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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 2021)
14 SEPTEMBER 1�8, 2021 CULTURE & HERITAGE CELEBRATING THE HISTORY OF EASTERN OREGON Always a storyteller Karen Haas shares tales from the Oregon Trail By Lisa Britton Go! Magazine B LO S T I N E , O R E G O N WEDNESDAY - SUNDAY 8 AM TO 8 PM LATE ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY 541-569-2285 S C R AT C H M A D E BEER PIZZA DENIM AND MORE G L A C I E R C O L D • FA W N F R E S H Travel Baker County Storyteller Karen Haas performs Friday, Sept. 3, at the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, and in Geiser-Pollman Park on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 4-5. AKER CITY — Karen Haas is a storyteller at heart, and she combines that skill with mu- sic to share tales of the Oregon Trail. “I’ve always been a storyteller, even as a kid,” she said. “History is not just dates.” She’ll be in Baker City this weekend to perform both at the National Historic Oregon Trail In- terpretive Center and in Geiser- Pollman Park. The center is 5 miles outside of town on Highway 86. The park is on Campbell Street in Baker City. Haas fi rst performed at the center in 2009. She’s returned every year since, with the excep- tion of 2020. Her programs on Friday, Sept. 3, will be outside at the center at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. On Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 4-5, Haas will join the wagon encampment at Geiser- Pollman Park. She’ll perform at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. both days. In addition, she will give a special presentation at 5 p.m. Saturday, also in the park. Haas will bring three diff erent shows to Baker City. In “Wagons West,” she talks about the “trea- sures and tools of the trail.” “Like the wonderful things you can make out of a horn,” she said. “And I mix it up with stories and songs from the trail.” For “Eliza Jane Meeker,” she takes her audience back to 1852 to meet this woman with a well- known husband. “A lot of people have heard of her husband, Ezra Meeker,” Haas said. “She started the fi rst library in Puyallup.” In her third program, “Tales & Tunes of the Trail,” Haas portrays a woman traveling the trail who is sharing stories around the campfi re. “She’s telling stories and gos- sip, and singing songs they all know,” she said. Haas taught music for 10 years, and worked as the curator of education at two historical sites near Tacoma, Washington. “I found I’m still a teacher, but I’m bringing the past to life,” she said. “I love sharing history.” Although she delved into sto- rytelling by Zoom over the last 18 months, this weekend she’ll be back to screen-free presen- tations. “I’m looking forward to having a live audience,” she said. “I’ve really missed that.”