BUSINESS
Saturday, June 29, 2019
East Oregonian
A9
New additions join
East Oregonian staff
illustrate stories.
“I am excited for the
PENDLETON — Two opportunity to serve the
new faces have joined the community as a journalist
East Oregonian this summer. and to produce interesting
Ben Lonergan joins the and compelling art of Uma-
staff as a multimedia jour- tilla County and the sur-
rounding areas,” he
nalist,
replacing
said.
longtime photogra-
pher E.J. Harris.
Lonergan said
Lonergan, who
his passion for pho-
tojournalism started
was raised in Eugene,
during a job shadow
is a 2019 graduate of
at The Register
the University of
Guard.
Oregon with a bach-
elor of science in Ben Lonergan
“That opportu-
nity cemented my
journalism from the
love of photojournal-
University of Ore-
ism and convinced
gon School of Jour-
nalism and Com-
me it was possible to
munication,
with
make a career out of
a primary educa-
something I loved to
tional focus in pho-
do,” he said.
tographic and mul-
Alex Castle joins
timedia journalism.
Alex Castle
the East Oregonian
Lonergan is a for-
this summer as the
mer Charles Snowden Pro- Snowden Program intern.
gram for Excellence in Jour- Castle will help the EO
nalism fellow at The Register staff with its award-winning
Guard in Eugene. While at Round-Up Magazine, while
The Register Guard, Loner- also handling general assign-
gan covered community ment stories.
“I’m excited to become a
events, sports and lifestyles
as an integral part of the pho- part of Pendleton and Uma-
tilla County for the summer
tography team.
“We’re excited to have and learn from the people
someone like Ben join the here,” said Castle, who grew
EO staff,” said Andrew Cut- up in Philomath. “Journalism
ler, EO editor. “Ben brings is about serving the commu-
an energy and passion that nity by telling important sto-
will help serve the commu- ries. I can’t wait to help the
nity in telling the stories of EO in that endeavor.”
the people who live here.”
Castle will enter his fifth
As part of the EO staff, year at the University of Ore-
Lonergan will serve as the gon in the fall, when he will
primary photographer, but complete his degree with a
will also contribute feature major in journalism and a
stories and videos to help minor in political science.
East Oregonian
Wallowa County Chieftain Photo/Steve Tool
New Imnaha Tavern owners Brooke Van Sickle and Cody Mawhinney are ready to welcome
anyone into the sacred space of the Imnaha Store and Tavern in Imnaha. The couple pur-
chased the business last October. While they plan to expand its inventory, they intend to
keep its legendary friendly atmosphere intact.
Legendary Wallowa County
tavern under new ownership
Cody Mawhinney,
Brooke Van Sickle
take over business
founded in 1904
By STEVE TOOL
EO Media Group
IMNAHA — While the
forested and snow-capped
Wallowa Mountains and the
city of Joseph may get all
the tourist glory, Imnaha has
its own special landscape
to offer. But one of its most
iconic landmarks isn’t part of
the truly natural, canyon land-
scape. Imnaha wouldn’t be
Imnaha without the Imnaha
Tavern.
One of the oldest contin-
ually running businesses in
Wallowa County, founded
in 1904, recently changed
hands, with Cody Mawhin-
ney and Brooke Van Sickle
taking over the tavern/restau-
rant/grocery store from Dave
and Sally Tanzey last Octo-
ber. With their feet under-
neath them and the business
running smoothly, the couple
took time from one of their
busy days to talk about their
adventures as new business
owners.
Asked how he enjoys his
new role as tavern owner,
Mawhinney replied: “It’s like
cowboying. It’s a lifestyle.”
Hailing from Baker City,
Mawhinney eventually man-
aged an Oregon Department
of Transportation crew sta-
tioned between Island City
and Elgin.
His partner, Van Sickle,
is from Washington and has
a background in restaurant
management and bartending
as well as heavy equipment
operation.
At the moment, Mawhin-
ney takes care of the behind-
the-scenes management, such
as ordering, building spread-
sheets, paying bills, etc., while
Van Sickle maintains a pres-
ence on the floor.
“We’re working on a sys-
tem to manage the place right
now,” Mawhinney said.
The first time he stepped in
the Imnaha Tavern, Mawhin-
ney knew he wanted to own
the place.
“I noticed the western
playing (on the TV), and
that’s a rule,” he said. “I
walked in, and it was exactly
my kind of place.”
He’s keeping the tradition.
Westerns play until 5 p.m.
and stay on unless someone
requests other programming.
“Except during football
season,” Van Sickle piped
in with a laugh. “I told Cody
when we first met that I
wanted to own a funky lit-
tle store that was like a cafe,
a local meeting place where
people can play music or put
up artwork and sell it.”
Mawhinney began talks
to acquire the business about
a year ago. He said after that
it was all about figuring out
money and how to make it
work.
“There’s a lot of moving
parts to figure out,” he said.
