A6
BUSINESS
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
New business thriving despite pandemic, fi re
Wallowa Mountain Bar &
Grill opens on Main Street
BIZZ
BUZZ
By Bill Bradshaw
WALLOWA — The
coronavirus pandemic and
the Elbow Creek Fire, while
both devastating, have had
their silver linings for the
Wallowa area. It’s there
where Jason and Patty Skill-
ings opened the Wallowa
Mountain Bar & Grill.
“Everything
around
here’s been closed with the
COVID thing,” Jason said of
the former Horseshoe Bar &
Grill on Main Street. “They
shut this one down, so we
thought, ‘What a better time
to start one up.’”
The infl ux of hundreds
of fi refi ghters into town has
proven a boon to the estab-
lishment, but one they fi nd
is an opportunity where they
can be of help.
“You just do what you’ve
got to do. We just try to keep
everybody happy and make
sure they have a place (to
eat),” Patty said. “We’ve
told them that if they come
in later, just let us know and
we’ll make sure we get them
something. If we have to
turn the grills back on, we’ll
do that for them. There’s
so many shifts, when they
come back into town and
need someplace to eat, we’ll
get that for them.”
The
establishment
opened June 7, Patty said.
“We have been very
WALLOWA
MOUNTAIN BAR
& GRILL
busy,” she said Tuesday,
July 20. “We haven’t been
open for a week because of
some pipes, and our custom-
ers are saying, ‘When are
you open? We want to be
back. We’re missing you.’
But we plan to open tomor-
row morning at 6 a.m.,” she
said.
Who: Jason and Patty
Skillings
Where: 206 and 208 E.
1st St., Wallowa
Hours: Restaurant 6 a.m.
to 8 p.m.; bar 7 p.m. to as
late as 2:30 a.m. or when-
ever business dies
Phone: 541-886-3199
Email: wmbg28@yahoo.
com
Plenty to eat
The menu is not unique,
but looks tasty.
A fairly standard break-
fast menu features items that
have tickled the palettes of
many.
“The Wallowa Mountain
Breakfast is pretty popular,”
Patty said, referring to the
three-egg order that comes
with three strips of bacon,
three sausage links or a sau-
sage patty. It’s backed up
with hash browns and toast.
“We sell a lot of Denver
omelets,” Jason added about
the omelet that features ham,
bell peppers and onions.
Moving onto lunch, they
have a variety of burgers
and sandwiches, highlighted
by the Wallowa Mountain
Burger with its two quar-
ter-pound patties.
“All our burgers are very
popular. We make them
all fresh,” Patty said. “Our
bacon cheeseburgers are
really, really popular.”
For dinner, Patty said
they plan on specials for Fri-
days, including steaks and
ribs. There’s also a kids’
menu.
Family and community
On the back of the menu
Online: Facebook page
planned.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
No, this is not the stove Jason and Patty Skillings cook on at their new Wallowa Mountain Bar &
Grill in Wallowa, but the 1930s-era Hotpoint range makes for an interesting conversation piece
in the establishment they opened June 7, 2021.
is a list of “Things to do in
Wallowa and Lostine.”
“We want to promote
some of the smaller outfi ts
around here,” Jason said.
Their commitment to the
community is honest. They
saw that for real when trag-
edy struck just after opening
last month.
“We opened on the 7th
and fi ve days later, my son
was in a really bad car acci-
dent and the community
has been wonderful through
that,” Patty said. “They’ve
been supporting us because I
had to leave to be there with
him (at hospitals in Portland
and Salem). … They’ve
been pretty supportive of
everything that’s gone on
with me.”
She had family come
from far away to help run the
place, including a brother
from South Carolina.
Patty, who has three chil-
dren and fi ve grandchil-
dren, has lived in Wallowa
19 years, 21½ years in the
county. Jason has lived
there all his life and has two
children.
A niece, a nephew, a sis-
ter-in-law, two brothers,
a cousin and her daughter
helped keep the place going
during a busy June and July.
“The
family
pulled
together and kept it going,”
Patty said. “The community
absolutely loved that fact,
that we were able to keep it
going.”
She said one of their main
goals is to give back.
“We’re trying to help
everybody out with what
we’re doing, because a lot
of all this is to give back
to the community,” she
said. “We have our cof-
fee-drinkers who come in.
They just love it; they can
sit and socialize and have
their time. Then there’s
the ladies’ day where they
come in and socialize and
get something to eat and
just have their times. We
have couples who like to
come in and they have their
games on their phones and
they play together while
they sit and drink their tea
and have their dinner or
lunch. It’s just a lot of fun
to let them have a place to
go. That was my big thing;
giving back to them.”
Jason said they’re still
& Skylight
Gallery
formulating plans for the
bar. It’s housed in a 1910
building that started as a
pharmacy, but has been a bar
ever since. A previous owner
cut a hole between the two
to join them.
“It’s an old building,” he
said. “Sometimes it’s a pain
in the butt to work on, but
it’s alright.”
Patty still is glowing
from an experience on their
opening day when a man
from Texas stopped in who
regularly goes to bicycling
events and checks out their
chicken-fried steaks. He was
looking for places for he and
fellow bicyclists to eat.
