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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Dining: Parklet permits good until Nov. 17
Continued from Page A1
fortunate that Banner Bank
was able to send their notary
to each business so business
owners didn’t have to take
time off to get items nota-
rized which was so helpful.”
Thompson
said
the
60-day seating areas will act
as a trial run as the nonprof-
its consider more permanent
parklets.
While the idea of par-
klets — on-street parking
space-occupying platforms
that typically feature land-
scaping and outdoor seating
— has been fl oating around
for some time, the down-
town association and cham-
ber recently revived talks
around it.
Thompson said the groups
decided to pursue expanded
outdoor seating as an imme-
diate measure after consult-
ing with offi cials from Walla
Walla, Washington, which
already has parklets in its
downtown area.
The chamber and associa-
tion want to gather feedback
from business owners and
patrons before committing to
parklets.
“Parklets are like a jigsaw
puzzle,” Thompson said. “A
5,000 piece jigsaw puzzle.”
A stumbling block in pre-
vious parklet campaigns was
concern from some busi-
ness owners on how par-
klets might hurt customer
traffi c because it took away
on-street parking spots. But
Thompson said the down-
town area should still have
adequate parking even with
the presence of parklets, cit-
ing a 2017 study that showed
that the city’s overall aver-
age of vacant public parking
spaces never dipped below
halfway empty.
Besides being a boon to
restaurants that have been
forced to cut seating room
capacities due to COVID-19,
Thompson is hoping the new
outdoor seating areas will
increase foot traffi c to retail
establishments that have also
taken a hit. Her own business,
Pendleton Music Co., usually
relies on student instrument
rentals as a signifi cant source
of revenue, but the lack of
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan, File
Sunridge Middle School teacher Katie Bodewig leads a
math lesson from her classroom in Pendleton on Wednes-
day, Sept. 9, 2020.
COVID-19: ‘I think
there’s a bit of exhaustion’
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Extended outdoor seating lines Main Street in downtown Pendleton on Saturday, Sept. 26,
2020.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Diners eat at Virgil’s at Cimmiyotti’s listen to live music by
J.D. Kindle in downtown Pendleton on Saturday, Sept. 26,
2020.
in-person school means there
was no back-to-school rush.
The extended outdoor
seating areas’ permit runs
from Sept. 18 to Nov. 17,
and although weather could
cause some of them to close
earlier, Thompson said the
association and chamber are
exploring ways to distribute
heaters that will make out-
door dining possible even
as the temperature starts to
drop.
With the future of parklets
reliant on public feedback,
some of the early reviews are
coming back positive.
“We had a visit just this
morning from a local retailer
stating this was their ‘best
week since March’ we are
hoping the increase in foot
traffi c is due to the expanded
seating,” Rosenberg wrote.
Great Pacifi c Wine &
Coffee Co. manager Addi-
son Schulberg said the 403
S. Main St. restaurant almost
immediately saw an uptick
in customers, who were also
staying longer in the outdoor
setting.
Great Pacifi c has been
steadfast in trying to operate
responsibly during the pan-
demic, but their desire for
a parklet predates the days
of COVID-19.
“We would be building
it at dawn tomorrow (if we
could),” Schulberg said.
OMG! Burgers & Brew
co-owner Rodney Burt said
customers seemed to enjoy
the outdoor seating, and
he wouldn’t be opposed to
seeing the outdoor seating
become a parklet.
“ We saw what Walla
Walla did and it’s really
nice,” he said.
Wes Duchek and Kathy
Beck were among those din-
ing outside Great Pacifi c on
Saturday, Sept. 26. The cou-
ple said they have been wait-
ing for Pendleton to install
parklets for years and were
excited the idea fi nally came
to fruition.
“This gives people a
place to come and sit and
visit,” said Duchek. “It’s a
no-brainer.”
Beck and Duchek shared
that they often enjoyed the
streetside dining opportuni-
ties provided by parklets in
cities, such as San Francisco
and Walla Walla.
“Every town we go to that
has parklets, we have always
wanted to see them here in
Pendleton,” said Duchek.
———
Multimedia reporter Ben
Lonergan contributed to this
article.
Continued from Page A1
From June 21 to Aug. 1,
the Oregon Health Author-
ity reported that more than
1,000 people were tested
for the virus each week
in Umatilla County. But
since then, that number has
slowly dwindled.
Based on testing data
published on the state’s
public data dashboards as
of Monday, Sept. 28, an
average of just over 670
people were tested for the
virus per week between
Aug. 2 and Sept. 12.
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Education cited
recent wildfi res reducing
the specimen collection
and processing of COVID-
19 tests as reason for sus-
pending the metric tempo-
rarily, but Fiumara noted
that those explanations
aren’t quite as apt for Uma-
tilla County specifi cally.
“I think there’s a bit
of exhaustion,” he said.
“There’s people not seek-
ing care because they’re
tired of hearing about it
and their symptoms aren’t
severe. And that’s also
going to affect who gets
those tests.”
