A6
Events
wallowa.com
November 22, 2017
Oregon’s Alpenfest to mark 40th year
Submitted photo
Alicia Baker was such a hit at the
2017 version of Oregon’s Alpenfest
that she has been invited back for
2018.
Oregon’s Alpenfest will rely on
entertainers that evoke memories of
the past as it plans its 40th anniver-
sary festival in 2018.
Longtime favorite acts have been
invited to return as it launches its
theme, “Forty Years of Alpenfest
Memories.”
The Alpenfest board of direc-
tors, meeting Nov. 1, decided to fea-
ture The Polkatones, the nine-mem-
ber polka band that has appeared here
more often than any other, and the
Tirolean Dancers of Oregon, the folk
dance company that has performed
here most often, at the festival Sept.
27-30.
“It was no contest,” said Alpen-
meister Chuck Anderson. “Even if we
looked at new talent, The Polkatones
and the Tiroleans are the best we pos-
sibly could find.”
While both groups have expressed
interest in returning, final details
depend on contract negotiations, he
noted.
The festival also will invite Swiss
yodeler Art Brogli and Enterprise
alphornist Bruce Coutant to return.
Both have been favorites since the
festival was revived in 2012 after a
four-year hiatus.
Brogli began to sing at the festi-
val after the death of popular Swiss
yodeler Lisa Ward.
Oregon’s Alpenfest’s perfor-
mances will take place in the Edel-
weiss Inn at Wallowa Lake. For
many, the century-old structure elic-
its memories of its past as a dance hall
and roller-skating rink.
Now owned by the next-door Wal-
lowa Lake Tramway, the Edelweiss
always has been the home of the
festival.
The one newcomer that the
board said it wants back is accor-
dion virtuoso Alicia Baker. She
garnered huge applause this year
as the new star of “Accordions at
Alpenfest” at Terminal Gravity
Brewery on the Thursday before
the main festival shows. An inter-
national champion of competitions,
Baker is 26 and has been playing
accordion since age 6.
Traditional free polka and waltz
lessons will again be provided by
competitive polka dancers Randy and
Ashley Thull from Wisconsin.
The Polkatones have been per-
forming since Swiss immigrant Al
Schwend formed the band in 1971 in
Tillamook, in time for the first Alpen-
fest four years later. Now the band
includes Schwend’s daughter, son-in-
law and two granddaughters.
The energetic Tirolean Danc-
ers also were formed in the ‘70s.
Although members have come and
gone, the troupe is in demand to per-
form Alpine folk dances throughout
the Pacific Northwest. Members have
said they anticipate Alpenfest week-
end as their favorite gig, Anderson
said.
The festival ran for 33 years in
its Wallowa Lake-only format until
it was discontinued in 2008. Three
years later, a group of merchants in
Joseph formed to revive it. The result
is its current format, with events in
Joseph and Enterprise as well as the
Wallowa Lake performances.
Details and advance tickets are
available at oregonalpenfest.com.
Oregon’s Alpenfest contributes an
estimated $150,000 to the economy
late in the tourist season when there is
little else to bring visitors to the area.
Joseph blues, brews organizers sound a low note
The future of the Bronze, Blues
and Brews Festival held annually in
Joseph is in jeopardy, according to
organizers.
Since 1996, the event has trans-
formed Joseph’s city park into a hip
shakin’ good time the second week-
end in August. Winner of the Cascade
Blues Association “Best Blues Event”
award in 2015 and nominated again
in 2017, the festival has attracted con-
cert-goers and musicians from across
the country.
The all volunteer nonprofit con-
sisting of 6-10 board members and
close to 100 annual volunteers is
stretched thin. Thousands of hours
are required each year to produce the
event.
“It’s been great fun and a great
honor to work with the musicians
who have stood on the stages of
Bronze, Blues and Brews through-
out the years,” said founder Chuck
Garrett.
A number of board members are
moving on to other chapters of their
lives, leaving the 2018 version at a
crossroads.
Additionally, expenses are going
up and things like tents to rent are
getting more difficult to find, noted
Garrett.
