said
earlier this month.
WATER: Pipeline construction expected to cost $14.4M
Continued from 1A
Mike Wick said more water
for irrigation means farmers
can extend their growing
season later into the
summer — a point he drove
home by emphasizing how
early supplies dried up
during last year’s intense
drought.
“You either sit back and
do nothing, or you look for
opportunities to beneit the
district,” Wick said.
Building the pipeline
is expected to cost $14.4
million, which means
farmers must sign up for
at least 8,000 acre-feet
of water to inance the
infrastructure. The district
already assessed patrons
$30 per acre a year ago to
pay for engineering studies.
Gibb Evans, vice pres-
ident and general manager
of IRZ Consulting in
Hermiston, said the next
step is to secure easements
for the pipe through private
property. Water would be
pumped from an existing
station owned by Amstad
Farms, which the company
voluntarily upgraded to
accommodate the increased
lows.
“All of the in-river work
is done,” Evans said.
By using Amstad’s
station, Evans said the
project can avoid the time
and money it would take
to permit an entirely new
pump in the river. The
system would be capable of
delivering 45 cubic feet of
water per second.
Of course, there must be
water available to ill the
pipe, which is where the
Northeast Oregon Water
Association comes in. The
nonproit
organization,
founded by J.R. Cook in
2012, has been involved in
lengthy negotiations with
environmental groups in
Salem on a multi-phase
plan to draw additional
Columbia River water for
Eastern Oregon farmers.
Cook said those negotia-
tions are ongoing. Pumping
from the Columbia River
requires bucket-for-bucket
mitigation
to
protect
threatened and endangered
ish, which NOWA will
accomplish by certifying
municipal water rights and
leaving them in stream.
“First, we have to get the
mitigation water in hand,”
Cook said.
One of those municipal
rights — 100 cfs from the
Port of Umatilla — is in
the process of certiication.
NOWA proposes to deliver
water to critical ground-
water areas in three project
areas, known as the East,
West and Central projects.
The Westland Irrigation
District falls under the
Central Project area, but is
not obligated by anything
NOWA does.
“NOWA and the region
is bigger than any one
speciic project,” Cook
said. “If Westland doesn’t
want to participate, there’s
another entity out there that
will.”
Future phases of the
NOWA project also account
for mitigation by reha-
bilitating badly stressed
groundwater
aquifers,
and upstream restoration
projects as funding is
available. A water funding
package did pass the 2015
Legislature that includes
$11 million earmarked for
the basin.
NOWA’s membership is
supported by local cities,
counties and ports, Cook
said.
“This is a monumental
effort that beneits the
region long-term,” he said.
Questions still linger
about how Westland will
proceed with the project,
given a recent lawsuit
iled by senior water
rights holders accusing the
district of cheating them
out of their existing water
supplies. Bob Levy, the
district board’s chairman,
said he couldn’t answer
legal questions, but did
say patrons’ water bills
will only go up if they
order more water than they
normally receive.
The next Westland
Irrigation District board
meeting will be held
Monday, Aug. 15.
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.