“It’s not your average tavern/
restaurant/store.”
“It’s an information cen-
ter,” Van Sickle. “If someone
hits a deer they bring it here,
it’s a veterinary center.“
The couple said it hasn’t
been difficult transitioning to
business owners.
“It’s been exciting and
fun — everything about it,”
Mawhinney said. “There
hasn’t been a day where I
woke up and didn’t want to
work.”
The couple hasn’t made a
lot of visible changes to the
store, yet. Money spent goes
behind the scenes, such as
the recent purchase of a new
restaurant dishwasher and uti-
lizing only one stockroom,
along with streamlining the
food production process and
ordering new outerwear with
a newly designed logo.
One noticeable change
is a veteran’s wall in the tav-
ern. Veterans can sign their
names and branch of ser-
vice and receive a free bever-
age, including beer, for their
efforts.
“We’re both patriotic,
and it’s the easiest and sim-
plest way to thank our vets,”
Mawhinney said. “I’m really
excited for that wall. Some-
day, people will come in
here and it’ll be black with
signatures.”
The couple also ordered
a new taps and had new tap
lines put in. They’ve also
added more groceries and
other store inventory to help
locals get through the week
until they can get to town.
Creating an ordering system
is one of the couple’s biggest
challenges.
“It’s easy to sell stuff that
people forget to bring camp-
ing, but this place is a local
hub, so we ask people what
they need so we can order
for them.” The business gets
deliveries about twice a week
and the two visit Enterprise
for other items twice a week.
“It gets awkward after
a while,” Mawhinney said
with a laugh. “It’s like ‘Aw,
jeez, there’s a lot of people
up here.’” One of the cou-
ple’s favorite things about
Imnaha is the lack of cell-
phone service.
They have noticed more
uplanders making the trip
down to the tavern for taco
night and to play pool. The
couple is having a new pool
table made, and pool will be
free.
“I’m really excited about
the table,” Mawhinney said.
“It’s not worth the money to
spend extra on a coin-oper-
ated table.”
Something new the cou-
ple is offering is live music.
Two bands have already
made the Imnaha journey and
Mawhinney promises music
at least once a month. The
tavern was packed at both
events. Thursday night bingo
and a family-style dinner is
another option the couple is
considering.
“Our goal is to keep things
cheap,” Mawhinney said.
Menu additions are also on
the horizon.
“We still have our chicken
gizzards,” Van Sickle said.
“Those are a favorite.”
The business employs five
people including three full-
time employees. It is open
from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., but can
stay open until 11:30 p.m. on
music nights. It is only closed
on Christmas, New Year’s
and Thanksgiving.
The couple’s favorite thing
about owning the bar is the
people, particularly the locals.
“We want to keep a
friendly
atmosphere,”
Mawhinney said. “That’s one
thing the locals were worried
about, although I’ve known
some of them awhile. We’re
not changing the place —
we’re here because we like
it.”
“It’s like a big family out
here,” Van Sickle added.
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Through his first four
years at Oregon, Castle
has primarily worked for
KWVA, the university’s
on-campus radio station,
and has served as the sta-
tion’s sports director since
the fall of 2018. There, Cas-
tle will continue as the sta-
tion’s play-by-play voice of
Oregon football and oversee
weekly sports programming,
along with the coordination
and training of the depart-
ment’s volunteer staff of
approximately 20 students.
During his time there, Alex
has also covered events like
the 2017 NCAA Men’s Final
Four in Phoenix, Arizona,
along with the 2018 and 2019
NCAA Women’s Elite Eight.
Castle is also a mem-
ber of the SOJC’s Track
Bureau, where he covered
local track events, including
the 2018 Prefontaine Clas-
sic and NCAA Champion-
ships. This weekend, Alex is
in Stanford, California, cov-
ering the 2019 Prefontaine
Classic and will travel with
the bureau in the fall to cover
the 2019 IAAF World Cham-
pionships in Doha, Qatar.
In addition to being a 2019
Snowden reporting intern,
Alex interned at the locally
owned Fox Sports Eugene
radio station in the summer
of 2017.
“Alex is an enthusias-
tic and talented individual
who is dedicated to report-
ing news and learning from
the journalists already here
at the East Oregonian,”
Cutler said.
BRIEFLY
Panda Express
coming to
Hermiston
HERMISTON — Herm-
iston’s fast food offerings
are about to expand with the
addition of a Panda Express.
The “fast casual Chi-
nese” restaurant confirmed
in a tweet that it is building a
restaurant at 1530 N. First St.
in Hermiston. It is expected
to open in December.
The property just north
of Walmart housed Stock-
man’s Steakhouse for sev-
eral years, followed by
a brief period as Indian
Kitchen and Steakhouse,
an Indian buffet that also
offered more American
fare.
Currently the nearest
Panda Express to Hermis-
ton is in Kennewick. The
first Panda Express opened
in Glendale, California,
in 1983.