“At this time, the event is not
planned to occur in 2018, though
the organization will remain extant
in case some group or individual
commits to its continuation into the
future,” Garrett said.
The loss will impact the county’s
tourism revenue.
The event typically attracts 1,500-
1,800 people annually, and even con-
servative estimates value the eco-
nomic impact at well over $100,000
a year.
In addition, Bronze, Blues and
Brews as part of its charitable mis-
sion, has donated tens of thousands
of dollars back to the community to
local school art and music depart-
ments, and the city of Joseph.
This year’s donations are slated
for the Joseph Library Expansion
Project, the Wallowa, Enterprise and
Joseph school music and art pro-
grams and to maintenance funds for
the Joseph park.
In addition to Garrett, the board
includes Michael Straw, Dan David-
son, Pete Beaudoin, Don Otten,
Stephanie Williams, Pearl Sturm,
Richelle Chitwood, Jeri Davis-Paletta
and Kim and Julie Lamb.
T HE B OOKLOFT
AND
Wallowa United
Methodist Church
Finding books is our specialty
102 West 1st Street, P.O. Box 53
Wallowa, Or 97885
Skylight Gallery
541.426.3351 • 107 E. Main • Enterprise • www.bookloftoregon.com
Kaye Garver - Pastor
Church
Directory
Church of Christ
502 W. 2nd Street • Wallowa
541-398-2509
Worship at 11 a.m.
Mid-week
Bible Study 7 p.m.
St. Katherine’s
Catholic Church
Fr. Francis Akano
301 E. Garfi eld Enterprise
Mass Schedule
Tues-Fri 8:00 am
Saturdays 5:30pm Sundays 10:30am
(541)426-4008
stkatherineenterprise.org
St. Pius X Wallowa Sundays 8:00am
All are welcome
Joseph United
Methodist Church
CLUES ACROSS
1. Holds candles
7. In possession of
10. Rodents
12. Type of cofactor (Brit. sp.)
13. Hard candy on a stick
14. Animal of the weasel family
15. Things that should not
be overlooked
16. “Silence” author
17. Dried, split lentils
18. People native to Ghana
19. Barros and Gasteyer are two
21. British thermal unit
22. Large oblong hall
27. Ethnic group in Asia
28. Holiday decoration
33. Milliliter
34. Open
36. Health physics concept (abbr.)
37. Tantric meditation
38. Where golf games begin
39. Birth swine
40. Rip
41. Remove
44. Puts together in time
45. Rotary engines
48. Skeletal structure
49. Member of a labor
organization
50. Japanese classical theater
51. Undergarments
CLUES DOWN
1. “Snake Tales” cartoonist
2. Religious group
3. Singer Redding
4. __ and tuck
5. Head honcho
6. Second sight
7. Composer
8. About aviation
9. Senior officer
10. Forecasts weather
11. Seasoned Hungarian soup
12. Town in Hesse, Germany
14. Thought to derive from meteorites
17. Hit lightly
18. Seemingly bottomless chasm
20. Title of respect
23. Warms up
24. Man and Wight are two
25. Type of scan
26. Atomic mass unit
29. Article
30. Incriminate
31. Passes by
32. Most nerve-inducing
35. David Alan Grier sitcom
36. Achieve
38. Freshwater fish
40. Beginner
41. Dark brown or black
42. A newlywed wears one
43. DiFranco and Vardanyan are two
44. Diego, Francisco, Anselmo
45. Ancient Egyptian King
46. Old name (abbr.)
47. Brazilian city (slang)
3rd & Lake St. • Joseph
Pastor Cherie Dearth
Phone: 541-432-3102
Sunday Worship Service
10:00 am
Leave Message at 541-432-9029
Worship at 9:00am
Bible Study Mondays at 1:00pm at
Senior Center, Wallowa, OR
St. Patrick’s
Episcopal Church
100 NE 3rd St, Enterprise
NE 3rd & Main St
541-426-3439
Worship Service
Sunday 9:30am
Wallowa County Chieftain
Historian
to read at
Fishtrap
Fireside
The December edition of
Fishtrap Fireside celebrates
writers and stories from across
Wallowa County and the
world. Featured readers are
poet Daniel Iacob, Caiti Leo
and historian David Weaver.
