Brann
Family
strikes
a chord
for local
charities
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
___________________________________________
If there’s a local music event for the purpose of
raising funds for charity, it’s a solid bet that the Brann
family is in the mix. The family often donates the use
of their theater, the OK Theatre in Enterprise, as well
as their considerable music talents — often both.
Darrell Brann is a relative newcomer to
Wallowa County, having grown up in Maine.
He became acquainted with the area after a marathon
car delivery from Maine to Corvallis, finding Joseph
and Imnaha during the return adventure. After return
to the East Coast, Brann met his future mother-in-law,
who told him she had bought ranch property in Joseph
and invited him to work there for a summer.
Remembering the beauty of the area, Brann readily
agreed. Over Thanksgiving weekend, Brann’s future
wife, Christi, came home to the ranch for a visit.
“That was it for me,” Brann said with a laugh.
The couple married the following summer in the
year 2000.
As the Branns began having children, they started
playing as a family in 2006-’07.
Darrell Brann got interested in the OK Theatre after
watching several music acts and being impressed with
the sound.
The Branns spent several years both organizing and
performing at benefits while bringing such diverse
artists as Eric Bibb and The Infamous Stringdusters to
Steve Tool/Chieftain
Darrell and Christi Brann with children Alden and Isabella.
the area. Eventually the theater went up for sale. After
it sat on the market for a year or so, the Branns pur-
chased it in 2013.
“We started looking at it as viable even to rent the
space out to other people so community events could
happen in there again,” Darrell Brann said.
“By December, we had the school back in there again,
and people started renting it right away.”
Although the theater regularly hosts benefits and
shows by both the Brann family and outside interests,
the Branns know their name is associated with the the-
ater and try to ensure all its events meet a certain qual-
ity standard.
“We’re starting to have events where we’re drawing
20 to 40 people from as far away as Seattle,” he said.
“Those people rent hotel rooms and eat out — it’s good
for the community.”
Part of the goal of the Brann family is to bring in
types of music not readily available to local listeners.
For example, Darrell Brann and his brother Craig
played a well-attended acoustic blues set at the
Rimrock Inn earlier this summer, as well as a follow-
up concert at the OK Theatre later the same week.
“We also try to work with local musicians. We appre-
ciate what they do,” Christi Brann said.
Although the Branns hope their theater does well and
point out that well-attended shows are a benefit to local
businesses as well as themselves, they look at it as a
community asset. Both Darrell and Christi Brann say
they enjoy seeing the theater used for events such as
the firefighter/Red Cross benefit. Other nonprofits in-
cluding Creating Memories and Divide Camp use the
theater as well.
“We’re really trying to build up the theater
because we look at it as being for everybody,
community wide,” Darrell Brann said.
The Branns also volunteer at their church, help elderly
neighbors get firewood and tutor at Classical
Conversations, a local alternative to public school.
“We just try to pitch in wherever we actually can,”
Darrell Brann said.
WALLOWA COUNTY GIVING 2015 Page 7