REGION Friday, July 12, 2019 East Oregonian A3 First Hermiston watermelons ready Heavy snow in February had put the crop behind schedule By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian HERMISTON — Herm- iston’s most famous crop is shaping up nicely this year. Bellinger Farms started selling their first batch of watermelons this week and Jack Bellinger said he was pleased with the sugar con- tent and weight. “All indications suggest that it’s going to be a good year, quality-wise,” he said. He said he was surprised with how much the early melons weighed this year, making him cautiously opti- mistic about the season. Heavy snow in Febru- ary had put the crop behind schedule, Bellinger said, and he had expected to see a gap between when his early fields and late fields were ready. Instead, ideal weather in June helped speed things up and will help keep water- melons rolling into the store. “I would have guessed we wouldn’t start until July 15 or so,” he said. Watermelons are already available for purchase, how- Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally Photo, File The Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally will celebrate its 20th anniversary this week, and its new organizer is excited about the growing popularity of an event that brings thousands of riders and others to Baker County. Motorcycle rally set for Baker City Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Becky Conant purchases Hermiston watermelons at the Bellinger Farms shop on Highway 395 in Hermiston. Conant is bringing the watermelons to a family reunion in Florence as a remembrance of growing up in Hermiston. ever, and Bellinger said their operation would start ship- ping them outside of Herm- iston on Friday. Walchli Farms watermel- ons are not quite ready yet, but Patrick Walchli said they are looking good and will be here “shortly.” The large family-owned farm sells its melons out of a warehouse on Loop Road. “Right now they’re not ripe, but I expect to have good quality from what we’ve seen,” he said. He said in Eastern Ore- gon you never know what you’re going to get, weath- er-wise, during a growing season. The region’s climate is one of the reasons Herm- iston watermelons are so sweet, however. Hot days spur the plants to produce more sugar for energy, and cool nights help them retain the sugar. The taste makes the melons a coveted com- modity around the United States, and draws people to Hermiston each year. Women’s coalition to host economic summit By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian HERMISTON — The Eastern Oregon Women’s Coalition is gathering big names and big companies in Hermiston to discuss the economic status of the region. “The inaugural Eastern Oregon Economic Summit will offer in-depth discus- sion about factors affect- ing rural Oregon’s econ- omy, from the impacts of legislation enacted during the 2019 session to changes in technology, demograph- ics and environmental resources,” a press release states. Coalition President Bobby Levy said the event, which is slated for July 26 at Hermiston High School, differs from other eco- nomic summits because it targets the entirety of East- ern Oregon rather than a specific city or county. “In visiting with pri- vate and public sector lead- ers, there was no singular event to address Eastern Oregon’s economic issues or how to grow rural Ore- gon’s presence in Salem and beyond,” she wrote in an email. “This summit will bring a wide variety of issues under one roof and help attendees leverage the area’s economic growth. We intend for this to be an annual event.” Levy added that the coa- lition has organized a gov- ernor’s luncheon during Round-Up week for the past six years. The summit has already booked speeches from U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, as well as all three members of the state Leg- islature’s northeast Oregon delegation — state Reps. Greg Barreto and Greg Smith, and state Sen. Bill Hansell. The event will also fea- tures talks from leaders at PAE ISR, a Virginia-based defense contractor that has based its West Coast drone operations in Pend- leton, and Woodgrain Millworks, a Fruitland, Idaho, moulding manu- facturer that bought saw- mills in Pilot Rock and MORE INFORMATION The Eastern Oregon Eco- nomic Summit requires registration and will run from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on July 26 at Hermiston High School, 600 S. First St. For more information, visit www.easternore- gonsummit.com. La Grande in 2018. In the afternoon, the summit will transition to discussion panels that will cover various economic topics, including state and federal policy, housing, nat- ural resources, broadband, and business recruitment. Program grants Pendleton police new dog East Oregonian PENDLETON — Pend- leton police Chief Stu- art Roberts reported the department is getting a new four-legged officer. “Several weeks