A10
NEWS
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Chief Joseph, Garden Walk statues to get makeover
Steve Tool/Chieftain
LEFT This bronze of Chief Joseph at the corner of Main Street will soon head to Valley Bronze in Joseph for some restoration. The restoration comes courtesy of a Wildhorse
Foundation grant to the Joseph Chamber of Commerce. RIGHT The “Garden Walk” bronze in Joseph is set for some restoration thanks to a Wildhorse Foundation grant
obtained by the Joseph Chamber of Commerce.
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
M
ain Street in Joseph will be missing a cou-
ple of its bronze inhabitants for a time
thanks to a grant from the Wildhorse
Foundation. The two bronzes, “Chief
Joseph” and “Garden Walk,” are slated
for restoration work at the Valley Bronze foundry in
Joseph. The Chief Joseph bronze stands at the cor-
ner of Main Street and Joseph Avenue while “Gar-
den Walk” is located at Main Street and East First
Street.
“I don’t want anyone to panic when they see one
or the other missing,” said Mike Lockhart, member
of the Joseph Chamber of Commerce and co-owner
of the Wallowa Lake Tramway. He applied for the
grant on behalf of the chamber.
Lockhart still served on the Joseph City Council
when he put out feelers to see what kind of money
was available for the refurbishment.
“I wrote a grant to the Wildhorse [Founda-
tion], and I got a grant. I asked for $20,000 and got
$11,000,” Lockhart said. “I was lucky enough to
get the $11,000.” He added that he had specifically
asked for restoration and patina work on the Chief
Joseph bronze in the request.
“There’s some uncertainties with the Chief Joseph
statue because of its foundation and the removing of
it when we bring it in,” he said. Because of this,
there is some difficulty in establishing an accurate
budget for the whole project. “We don’t know the
exact cost of what that will be, but we are required
under the grant to finish those two statues.” He
added that it’s possible to squeeze in another statue
for restoration. Valley Bronze was chosen because
the chamber wanted to hire the work out locally.
Valley Bronze production manager, Gary Gas-
sett, said the firm was glad to get the work.
“We’re excited to do the work for the city of
Joseph,” he said. “We want everyone to see him at
his best.”
Valley Bronze will start to work on the Chief
Joseph bronze in the next week or so.
“No one stole him,” Lockhart said with a laugh.
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