REGION
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
Round-Up’s latest pop-up similar to permanent proposal
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — As soon
as he saw the vault in the old
bank building at 256 S. Main
St., Pendleton, he knew he
had to call it the Maker’s
Vault.
Oden and his business
partner Justin Alps turned the
vacant building into a mini-
mall during Round-Up week,
inviting high-end Western
brands like Stetson to sell
their wares in an area with
heavy foot traffic.
In a Friday, Sept. 17 inter-
view, Oden said both have
experience in vending. Alps
sells leather goods through
Long X Trading Co. while
Oden and his wife Karen
operate Espuela Trading Co.,
an Amarillo, Texas-based bag
vendor. Alps had the Pendle-
ton connection, having once
plied his trade at Hamley &
Co. while Oden had expe-
rience organizing vending
areas and large rodeos.
Oden said the group
invested significantly to get
the building ready for rodeo
week. The Makers Vault also
advertised on social media:
anybody who followed one of
the vendors on social media
and got within a certain prox-
imity of Pendleton would
automatically see ads for
pop-up. Behind the vendor
area, Oden and his partners
installed a bar and TV, which
broadcast the Round-Up.
Jordan Schnitzer’s Harsch
Investment Properties bought
the building in 2016 and has
filed it with a number of
different pop-ups in Round-
Ups past, including a Crow’s
Shadow Institute of the Arts
gallery and a Lucchese boot
shop. Oden said the property
was attractive to his group
because of its indoor setting,
noting the forecast called
for rain on Sept. 18, but the
vendors’ goods would be
protected.
Oden said the Makers
Vault was successful enough
early in the week that it
planned to stay open later
than its posted closing time
during the final two days of
Round-Up. While he would
like to come back to the
Round-Up next year, he’s not
sure if there’s going to be a
space for the Makers Vault to
come back to.
The city of Pendleton has
pitched Schnitzer on turn-
ing the vacant building into a
permanent “maker’s space,”
a place where artists and
artisans could make and sell
their products while draw-
ing tourists to the downtown
area. Under the proposal, the
building would be renamed
the “Jordan Schnitzer West-
ern Guild Building” or “The
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Cody Oden, who co-owns the Espuela Design Co. with his wife Karen, sports some of his own product on Saturday, Sept. 18,
2021, at the Makers Vault, an old bank building in downtown Pendleton owned by Portland philanthropist Jordan Schnitzer.
Trailhead Building” and
also include a bistro, outdoor
dining and vacation rentals.
Pendleton Convention
Center manager Pat Beard
said he was initially involved
in bringing the Makers Vault
to Pendleton, but he took a
step back once he realized
that the city wasn’t going to
take possession of the build-
ing before the Pendleton
Round-Up started. Regard-
less, Beard said he thought
the success of the Makers
Vault was a proof-of-con-
cept for providing a similar
service in the building year-
round.
“That’s exactly what I
see as the building’s highest
purpose,” he said.
Beard said he was happy
to hear the Makers Vault did
good business, but he was
hoping the building will
have a permanent tenant by
September 2022.
LOCAL BRIEFING
Police arrest woman after
finding drugs in vehicle
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Southern Twain BBQ will close at the end of September 2021 as the Hermiston Food Pod
undergoes renovations.
Bigger, better Hermiston
Food Pod in the works
Temporary closure
begins at the end
of September
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — The
Hermiston Food Pod will
close temporarily starting
Sept. 30, but it will return
after about a month, bigger
and better than ever, accord-
ing to Clinton Spencer, plan-
ning director for the city of
Hermiston.
The Food Pod is a group
of mobile food vendors on
Orchard Avenue in Herm-
iston, near McKenzie Park
and the U.S. Post Office.
Spencer said the closure
“will allow the city’s
contractor to go in and
upgrade the utility infra-
structure.”
He explained there is one
point of power connection
and one water connection.
All the users at the pod have
to share this one connection
right now, but the upgrades
will create eight permanent
water, sewer and electric
connection points.
This will allow for as
many as eight vendors to
each have their own utility
point and dispose of waste-
water on site, Spenser said.
“Adding this infrastruc-
ture will help attract more
vendors,” Spencer said. “We
have seen a lot of interest in
locating in the pod, but the
lack of individual water
connections, and especially
the lack of wastewater facil-
ities, keeps a lot of vendors
from committing to the
site.”
Other improvements
include more parking and
fencing around the perim-
eter of the site, though the
fencing may be installed
later, possibly waiting until
2022.
Patrick Hunt, who has
been involved with the food
pod for three years, has been
the site’s manager and over-
seer for the past two years.
He also operates Southern
Twain BBQ.
It has been “such a long
way from our first day on
site, three years ago,” he
said. And he is excited about
updates, which will bring
internet, as well as more
connections — for power,
sewer and water.