ago, we applied for a rare oppor- tunity to obtain a K-9 through a scholarship pro- cess, which included let- ters of interest, a phone interview, justification and formal application,” Rob- erts said Thursday, after he received notice Work- ing Dogs of Oregon would award one of two K9 scholarships to the Pendle- ton Police Department. The organizer and trainer are working to schedule a trip to Pendle- ton to introduce the avail- able dogs, Roberts contin- ued, and to further explore the department’s needs and capacity, along with promoting Working Dogs Oregon. The organization announced the program on June 20 to provide “two fully trained police dogs to law enforcement agencies that show the need, desire and community sup- port to qualify for a dog.” Seven police departments at that time applied for the scholarship, which is worth more than $40,000 between the cost of the dog and the training. Roberts added Pendle- ton’s police dog is a “four odor narcotics detection dog,” but the value of such dogs has decreased with Oregonians voting to legalize marijuana. “Most agencies across Oregon retired their four odor dogs, but we retained Lucy, because she was still a viable option for schools,” Rob- erts explained, “and we could not afford to replace her at $10,000-$15,000 plus 10 weeks of handler training.” Winning a new dog changes that, he said, and the department plans to retire Lucy, whose age and health now limit her use, in the near future. BRIEFLY Containment expected Friday on Blue Ridge Fire JOHN DAY — Forest Service officials anticipate the Blue Ridge Fire will be fully contained Friday. Crews and engines will continue mop up on the 667-acre lightning fire 4 miles north- west of Flagtail Lookout Thursday, accord- ing to a press release. Staffing the fire are 125 people, including nine engines, four hand crews and one water tender. Temporary road closures are in effect on forest roads 2400-054, 2180-173, 2180-257, 2400-275 and 2400-389. Athena C aledonian G ames July 12-14th Friday: Caledonian Dinner & music by Anna Burgess in the Park Saturday: Highland Dance Competition Skweez the Weezle, Celtic Band Roberts also said the best case scenario is the new dog “will have the ability to train/certify in narcotics detection, accel- erant/explosive detection and provide patrol support (tracking/apprehension).” By SAMANTHA O’CONNER EO Media Group BAKER CITY — The Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally will celebrate its 20th anniversary this week, and its new organizer is excited about the growing popular- ity of an event that brings thousands of riders and oth- ers to Baker County. Todd Godfrey, of High Desert Harley-Davidson in Meridian, Idaho, is orga- nizing the rally, which runs from Thursday through Sunday, and he said he wants to make “this the pre- mier motorcycle rally in the Pacific Northwest.” This is the first year the Harley-Davidson dealer- ship has organized the rally, but the business has been selling motorcycles during the event “for a minimum of 10 years,” Godfrey said. “It’s going to be great,” he said. “Everybody, lit- erally everybody in Baker County and the city has said nothing but nice things about the rally. And it just shows me how the commu- nity gets behind the events here and it’s going to be a good one.” Brothers Steve and Eric Folkestad started the rally. For the first several years it was a relatively small and private event involving the brothers and a few dozen of their friends who were enthralled by the variety of riding routes available. But in 2006 the Folke- stads decided to promote the event and, in effect, invite everyone. More than 1,500 riders rolled into town in May of that year. (The event later moved to June and, eventually, to its current slate in July to take advantage of more reli- able weather.) Kurt Miller of Baker City has been an integral part of the rally for the past several years, and last year officials announced that High Desert Harley-David- son would oversee the event starting in 2019. Godfrey said word about the rally continues to spread throughout the country. He said he has received emails from travelers who have heard about the rally and want to visit Baker. Godfrey is also hearing from “national corpora- tions wanting to come for next year.” “This is a family event,” Godfrey said. “We want everybody to bring their kids down, check out all the motorcycles, check out the vendors, and we have the flat track races Friday night.” Steven Adler, former drummer with Guns ‘N Roses, will be perform- ing Saturday evening at the fairgrounds along with two other music acts from Boise. Music starts at 6 p.m. There will be a private meet-and-greet with Adler before his show, and only 30 tickets are available. “We’re excited about it, we have visions to continue every year and make it big- ger and better and keep it going,” Godfrey said. 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