A8
LOCAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Tunesmith Night to showcase Youth Arts Fest opens April 10
original music in livestream Josephy Center
Chieftain staff
WALLOWA COUNTY
— Now in its 15th season,
the Wallowa Valley Music
Alliance will present the
Saturday, April 10, epi-
sode of Tunesmith Night,
a livestream showcase of
original music that will
begin at 7 p.m.
Three songwriters shar-
ing their original work in
an intimate round-robin
format takes on another
dimension in the virtual
format by allowing each
performer to be safely situ-
ated in their own location.
The show will be streamed
live to YouTube and the
Music Alliance website
and on other social media.
Viewers will be encour-
aged to show their support
for the program via online
donations.
Tunesmith Night will
feature songwriters Belinda
Bowler, Bill Davie and
Larry Murante.
Bowler grew up singing.
Some of her earliest memo-
ries are of the songs her dad
sang on family vacations.
When she was in the third
grade, her sister taught
her three
chords on a
guitar their
dad
had
brought
h o m e
from
a
Bowler
thrift store.
Fifty years
and a few guitars later,
she is still telling stories
with her songs. Her lat-
est music project is called
The Keeper, a collection of
15 songs for children that
adults can enjoy as well.
Many of the songs come
from her years as an educa-
tor. She used music in her
classroom to create inter-
est, support learning and
encourage creativity with
her students.
Davie has been play-
ing and singing since he
was 3 years old. He began
writing songs at age 11. He
has produced seven record-
ings of his original songs,
fi ve self-published books
of poetry, and continues
to be an active writer and
performer at clubs, coff ee-
houses, colleges, concert
halls and festivals, mostly
in the Pacifi c Northwest.
Murante is well known
to host it daily
Chieftain staff
Davie
Murante
for his soaring, mellifl uous
tenor, strong rhythmic gui-
tar style and engaging stage
presence. His award-win-
ning original songs fea-
ture beautifully woven sto-
ries about everyday folks.
They combine compassion-
ate, socially conscious lyr-
ics with an upbeat, joyful
folk-rock style. In the past
10 years, Murante has won
more than 18 awards in
U.S. and international com-
petitions for songwriting
and performance, includ-
ing grand prize winner of
the John Lennon Songwrit-
ing Contest. His fourth CD
release, Patch of Sky, has
garnered critical acclaim
and radio airplay in both
the U.S. and Europe.
For more information,
contact Janis Carper, Alli-
ance executive director, at
www.wvmusicalliance.org
or 541-426-3390.
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JOSEPHY CENTER FOR
THE ARTS AND CULTURE
3/17 Solution
Nf4+
403 Main Street Joseph, Oregon
JOSEPH — The Wal-
lowa Valley Youth Arts Fes-
tival opens Saturday, April
10, at the Josephy Center for
Arts and Culture in Joseph,
and runs through April 17.
The exhibit will be open
from noon to 5 p.m., accord-
ing to a press release.
“The Youth Arts Festi-
val is a great way to cele-
brate Wallowa Valley stu-
dents’ artwork, and we want
to show off all the talents
in the safest way possible,”
said Cheryl Coughlan, exec-
utive director of the center.
“Last year, we had to cancel
the event due to COVID-19
closures, but with caution, I
think we can make the event
fun.”
“Kiddos
are
really
excited to have the Youth
Arts Festival back so they
can show off their works
and see what others are cre-
ating and what kid doesn’t
love getting a ribbon,” said
Pamela Beach, the cen-
ter’s art instructor. “It’s a
long time coming and I’m
thrilled to see what kids
have been creating.”
With COVID-19 restric-
tions, the gallery will be lim-
ited to 30 visitors. All visi-
tors must wear masks while
in the building. Art bags
will be given out to visitors,
and as is done every year,
awards will be given to the
artists and the artwork they
present. Refreshments and
snacks will be available to
visitors.
The Youth Arts Festi-
val has always been under
the umbrella of the Wal-
lowa Valley Arts Council.