“He said that so far,
nobody has beat Texas. I go,
‘Great, that’s what I need to
hear.’ So I go get my hus-
band and (the Texan) said,
‘That was one heck of a
chicken-fried steak. You
guys just blew Texas out of
the water.’ And the whole
restaurant heard it,” she said.
“And he’s coming back.”
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CLUES ACROSS
1. Went down a chute
5. Way to a freeway
11. It might be part-time
14. Sugar stalk
15. Document signed
before a stunt
16. One, in Cancun
17. *Harris, to Biden, in 2020
19. Tex-___
20. “Head over heels” and
“hand over fist”
21. Keg outlet
22. Practice, as a trade
23. Meal that may feature
tempura
24. Dietary amt.
26. Letter before omega
27. “The ___ of Glory”
(Lady Gaga hit)
28. *Carnival’s setting
32. Medieval workers
34. Better ventilated
35. ___ milk
38. *Pairing on a fight card
40. Stab or go
41. “To life,” at a bat mitzvah
43. Labyrinths
45. *Outing for two couples
47. Like flan
51. A, in Cannes
52. Heart of a winner?
53. “That’s ___” (Dean Martin
love song)
54. Drug made from a fungus
55. Spray used before
sauteing
57. Floral Van Gogh subjects
58. Grazed, say
59. Dramatic baseball
maneuver, or what you
can do within each starred
answer to form two words/
phrases?
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63. Definitely will, after “is”
64. Ascended
65. Machines in some labs
66. Assigned a job to
67. Is in the hole
Joseph United
Methodist Church
Grace Lutheran
Church
3rd & Lake St. • Joseph
Pastor Cherie Dearth
10 AM Worship
Phone: 541-432-3102
409 West Main - Enterprise
Online AND In Person
For More Info
Worship
Online at
541-432-3102
JosephUMC.ORG
JosephUMC.org
SUNDAY
WORSHIP
at 9am
Pastor Cherie Dearth
Pastor John B. King Jr
phone (message): 541-426-4633
web: gracelutheranenterprise.com
Enterprise
Christian Church
St. Patrick’s
Episcopal Church
85035 Joseph Hwy • (541) 426-3449
We have ‘In-person worship” @ 9:00 am
(Guidelines observed)
Sunday School at 10:30
Parking Lot Radio/Facebook @ 9:00
100 NE 3rd St, Enterprise
NE 3rd & Main St
541-426-3439
Worship Service
Sunday 9:30am
David Bruce
Pastor, Enterprise Christian Church
Lostine
Presbyterian Church
Discussion Group 9:30 AM
Worship Service 11:00 AM
Childrens program during service
Blog: dancingforth.blogspot.com
CLUES DOWN
1. One who takes things down
2. Extolled
3. One of nine in baseball, usually
4. Signifies
5. Dominates, to gamers
6. Worn-out horse
7. Periphery
8. Top-grossing movie of all
time (2009)
9. Photographer’s prefix for “data”
10. Gear up (for)
11. Parachutist’s apparel
12. Short zinger
13. Squarish
18. “Just my 2 cents,” in a text
24. Life ___ (inflatable vessel)
25. iPod predecessor
26. Lead-in to “que”
28. Freeze-___ (still image)
29. Paramedic’s roll
30. Like a red strawberry
31. Word before “cell” or “spell”
33. “___ and the Detectives”
35. Aged
36. Kind of guitar
37. Speaks with a booming voice
39. Tops of Santa costumes
42. Nickname that anagrams to “Bea”
44. Part-time athlete
46. Shows reluctance
48. Proceed leisurely
49. “Summer Nights” musical
50. “Of course! Of course!”
53. Verb that sounds like its middle
letter
54. Genie’s place
55. Subtle summons
56. Blue-green
57. Polo shirt brand
60. Cartoon squeal
61. Summer, to a Parisian
107 E. Main • Enterprise • 541-426-3351
www.bookloftoregon.com
Summit Church
Sundays at 9:30 am and 11 am
Sundays
at 10 am
at the Cloverleaf Hall in Enterprise.
at are
the required
Cloverleaf
Hall available
in Enterprise
Masks
- but made
at the door.
Pastor: David Pendleton
541.398.0597
Hwy 82, Lostine
www.summitchurchoregon.org
Stephen Kliewer, Minister
Cloverleaf Hall • 668 NW 1st St. • Enterprise, OR 97828
Wallowa
Assembly
of God
702 West Hwy 82
Wallowa, Oregon
541-886-8445
Sunday School • 9:am
Worship Service • 10:am
Pastor Tim Barton
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Seventh-Day Adventist
Church & School
305 Wagner (near the Cemetery)
P.O. Box N. Enterprise, OR 97828
Church 541-426-3751
School 541-426-8339
Pastor David Ballard 503-810-9886
Worship Hour
10:30 a.m. - Noon
Christ Covenant
Church
Pastor Terry Tollefson
Church Office: 541-263-0505
Family Prayer 9:30 a.m.
Worship 9:00 a.m.
723 College Street, Lostine
Enterprise Community
Congregational Church
Join us at the
BIG BROWN CHURCH
Sunday Worship 11:00 am
Sunday Worship 11:00 am
Bible Studies:
Bible Studies:
Sundays
9:30 am &
Sundays, 9:30 am &
Thursdays, 5:30 pm
Thursdays, 5:30 pm
Led by Lay Pastor Archie Hook
301 NE First St. • Enterprise, OR
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