He foresees eight to 10
new vendors, more than
filling the pod, even with
the upgrades. They are as
follows: Southern Twain
BBQ, Maguis Raspados,
Bella Blu, Tacos Garcia,
Philippine/Filipino, Rolled
Ice Cream, Deli Sandwiches
and Hispanic Hotdogs &
Smoothies. There also will
be smaller trailers or tents,
and temporary daily use
vendors.
Hunt said new power
receptacles throughout the
property will make musical
performances possible, as
small bands will be able to
plug in their equipment.
Excited about these new
developments, he said he
will close Southern Twain
BBQ for the duration of the
pod’s closure. He said he
intends to spend time with
his family, as well as deep
clean and remodel his truck.
He also will develop new
food offerings.
He thanked the commu-
nity, which has shown
him a lot of support. High
school students, in particu-
lar, he said, have been good
customers.
PENDLETON — Oregon State Police
arrested a woman during a traffic stop on
Thursday, Sept. 16, after a police dog found
a sizable amount of drugs in her possession.
Oregon State Police reported trooper
Charles Rohlf stopped Angela Marie Collins,
45, at 3:45 a.m. for several traffic violations
and that he “observed criminal activity”
while contacting Collins. Collins gave verbal
consent for a search, read the written consent
form and then denied consent, OSP reported.
Police used a dog to search the vehicle and
found roughly a half-pound of methamphet-
amine, an ounce of heroin and a half-pound of
blue pills that appeared to be fentanyl.
OSP arrested Collins on preliminary
charges of possessing and delivering metham-
phetamine, heroin and creating or delivering
counterfeit Schedule II controlled substances.
Umatilla County pandemic
death toll climbs to 125
PENDLETON — Umatilla County
reported two new COVID-19 deaths on
Thursday, Sept. 17, raising the county’s
pandemic death toll to 125, according to a
press release from the health department.
The newly reported deaths come as the
county reported a slight decline in weekly
cases, reporting 350 cases after seven consec-
utive weeks with more than 400.
Six Umatilla County residents who tested
positive for COVID-19 have died so far this
month. Last month, at least 21 died, tying the
county’s all-time record for reported COVID-
19 deaths in a single month.
The county’s 124th victim is a 63-year-
old man who tested positive Aug. 29 and died
Sept. 10 at CHI St. Anthony Hospital, Pend-
leton. He had unspecified underlying health
conditions.
The county’s 125th victim is a 72-year-old
woman who died Sept. 16 at a private resi-
dence and tested positive Sept. 18. She, too,
had unspecified underlying health conditions.
County to decide on burn
ban in bimonthly meeting
PENDLETON — The Umatilla County
Board of Commissioners will meet for its
bimonthly meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 22,
with three items on the agenda, including the
county’s burn ban.
The board adopted burn bans in June in
response to the record-breaking drought
conditions that consumed Umatilla County.
The bans prohibited agricultural burning,
burn barrels, yard and garden debris piles and
small-scale residential burning
It includes all unincorporated areas of the
county but excludes lands belonging to the
state of Oregon, the federal government, the
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation and areas that are in rural fire
districts.
The board at the Sept 22 meeting will
decide whether to lift the burn ban.
Also on the agenda is a presentation from
the Umatilla Basin Watershed Council.
The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. at room
130 in the Umatilla County Courthouse, 216
S.E. Fourth St., Pendleton.
Umatilla Electric Cooperative
names new VP of finance, rates
HERMISTON — A longtime bank-
ing executive has joined Umatilla Electric
Cooperative as vice president of finance and
rates, a newly created posi-
tion at the Hermiston-based
business.
John Donner will work to
develop and enhance finan-
cial and fiscal responsibilities
associated with UEC’s power
supply obligations, according
Donner
to a press release from UEC
on Monday, Sept. 20.
Donner began his career in 1991 as a credit
analyst at St. Paul Bank for Cooperatives in
Minnesota, working with rural infrastruc-
ture borrowers in the Midwest. After that
bank merged with CoBank in 1999, Donner
worked with borrowers in the telecommuni-
cations industry as a relationship manager
before changing his focus to electric distri-
bution cooperatives in 2011.
According to the press release, Donner
during the past 10 years has worked with
cooperatives in 15 states and most recently
managed a loan portfolio with balances in
excess of $825 million.
Donne holds a bachelor’s degree in
economics from St. John’s University in
Collegeville, Minnesota. and a master’s in
business administration from the University
of Rochester, New York. In his spare time, he
is an avid hunter and outdoorsman.
“Umatilla Electric Cooperative is an
innovative, rapidly growing and finan-
cially strong organization,” Donner said.
“I am thrilled to be given the opportunity
to move to Oregon, join the team at UEC
and begin the next chapter of my profes-
sional career.”
— EO Media Group
The family of
B
Dolores White
would like to thank all who sent
cards, flowers, made calls,
expressed their condolences
and attended the service.
Your kindness will always
be remembered.
H
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