Business
AgLife
B
Thursday, September 23, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Chamber
cancels
banquet
— again
SUZANNAH
MOORE-
HEMANN
CHAMBER CHAT
Caring
community
welcomes
EOU
students
COVID-19 cases
force cancelation
of 2021 Farmer-
Merchant Banquet
D
o you ever have so
much on your mind
at once you have a
moment when you sort of just
freeze up — like having the
“spinning wheel of death” on
your computer and you just
have to give your motherboard
a minute to digest piles of
information? That’s how I’ve
felt lately, especially as we’re to
the end of September.
Another month behind us
and I keep asking myself where
has the time gone? It’s almost
the end of 2021? Another year,
already? Only days ago, I was
in a meeting about holiday
events and promotions. Hol-
idays? Holiday Decorating
Competition? Holiday bazaars?
The New Year’s Eve Ball
Drop? At this rate, it will be
summer before we know it —
hold my holiday cookies, I’ve
got to get in swimsuit shape.
While it is a bit too early
to get into the end-of-year
reflections (and, yes, I defi-
nitely plan to partake in a hol-
iday cookie swap — or two),
the morning air feels brisker
and the night skies flood the
valley earlier. There are still
flowers in bloom, but some
trees have been kissed with
the highlights of fall. Weekend
golfing is slowly replaced with
football games and shorts are
traded in for sweaters. It’s a
truly breathtaking time of year
when greens are replaced with
golds, but shorter days always
invite an increased desire for
hibernation.
Now, let me tell you — this
job is tiring. So tiring. Some-
times I’ll wake up in the morn-
ings and it feels like I have
tiredness in my joints and
all I want to do is hibernate.
But, working for the Chamber
is also so, so inspiring. We
recently partnered with Eastern
Oregon University’s Residence
Life for the upcoming Week
of Welcome to help engage
incoming students with the
community as they settle in for
the school year, but, with safety
in mind, there will be no Block
Party, no Downtown Scav-
enger Hunt — it just wasn’t in
the cards.
So, we called for “goodie
bags” and storefront windows.
And our businesses did not
disappoint. How do you wel-
come students to the commu-
nity without getting to talk to
them? Shower them with infor-
mation, invites and goodies —
their first exposure to the com-
munity is going to be robust
and fun.
Not only do we have busi-
nesses, including American
Family Insurance, Sub Shop,
Real Deals, Peak Lifestyle Stu-
dios, Country Financial, P1F
Credit Union, The Local, Goss
Motors and Market Place Fresh
Foods “adopting” students, but
also we had an outpouring of
support for creating welcome
pack goodie bags for students
during move-in day — from
the Grande Ronde Sym-
phony and Side A Brewing to
the Union Merc and Le Bebe
Cakes Bakery, from Ziply
Fiber, Veteran’s Memorial
Pool and Tap That Growlers
to Northeast Oregon Net-
work, Papa Murphy’s, Buffalo
Peak Golf Course and Horizon
Credit Union. Local Harvest,
Brother Bear Cafe, Mountain
Works, WorkSource Oregon,
Grocery Outlet, Shelter From
the Storm, Elgin Opera House,
Art Center East and the city of
Union Chamber all provided
goodies and treats to help wel-
See, Chamber/Page B6
The Observer
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Antlers Espresso owner Jenna Russell, right, along with her husband, Justin, and daughter, Paisley, 5, pause for a photo in their
original coffee stand on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. The Antlers Espresso location along Adams Avenue is their first stand, which
was built with the help of the Russell family in 2011.
One cup at a time
Antlers Espresso
celebrates 10 years in
business
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The sight-
ings are rare, but mule deer are
sometimes spotted near the Ant-
lers Espresso drive-thru at 1701
Washington Ave.
This is fitting, for Ant-
lers Espresso was started by
co-owners Justin and Jenna Rus-
sell with the help of big game ani-
mals like mule deer.
The Russells, who are hus-
band and wife, are shed hunters,
individuals who collect antlers in
forests.
The couple sold some of their
antlers to raise startup funds for
Antlers Espresso in 2011. Selling
the valued antlers appears to have
been a wise move. The couple’s
business, which also has a drive-
thru at 2102 Island Ave., is per-
colating with double espresso
energy. Business at both locations
is regularly brisk starting around
7 a.m. and running until closing
time in the early evening. On
many mornings, traffic gets heavy
at Antlers Espresso stands well
before 7 a.m.
“Sometimes we will have
five cars lined up when we open
at 5 a.m.,” said Jenna Russell,
speaking of the Washington
Avenue drive-thru.
A happy anniversary
Antlers Espresso marks its
10th year of operation in 2021.
The Washington Avenue stand
opened in September 2011, and
the stand on Island Avenue
opened in 2016.
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Josie Higgins, 18, pours a drink at Antlers Espresso on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021.
Russell, when reflecting on the
past 10 years, praises the help she
and her husband received from
family members in getting both
sites operational.
“We could not have done it
without them,” she said.
Russell said operating the busi-
ness is a labor of love because of
her passion for people, and for
coffee.
