Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2015)
A6 Business wallowa.com December 2, 2015 Wallowa County Chieftain Feel good about spending your holiday dollar By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain ‘Tis the season to be think- ing about commerce — just a little. Naturally, we’re mostly thinking about our families, friends and faith. But we’re also making some purchases as part of a gift-giving celebration. Ideally, BIZ since we’re BUZZ thinking about Kathleen friends and beliefs, we’re Ellyn thinking about spending our dollars at home as much as possible so that our community will bene¿t. According to studies done by the American Indepen- dent Business Alliance, 48 percent of each purchase made locally is recirculated locally, compared to just 14 percent recirculation if you buy at a other textiles and more — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday at VFW Hall, 800 N. River St. in Enterprise. big box store somewhere. For those reasons, this column is going to be about the various bazaars that will be held throughout the county during the holiday shopping season. Think of these local bazaars as your “it’s all at the mall” shopping experience: one location, dozens of differ- ent “shops” — and lunch out. The Jingle thru Joseph Bazaar This will be the second Friday-Saturday for the event. Expect booths and ta- bles of arts crafts, hand-made textiles, antiques, jewelry, pottery, wreaths, edibles and more — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Joseph Community Center, at the corner of E. 1st and S. Lake streets. The kitchen will be open and volunteers will be serv- ing food as a bene¿t for the Joseph Library Expansion. A few booth spaces were still available at $35-$40 for the weekend. For details, call MEDICARE BIRTHDAY RULE If you have a Medicare Supplement Plan you have 30 days after your birthday to compare & apply for a new Supplement Plan. Call Kathleen or Heather TODAY to discuss your options for a lower Medigap premium. 541-426-4208 Locally owned & operated 616 W. North Street, Enterprise Steve Tool/The Chieftain Vendors displayed a variety of wares last weekend at the Jingle Thru Joseph Holiday Bazaar at the Joseph Community Center. The bazaar continues this weekend. Sally Brandt at 541-432-7780 and leave a message. Wallowa County Handcrafters Christmas Bazaar Held annually for approxi- mately 30 years, this bazaar is dedicated to crafts, fundraisers and holiday spirit — 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Clover- leaf Hall, 668 NW 1st St. in Enterprise. Expect to ¿nd handcrafted items, a 4-H fundraising table and much more from local vendors. Lunch and a small breakfast will be available for purchase. A few table spaces were still available for $25 each. For details, call Natalie Wilsey at 541-828-7802. VFW Holiday Bazaar Expect 15 tables of “any- thing and everything,” accord- ing to organizers: homemade candy, candles, crochet items, woodworking gifts, quilts and Enterprise Holiday Bazaar Expect a rummage sale- style event with 15 tables of both new and gently used items: jewelry, crafts, antiques, fundraiser items and more — 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at 119 E. Main St. (inside Stage One) in Enterprise. Damsel in Defense self-de- fense items can be purchased at this event. City of Wallowa Christmas Bazaar Expect a family-friendly day of shopping and pictures with Santa to bene¿t Wallowa Senior Center — 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the center, corner of N. Pine and E. 2nd streets in Wallowa. Vendors will have 20 tables of homemade children’s clothing, goat soaps and creams, pine needle baskets and other art, collectibles, jellies and baked goods, jew- elry and more. Wallowa Red Hat Ladies Society and the Methodist Ladies will be sell- ing food items, collectibles, jellies, quilts and more. As is traditional, several varieties of chili accompanied by cornbread, pie and cinna- mon rolls will be available for purchase along with coffee and other drinks. A few tables were still available at press time. Call Kate Wheeler at 541-398- 1565. Enterprise Gift Market In conjunction with Winter- fest, expect more than a dozen tables of quality merchandise including baked goods and oth- er food, herbal teas, quilts and other textiles, handmade items, jewelry, antiques and more — 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 11 and 12 in the old Crossings Build- ing at 103 W. Main St. The hospital auxiliary will be selling See’s Candy, and the Enterprise Historic Landmarks Commission plans to sell a new Christmas