That exhaustion, cou-
pled with continued supply
shortages for the county
and local providers, is
driving down the number
of residents being tested
and continuing the trend
of those most likely to test
positive for the virus also
being the ones most likely
to be tested in the fi rst
place.
As testing supplies
remain short for poly-
merase chain reaction
(PCR) tests — the most
common and reliable form
of tests for COVID-19 —
Fiumara said that anti-
gen testing options for the
virus are emerging locally.
These tests “aren’t quite
as reliable” as other tests,
Fiumara said, but are the
same style of those often
used for the fl u.
“I think that’s where
we’re starting to see
some (antigen tests) come
through because some of
those other supplies have
been limited,” Fiuamra
said.
With COVID-19 still
prevalent in Umatilla
County, fl u season is also
just beginning. Fiumara
encouraged residents to
seek out fl u vaccinations,
and said the county is plan-
ning vaccination events
that will be announced
later this fall. Until then, fl u
shots are available through
the Umatilla County Pub-
lic Health Department’s
clinic with an appointment.
“As I will say every
year — get your fl u shots,”
he said. “It’s the easiest,
most impactful thing you
can do to prevent the fl u.”
Band:
“We, as small business owners make
adjustments daily to serve our customers
during this pandemic. Wearing our masks is
a small requirement to get us through these
unprecedented times”
Continued from Page A1
trio of nonverbal and come-
dic musicians sporting blue
skin, play a variety of percus-
sion instruments, including
one marimba-like instrument
that uses different lengths of
PVC pipes. The musicians
use fl at mallets to force air
into the pipes to create hollow
thunks of sound. The longer
the pipe, the lower the note.
McIntyre thought he could
build something similar for
his students.
“I needed to create an
instrument that doesn’t
involve blowing air, that
brings distance standards
back to 6 feet, that can be
mass produced and isn’t ter-
ribly expensive,” he said. “I
didn’t want it to be electronic.
I wanted it to be mechanical
so kids could look at it and
say, ‘How does this work?’”
McIntyre got advice from
Lake Oswego musician Kent
Jenkins, who plays a PVC
pipe instrument similar to
the one McIntyre wanted to
build.
The band instructor built
his prototype for about $45.
To fi nance the 80 instru-
ments, community mem-
bers and businesses paid for
materials that included irri-
gation and plumbing pipe and
wood, along with masonite
and sheets of rubber for the
mallets. The instrument can
be broken down for transport.
McIntyre spent some time
getting the tuning and pitch
right. After building the fi rst
deck with plywood, he real-
ized the wood wasn’t stiff
enough, allowing the tubes
to bounce in the frames. He
replaced it with inexpensive
particleboard that had less
resin in it and therefore less
defl ection.
McIntyre’s small team
started building the instru-
ments in late July, about
the time Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown announced met-
rics about when school dis-
tricts could return to in-per-
son instruction. In order to
PAULETTE DUFLOTH
THE BRIDGE BISTRO & BREWS
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Weston-McEwen High School band director Rob McIntyre
uses a mallet to play an instrument he created and mass pro-
duced for his high school and middle school bands.
resume school, Umatilla
County would have to have
10 or fewer cases per 100,000
(or about eight cases) over
seven days for three weeks
straight. That week, the
county reported 343 cases.
It would be a while before
McIntyre’s band students
would gather in person to
make music.
The instruments came
together fairly quickly. Ath-
ena School Board member
Preston Winn volunteered
to cut all the pipes, which
amounted to 1,600 cuts and
about 3,000 feet of plastic.
McIntyre built the frames.
Student Seth Lynde and his
dad, Erik, cut holes in the
decks. McIntyre’s children,
Alex and Hannah, glued cou-
plers to the tops of the pipes
to create a snug fi t that would
prevent the pipes from falling
through.
On Aug. 29, about 10 peo-
ple gathered to assemble the
instruments. The frames sat
in a line that spanned a com-
plete city block. Amy Rogers,
mother of two of McIntyre’s
musicians, installed many of
the 1,600 pipes.
“I really wanted to sup-
port the effort in any way I
could — and Rob specifi -
cally — because he dreamed
up this crazy idea for the stu-
dents, and then dared to actu-
ally follow through with the
hard work to make it a real-
ity,” she said. “Each student
has their own instrument,
and Mr. Mac suggested that
the students paint and cus-
tomize theirs if they want. It
has given students a little bit
of happy at a time when they
really need it.”
McIntyre said his student
musicians are feeling some
loss, especially his bagpip-
ers and horn players who are
likely stalled out for the entire
school year.
“The fi rst thing they had
to do was accept they can’t
blow their horns,” he said. “A
few of them have had a hard
time.”
But most embraced the
idea of the Pandemic Players,
which is also the name of the
instrument itself.
“The reaction for the
most part is that this is a cool
thing,” McIntyre said.
Rogers’ daughters, Elsa
and Lyla, feel that way.
“I just think it’s really
awesome that Mr. Mac has
gone above and beyond to
make sure that we have music
this year,” Elsa said.
“It’s different than our
band instruments,” said Lyla,
“but it’s fun to try and learn
something new.”
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• Avoid indoor gatherings
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Umatilla County
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