“I love coffee so much,” she
said. “I could not live without it.”
Russell said she feels like
she could conquer the world
after a good cup of coffee in the
morning. She wants others to feel
the same way.
“I want to spread the posi-
tivity,” she said.
Russell enjoys the atmosphere
at her coffee stands because it
gives her the chance to get to
know a wide variety of people,
the vast majority of whom are
regulars.
“We get to meet people of all
ages and backgrounds,” she said.
Russell, who has a degree
in elementary education from
Western Washington University,
became interested in opening a
coffee shop while working for Jit-
terbug Espresso in Burlington,
Washington, for seven years in
the early 2000s.
“That is where I learned the
tricks of the trade,” she said.
One of the reasons the Rus-
sells selected the Washington
Avenue site was the proximity to
the intersection of Adams Avenue
and Island Avenue.
“It is the heart of La Grande. It
is one of the busiest intersections
in La Grande,” she said.
The location on Island Avenue
is good because it offers addi-
tional space for motorists since it
is in a large parking lot, plus it is
not far from Interstate 84.
“We have a lot of regulars
there but we also draw a lot of
traffic off the freeway,” she said.
Antlers is doing well
despite challenges posed by the
COVID-19 pandemic. While the
pandemic is not impacting how
many customers Antlers serves,
but it is harder to get supplies of
See, Antlers/Page B6
LA GRANDE — For the
second year in a row, the
Union County Chamber of
Commerce Board of Directors
has canceled the annual Farm-
er-Merchant Banquet.
The chamber in a press
release stated the board made
the difficult decision at its
meeting in September.
“In light of the increased
COVID-19 cases reported
and out of an abundance of
caution, which could make
hosting a banquet highly
infeasible, the board agreed it
was the best decision to cancel
— and hopefully return in
2022 with the best banquet and
program to date,” the release
said.
The board made a similar
decision in 2020.
The board weighed many
alternative options to recog-
nize and honor the achieve-
ments of the agricultural
community, including video
interviews with the award pre-
senters and recipients. How-
ever, according to the press
release, the board decided
other options would not “ade-
quately highlight and do jus-
tice to the important sense
of community the banquet
affords.”
Caleb Sampson, vice chair
of the board and Outreach/
Events Committee co-chair,
commented in the release that
alternative formats and virtual
options “do not adequately
convey the sense of commu-
nity and accomplishment the
banquet, as a platform, creates
and provides.”
The primary goal of the
banquet is to honor the ag
community, said Shawn
Risteen, chair of the chamber
board, in the release.
“Honoring and respecting
the sense of community the
banquet provides really res-
onates with us,” he said. “It
has been and always will be
our primary goal to honor
the contributions of the ag
community.”
The chamber board said
it will explore creative ideas
for hosting next year’s award
banquet — in whatever shape
or format it will be — and is
planning new ways to express
gratitude for the hardworking
members of the agricultural
community in the interim.
Community Bank set to consolidate La Grande locations
Downtown bank
branch will close
in December
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — La
Grande will be losing one
of its Community Bank
branches.
The downtown loca-
tion at 904 Adams Avenue
is set to close Friday, Dec.
10, 2021. In an announce-
ment on Sept. 14, the bank
stated the location will be
consolidated with the La
Grande Valley branch at
2313 Adams Avenue.
“The last 18 months or
so, banking has undergone
a significant change where
a lot of our customers have
been introduced to other
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
The sign at the 904 Adams Ave. Community Bank, shown here on
Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021, will go dim in December when the branch
consolidates with the bank’s other location in La Grande.
forms of banking during
COVID-19,” Commu-
nity Bank President and
CEO Tom Moran said.
“That allows them to bank
without entering a bank
branch in order to adhere
to social distancing.”
According to Moran,
the reduced flow of
in-person traffic led to the
decision to combine into
one branch. He noted that
a large number of Commu-
nity Bank customers have
embraced digital banking
methods during the pan-
demic. The Joseph-based
bank has locations across
Northeastern Oregon and
Southeastern Washington.
All the in-person ser-
vices offered at the down-
town branch will still be
available to patrons at the
La Grande Valley branch.
Moran does not expect any
major disruption in opera-
tions with the transition.
Customers of the bank
will not be required to
make any adjustments
during the branch clo-
sure, unless they have
a safe deposit box at
the downtown location.
Account numbers will not
be changed and the use
of debit and credit cards
will not be interrupted, as
well as online banking,
the bank’s mobile app and
handwritten checks.
The decision comes just
weeks after Umpqua Bank
announced it will close
its downtown branch on
Adams Avenue and con-
solidate it into the Island
Avenue location. Umpqua
Bank stated similar rea-
soning, noting that online
banking has lessened
the need for in-person
services.
According to Moran, it
remains to be determined
how the Community Bank
staff will be impacted by
the transition.
“Any time we have
things like this we do have
spots that we’re looking
to fill,” he said. “We
hope to retain as many
employees as we can in the
transition.”
The branch will offi-
cially close at 5 p.m. on
Dec. 10.