Page 2
East Oregonian/Hermiston Herald
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
November 2016
Christmas tradition grows
Spruce that traveled the county ends up in downtown Hermiston
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
A
tree that has lived all
over Eastern Oregon
is on to its next — and
final — great adventure as a
Christmas tree in downtown
Hermiston.
The 32-foot spruce was
“raised from a sapling”
by Larry Davidson of
Hermiston.
“We go back several
years,” he said.
Davidson was a game
warden for the Oregon State
Police when he first found the
tree, then a tiny sapling, in the
Blue Mountains. He brought
it home and planted it in his
yard in Milton-Freewater.
When he and his wife
Marjorie moved to Pendleton
a few years later he dug up
the small tree and brought it
with them.
Four years later the tree,
then about four feet tall,
moved with the Davidsons
again, this time to Hermiston.
“We were going to
stay eight years, it’s been
34 years,” Davidson said.
“Hermiston has become our
home.”
The spruce tree, mean-
while, grew twice as tall as
the house. It encroached on
the fence, needed trimming
and grew far too tall for
the Davidsons to continue
decorating for the holidays.
It was time for the tree to
go, Davidson decided, and
what better send-off than to
donate it to the city for staff
to deck in lights and display
downtown?
“We just decided it’s time
to let someone else see it and
use it,” he said. “It’s time to
let go.”
Last week city staff and
volunteers from Umatilla
Electric Cooperative brought
a boom truck and bucket
truck to the Davidsons’
property just east of town and
picked the tree up. It wasn’t
easy — once on UEC’s
flatbed the branches on the
downward-facing side began
to snap while others dragged
on the ground.
After propping the top of
the tree up with a make-shift
support system and carefully
tying up as many branches
as possible, the team of UEC
and city workers helped the
tree slowly make its way to
Second Street just outside
city hall, where several feet of
lower branches were removed
and the trunk was lowered
into a freshly-opened hole in
the middle of the street.
The half-block of Second
Street will be the site of
Hermiston’s Winter Festival,
a month-long holiday
celebration from Dec. 1 to
Dec. 23 that includes live
entertainment and light shows
each Thursday, Friday and
Saturday from 6-8 p.m. As
the entertainment calendar
fills up, residents can check
out the Hermiston Winter
Festival Facebook page for
updates.
It all begins Thursday,
Dec. 1 with a celebration
that starts at 5:30 p.m. and
includes music, food vendors,
pictures with Santa and a
short tree-lighting ceremony
at 6 p.m. That night is also
Main Street’s First Thursday
for the month of December,
so attendees will be
encouraged to wander farther
downtown and check out the
special deals and samples
being offered that night.
Parks and Recreation
director Larry Fetter said the
Winter Festival will be bigger
and better than its inaugural
year in 2015.
“We learned a lot last
year when we introduced the
program and so we’re taking
it up a notch this year,” he
said.
Fetter said residents
like Cindy Thompson have
stepped up to help add more
lights and pizazz to the
display.
“We had quite a bit of
discussion about how to
better present the tree,” he
said. “People appreciated it
last year, but a lot of people
were interested in doing it up
more.”
Thompson has been
working with Main
Street coordinator Emma
Porriculo on pulling together
entertainment and vendors.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Umatilla Electric Cooperative foreman Tony Palzinski, left, and Hermiston Parks and Recreation director Larry Fetter discuss the placement of
a 32-foot tall Christmas tree on Second Street in Hermiston.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Umatilla Electric Cooperative lineman Bobby Findley
uses a chainsaw to trim the base of a 32-foot tall spruce
tree before placing it in Second Street in Hermiston.
Porriculo said there were
other events in the works
to promote Hermiston
businesses during the holiday
season, such as a scavenger
hunt through downtown after
Pancakes with Santa from
8:30-10:30 a.m. on Dec. 17
at the Hermiston Conference
Center.
“We want to promote
people going downtown and
shopping,” she said.
To get the rest of down-
town involved in the holiday
spirit, merchants are also
being encouraged to partici-
pate in a window-decorating
contest that will be judged on
Dec. 15.
Call 541-667-5018 for
more information about
participating in the festival
or the window-decorating
contest.
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Umatilla Electric Cooperative employees help move a
Christmas tree from the home of Larry and Marjorie
Davidson.
NOVEMBER IS
BLACK
FRIDAY
SAVINGS MONTH
WESTERN AUTO
HOME & APPLIANCE
320 SW Emigrant • Pendleton, OR 97801
541-276-3534 • 1-800-580-3534
12 MONTH
SPECIAL FINANCE
Happy Kids,
Healthy Smiles,
For a Lifetime!
1060 W. Elm St., Ste 115, Hermiston, OR
(across from Good Shepherd Medical Center)
541-289-5433
www.hermistonkidsdentist.com
On purchases of
$499 or more with
your Synchrony
Bank credit card.