ornament in their historical buildings series. A few tables were still available at press time for $15 for both days, or a double space for $25. Call Sondra Lozier, 541-426-3229 (shop) or 541- 263-0104 (cell). Please send your Biz Buzz news tips to Kathleen Ellyn at kellyn@wallowa.com. Program urges micro-investing in small business Oregon has a new law that encourages Oregon’s entre- preneurs to raise capital from their neighbors. The new law creates an exemption for the state’s small business own- ers to raise up to $250,000 in loan or equity agreements with Oregon residents, who do not need to be accredit- ed investors. The Commu- nity Public Offering (CPO) exemption has a maximum per-person, per-deal invest- ment of $2,500. Check out ex- isting Oregon CPOs at https:// secure.hatchoregon.com/. An extensive workshop series, open to interested en- trepreneurs, will take place in Baker City and Joseph. Indi- viduals interested in learning more about the program can sign up for a free Intro to the CPO webinar for entre- preneurs scheduled for noon Dec. 9. Topics covered will in- clude: • Whether a CPO is right for you and your business • Costs of raising capital this way • Time commitments re- quired for a successful raise • Technical requirements of the rules (disclosure docu- ments, business plan review, legal compliance) • What the Hatch platform offers • What the Investor Ready accelerator offers Register free at http://ti- nyurl.com/q9jnr4p. Use the promo code NEOEDD to waive the $50 registration fee. LODGE that’s not what we wanted. Peo- ple who have more money real- ly want to be part of something, not lead the charge. Almost all of my larger investors have said they might not have wanted to be part of it if there hadn’t been small investors at the start.” Since taking the lodge off the market, Monteith and the LLC management committee have been working to hammer out de- tails of management and create a prospectus for potential buyers. That prospectus is now avail- able and Montieth expects to see a burst of investment. “A lot of people have been waiting for the prospectus,” he said Monday. “We got commit- ments in cash for over $1 mil- lion before the prospectus was out. 1ow that it’s out, , got ¿ve new investors today.” The LLC now has $1.1 mil- lion toward a $3.5 million goal that encompasses the purchase price, transactional fees of $250,000 and a reserve fund of $500,000. “We’re 40 percent of the way,” Montieth said. “We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re getting the investors we hoped to get and the prospectus has been out less than two weeks. We’ve been on the road for three weeks in Pendleton, La Grande, Baker, Portland and Boise. We’ve been able to tap into some of the old families that have connections to Wal- lowa Lake.” If the LLC fails to come up with the total by the deadline, a low-interest bridge loan of $1 million and/or a $500,000 tra- ditional bank loan may be used to make up the difference. The group will then sell the conser- vation easement, which would put the surrounding land under the management of an entity that would protect it from de- velopment. According to the prospec- tus, four Tuali¿ed entities have expressed an interest in the easement, which has an approx- imate value of more than $1 million. The purchaser should have no dif¿culty paying that price, according to Monteith. “This is a very fundable easement; we’ll help them raise the money if they need the help,” he said. All investments come with signi¿cant risk, but this is par- ticularly true in the case of the lodge, which is a stand-alone investment. The prospectus clearly informs potential inves- tors that there are no other prop- erties in the portfolio to balance any losses and the success of the lodge will depend entirely on maintaining good manage- ment. Monteith has acted as man- ager of the LLC from its incep- tion and will continue to do so if the group does purchase the lodge — though additional managers may be added in the future. The lodge’s current gen- eral manager, Laura Cosgrove, also will remain in her position. While not understating the risks, Monteith points out that the lodge is a going concern and in 2014 reported an income of more than $537,000 — about $78,000 more than in 2011. Continued from Page A1 Wallowa County resident James Monteith, director of Wallowology, and nine oth- er investors raised the initial $275,000 (10 percent of asking price) needed to take the lodge off of the market until Jan. 15, 2016. “We could probably have found some big investors to come up with the entire amount,” Monteith said, “but