In the fall of 2019, the coun-
Jennifer Hawkins-Connolly/Contributed Photo
A young artist shows a sculpture she made during art class at
Joseph Charter School. Artwork of area students will be on
display at the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture starting
Saturday, April 10, 2021, during the Youth Arts Festival.
cil merged with the Josephy
Center and this year’s festi-
val will be the center’s fi rst
offi cial festival under the
combined auspices.
“We are so honored to
take over this program, we
want to make this a spe-
cial annual event where
the community can come
together and celebrate the
talented art students we have
in this county,” said Megan
Wolfe, program coordinator
at the center.
Youths in grades K-12
will show one piece of per-
sonal artwork in the exhibit.
The event features a display
of artwork, many awards
ribbons, hands-on activities
and musical performances
by area youths.
The center is located at
403 N. Main St. in Joseph.
For more information, con-
tact Coughlan at 541-432-
0505 or www.josephy.org.
County FFA students do well at state
Joseph, Enterprise
have 28 earn
state degrees
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
W A L L O W A
COUNTY— FFA students
from all over Oregon par-
ticipated in the 88th Ore-
gon FFA State Convention,
held virtually March 18-21,
from Oregon State Univer-
sity in Corvallis. This year’s
convention had to be held
remotely due to the COVID-
19 restrictions.
Chelcee Mansfi eld, FFA
adviser at Joseph Char-
ter School, said the chapter
received a Superior Chap-
ter Award, as well as a Gold
National Chapter Award
during the event. The chap-
ter’s beginning parliamen-
tary procedure team placed
second, and Anabelle Rus-
sell placed fi fth in advanced
public speaking.
Joseph had fi ve profi -
ciency fi nalists who were
state winners: Anabelle
Russell in ag education,
Jonah Staigle in agricul-
tural mechanics fabrication,
Josey Wearin in beef pro-
duction placement, Brianna
Micka in equine produc-
tion entrepreneurship and
Ian Goodrich outdoor rec-
reation. Maggie Zacharias
placed second in equine pro-
duction placement.
One of the highlights of
the FFA year for Joseph was
that Russell was able to get
grants to purchase six tower
gardens to help educate the
school and community about
vertical farming. She is cur-
rently growing salad greens,
kale and basil with plans to
grow cucumbers and toma-
toes in this aeroponic system
within the school’s green-
house. She will be providing
the school lunch with salad
greens to be used in the
Cobb salad. She taught les-
sons to the high school and
eighth-graders and will also
work with the elementary
students. The food science
class made gourmet salads
with the greens and chicken
basil pizzas.
Of the 240 Oregon FFA
members who received their
state degrees, 28 were from
Wallowa County. The State
Degree is the highest degree
of FFA membership. The
recipients include:
• Addie Royes, Alex
Albanez, Alona Yost, Andy
Huwe, Bailey Vernam, Car-
rin Yaw, Caylynn Beck,
Destiny Wecks, Dylan Jen-
nings, Flynn Nave, Gaven
Winn, Gideon Gray, Grace
Collins, Gracie Ellis, Hunter
Harvey, Jada Gray, Kasey
Duncan, Landon Green-
shields, Lannie Stonebrink,
Liz Rowley and Rilyn Kirk-
land of Enterprise.
• Anabelle Russell, Des-
tany Moore, Hayden Hite,
Ian Goodrich, Jonah Staigle,
Maggie Zacharias and Trace
Collier of Joseph.
Wallowa High School’s
FFA chapter was largely
unable to compete this year,
said Jeremy McCulloch,
the school’s FFA adviser.
He said scheduling con-
fl icts prevented participa-
tion in many of the qualifi -
cation events in the virtual
convention.
Wallowa had about a
dozen students receive their
State Degrees last year and
McCulloch expects another
large group next year.
“Hopefully they’ll be
able to go to a normal con-
vention next year,” he said.
“We were kind of on the out-
side looking in … but our
program’s strong.”
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