An open mic follows where
audience members have a
chance to share their stories.
Fireside is a free event the
first Friday of the month at
Fishtrap, 400 East Grant St.,
Enterprise. The community
is encouraged to attend these
events, enjoy light refresh-
ments and hear new work by
their friends and neighbors.
• Daniel Iacob was born
in Romania in 1988, one year
before the Romanian Revolu-
tion and collapse of the dicta-
tor regime. His family moved
to the U.S. when he was nine
and lived in New York City for
a year before moving to Seat-
tle, then Springfield, Mo.
Iacob has a master’s degree
in poetry. His work has been
published in Nowhere Maga-
zine and Moon City Review.
His long prose poem “Lost in
America” was a Top 10 Final-
ist in a national writing contest.
• Caiti Leo grew up any-
where
and
everywhere
between the steep slopes and
cold coasts of Alaska, and
the nuclear-blue of the of the
Nevada desert. Martian-like
landscapes and surreal sky-
lines inspired the imagery and
imagination in many of her
words.
Her work reaches out to the
undeniably human element in
everyone.
• David Weaver was born
and has lived mostly in Wal-
lowa County his entire life.
He has worked for the Oregon
Department of Forestry as for
the past 33 years.
More a reader than a
writer, Weaver is making an
attempt at the craft in order to
share some of the things he’s
learned researching the his-
tory of early Wallowa County
photographers.
As an amateur historian, he
is primarily interested in the
relationship between nature
and the people who have lived
in Wallowa County.
Time for a Computer Tuneup?
Spyware Removal • 541-426-0108
103 SW 1st St., Enterprise
Summit Church
Gospel Centered Community
Service time: 10:30 am
Cloverleaf Hall in Enterprise
541-426-2150
www.summitchurchoregon.org
Faith
Lutheran
Church
409 W. Main
Enterprise, Oregon
Worship 2 nd & 4 th Sundays - 2 pm
Bible Study
2 nd & 4 th Thursdays - 11 am
JosephUMC.org
LCMS
(Lutheran Church Missouri Synod)
Enterprise
Christian Church
Christ Covenant
Church
85035 Joseph Hwy • (541) 426-3449
Pastor Terry Tollefson
Church Offi ce: 541-263-0505
Worship at 9 a.m.
Sunday School at 10:30 a.m.
Evening Worship at 6 p.m.
(nursery at A.M. services)
Family Prayer: 9:30 am
Sunday School: 10:00 am
Worship Service: 11:00 am
“Loving God & One Another”
David Bruce, Sr. - Minister
723 College Street
Lostine
Holiday
Fashion
Lostine
Presbyterian Church
Enterprise Community
Congregational Church
Gifts Galore!
Discussion Group 9:30 AM
Worship Service 11:00 AM
The Big Brown Church
Join us Nov. 24th & 25th
Childrens program during service
Blog: dancingforth.blogspot.com
541.398.0597
Hwy 82, Lostine
Stephen Kliewer, Minister
Wallowa
Assembly
of God
606 West Hwy 82
Wallowa, Oregon
541-886-8445
Sunday School • 9:30
Worship Service • 10:45
Pastor Tim Barton
wallowaassemblyofgod.com
with an open door
Pastor Archie Hook
Sunday Worship 11am
Bible Study 9:30am
Ark Angels Children’s Program
Ages 4-6th grade, 11am
Nursery for children 3 & under
301 NE First St. • Enterprise, OR
Find us on Facebook! 541.426.3044
and
New arrivals, in store
promotions, gift with
purchase and free gift
wrapping!
Stop by today!
Open 10am - 5pm daily
Seventh-Day Adventist
Church & School
305 Wagner (near the Cemetery)
P.O. Box N. Enterprise, OR 97828
541-426-3751 Church
541-426-8339 School
Worship Services
Sabbath School 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
Worship Hour 11:00 a.m. - Noon
Pastor Jonathan DeWeber
Uptown Clothing & Accessories
in Downtown Joseph
12 S. Main St. • 541-432-9653