LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, May 5, 2021
A3
Wallowa Valley Youth Arts Festival winners announced
Chieftain staff
ENTERPRISE — Win-
ners of the 2021 Wallowa
Valley Youth Arts Festival
for students from Enterprise,
Joseph, Troy, Wallowa and
alternative-ed schools were
announced last week.
The festival opened Sat-
urday, April 10, at the Jose-
phy Center for Arts and
Culture in Joseph, and con-
cluded April 17.
Students in grades K-12
showed one piece of per-
sonal artwork in the exhibit.
The event featured a display
of artwork, many awards
ribbons, hands-on activities
and musical performances
by area youths.
McKenzie Keff er, a soph-
omore from Joseph, won the
Judge’s Choice Award for
her drawn self-portrait.
Second-grader
Emery
Rose Duquette, of Enter-
Josephy Center for Arts and Culture/Contributed Photo
prise, won the Director’s
Honorable Mention for her Joseph junior Piper Larison won the People’s Choice Award and the Past Director’s Choice
colored drawing “Chasing Award for her ceramic scene of dragons eating macaroons in the 2021 Wallowa Valley Youth
Arts Festival.
the Moon.”
Joseph junior Piper Lar-
ison won the People’s
Choice Award and the Past
Director’s Choice Award for
her ceramic scene of drag-
on’s eating macaroons.
Other winners by grade
and in order of place were:
Kindergarten: 1. Kathy
Sichanthavong of Enter-
prise, 2. Opal Stowell
of Enterprise, 3. Scarlet
Shetler of Joseph.
First: 1. Brooklyn Glad-
den of Joseph, 2. Leif Stew-
art of Joseph, 3. Amelia
Park of Enterprise.
Second: 1. Emery Rose
Duquette of Enterprise, 2.
Tate Zacharias of Joseph, 3.
Zola Kurtz of Joseph.
Third:
1.
Rowdy
Croghan of Enterprise, 2.
Mike Alexis of Wallowa, 3:
Eva Junkins of Joseph.
Fourth:
1.
Kallie
Michaelson of Joseph, 2.
Joseph Birkmaier of Enter-
prise, 3. Malia Mayhew of
Enterprise.
Fifth: 1. Caleb Beachy
of Joseph, 2: Kade Hook of
Joseph, 3. Katie Hellinger
of Joseph.
Sixth: 1. Case Mel-
ville of Enterprise, 2.
Jamie Clinchy of Enter-
prise, 3. Celina Roberge of
Enterprise.
Seventh: 1. Abigail
Dundas of Joseph, 2. Cam-
dyn Weer of Joseph, 3. Mya
Faulds of Troy.
Eighth: 1. Isabella
Guillory of Wallowa, 2.
Aureyonna Wilks of Wal-
lowa, 3. Bailey Blades of
Troy.
Ninth: 1: Jessup Orr of
Joseph, 2. Bella Snyder of
Joseph, 3. Cassidy Wiede-
man of Enterprise.
Tenth: 1. McKenzie
Keff er of Joseph, 2. Tanner
Kesecker of Enterprise, 3.
Mary Thiel of Joseph.
Eleventh: 1. Piper Lar-
ison of Joseph, 2. Claire
Webb of Joseph, 3. Trinity
Ruth, Alternative-Ed.
Twelfth: 1. Gabriel Haw-
kins-Connolly of Joseph, 2.
Jessica Johnson of Wallowa,
3. Layla Snyder of Joseph.
This week’s featured book
Hunt, Gather,
Parent
Wallowa County honored for early school success
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Wal-
lowa
County’s
Build-
ing Healthy Families has
received national recogni-
tion by the Campaign for
Grade-Level Reading as a
“2021 Bright Spot” for its
responses to the coronavi-
rus crisis last year, accord-
ing to a press release.
The campaign is high-
lighting communities that
developed exemplary or
innovative responses to the
coronavirus crisis. The cam-
paign is recognizing com-
munities for crafting solu-
tions that seem especially
eff ective, replication-wor-
thy and/or deserving of
being sustained during the
post-coronavirus period.
“This has been a very
challenging time to serve
families and children in
Wallowa County,” said
Maria Weer, BHF execu-
tive director. “Many of our
usual activities have had to
be reformatted because of
COVID-19. We’re thankful
that our community part-
ners have partnered with us
to make our ‘to-go’ activi-
ties so successful.”
BHF has been active by
partnering with local librar-
ies to provide “Story Time
To-Go” bags at the Enter-
prise and Wallowa libraries.
New bags are provided each
week — and are available
for pickup in the lobbies of
the libraries — where pre-
ordered library books also
are available. Each bag has
a new book for kids to keep,
and an early literacy activ-
ity such as Playdough with
activities to go with it.
“Story Time To-Go is
still happening in the county
as libraries are opening back
up,” said Autumn Wilburn,
special projects coordinator
for BHF.
The Washington, D.C.-
based campaign recognized
similar programs from
across the country, Wilburn
said.
She said that although
the recognition comes with
no tangible award, it has its
value.
“It earns us ‘bragging
Wallowa County Chieftain, File
pared for college, a career
and active citizenship. The
campaign focuses on pro-
moting early school suc-
cess as an important build-
ing block of more-hopeful
futures for children in eco-
nomically challenged fam-
ilies and communities, the
press release stated.
While BHF is known for
its alternative high school,
most of its work is with
younger children, Wilburn
said, including early liter-
acy, Head Start, kindergar-
ten readiness and K-3 family
STEM (science, technology,
engineering and math).
“The majority of our
work is focused on the
younger set,” she said.
by Michaeleen Doucleff
107 E. Main St.
Enterprise OR 541-426-3351
bookloftoregon.com • manager@bookloft.org
WINTER
HOURS
DINE I K N E
OR TA T
OU Taking
Wed. & Thur. 10
Fri. & Sat. 10 am am - 7 pm
- 8 pm
Sun. 10 am - 7 pm
Now
s
Reservation
TAKE OUT ORDERS • CALL 541-569-2285
Enterprise Public Library librarian Denine Rautenstrauch lets
library patron Kim McGriff exit with a bag of books in hand on
Monday, Sept. 21, 2020. Building Healthy Families was recently
recognized for its “To-Go” activities at libraries in Enterprise
and Wallowa during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
MORE INFORMATION
To learn more about Building Healthy Families, visit http://
oregonbhf.org. To learn more about the campaign, visit
gradelevelreading.net and follow the movement on Twitter
@readingby3rd.
Building Healthy Families is an independent, nonprofi t
family support organization, off ering personalized universal
family support and education programs for parents, care-
givers, parents-to-be, students and children through diver-
sifi ed programming in Baker, Union and Wallowa counties.
rights’ and will help us with
grants we apply for,” Wil-
burn said.
The campaign is a col-
laborative eff ort by funders,
nonprofi t partners, busi-
ness leaders, government
agencies, states and com-
munities to ensure that
more children in low-in-
come families succeed in
school and graduate pre-
SPRING
TIME
FUN
and HVAC Parts & Service
Ed Staub & Sons
Energy Community Service.
201 East Hwy 82 Enterprise, OR 97828
Not just
propane
541-426-0320
Spring Artisan Market
Saturday May 8th • 10:00am-4:00pm
Next to Stein Distillery
Come celebrate Mother’s Day weekend
with local women artisans.
Love you
Mom!
Mother’s Day
May 9th 2021
Pottery • Jewelry • Fine art prints and cards • Felted wool treasures
Wood-burned art • Handmade skin care products
The Wallowa County Chieftain