Business
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AgLife
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Thursday, December 2, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
of the
game
New tanning, skull cleaning business opening in Union
By DICK MASON
The Observer
U
NION — Few tasks give
Michelle Steevens of Union a
greater feeling of joy and sat-
isfaction than transforming
animal hides into soft, pli-
able leather products people can use.
“It is a labor of love. I love tanning hide into leather.
It is all I think about,” she said.
Steevens is understandably fi lled with excitement
and anticipation as she begins the operation of her new
business in Union, Catherine Creek Hides. The store,
which opened Friday, Nov. 26, will provide hide tan-
ning and bone cleaning services beginning in January.
It is now open by appointment for people who want
to see its limited selection of animal hides, furs and
skulls.
Steevens said the tanning services off ered by Cath-
erine Creek Hides will help fi ll a void.
“There is a huge shortage of tanners in this
country,” she said.
Steevens said many tanneries have been shut down
for environmental reasons, such as the chemicals used
in the tanning process. She said this will not be an issue
for her because she focuses on using organic products.
Another reason for the shortage, Steevens said, is
that tanning raw hides is taxing.
“It is very labor intensive work,” she said.
Steevens views tanning not only as work but also as
Dick Mason/The Observer
Michele Steevens, shown here on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021, at
her new store, Catherine Creek Hides, moved to Union to ex-
pand her hide tanning and bone cleaning business.
an art, one whose medium is rawhide.
“It is fascinating material,” she said. “You can do
anything with it.”
The process of tanning, Steevens said, has a com-
plexity that she fi nds intriguing.
“There is a lot to it. I am always learning something
new,” she said.
The products she produces through the tanning pro-
cess include hair on hide items such as pelts and rugs.
Steevens started tanning as a hobby while living
in Southern Oregon and then began operating a small
business out of her garage. Soon her business became
more than she could handle in her garage and she was
able to leave her job and keep her expanding tannery
operation going.
“I outgrew my space so quickly,” she said.
Steevens moved to Union three months ago
because of the opportunity there to open Catherine
Creek Hides in the former Bronson Lumber building,
219 E. Beakman St.
The bone cleaning service Catherine Creek Hides
will be off ering is one Steevens also provided in
Southern Oregon. It will be primarily for skulls of
game animals people want to keep. Such skulls are
often referred to as European mounts.
Steevens will give customers a choice of two
cleaning methods for bones — boiling or dermestid
beetles.
The boiling method involves placing a skull or other
See, Game/Page B2
‘Twinkly lights’ stir up childhood nostalgia
SUZANNAH
MOORE-HEMANN
CHAMBER CHAT
T
winkly lights. For some-
thing so simple, they are so
enticing. Not to over-gen-
eralize, but I don’t think I have
ever encountered anyone who
doesn’t like them. They make
rooms feel instantly more festive;
they add such a romantic charm
to downtown streets when spi-
raling around streetlamps and tree
limbs.
Years ago, when assessing
a new photography fi lter (you
remember — the kind you put on
a physical camera, not that thing
from Instagram or wherever), I
spent the afternoon at Max Square
Park, simply photographing the
decorative lights. Twinkly lights
just feel so friendly — you want
to leave them up all year because
of their ambience, but don’t want
to risk losing the magic.
Turns out, a quick Google
search revealed twinkly lights
trigger fond childhood memories
that, in turn, fl ood the brain with
dopamine. Guess the so-called
magic isn’t quite “magic” after
all.
What continues to stay mag-
ical year after year is the blos-
soming festivities throughout the
valley as the last leaves fall and
the fi rst snowfl akes are spotted.
Our downtown and community
businesses reveal glowing, beau-
tiful displays as we start to make
our gift lists and wish lists. Even
the gently piping music changes
into the ever-familiar “that time
of year” Wham-tastic classics as
we hear more of Mariah in six
weeks than we need to in a life-
time (if you don’t know me well,
just know that, yes, I am doing a
slight eye roll as I hit repeat on the
N’SYNC holiday album).
While I will admit, I’m pretty
quick to volume-down on Mariah,
I eagerly await the excited buzz
of holiday bazaars and activi-
ties with the same anticipation
as I have since I was a child.
Exploring each table and booth
before heading down to gaze in
wonderment of what felt like nev-
er-ending displays of holiday
splendor as I impatiently strug-
gled to see every single detail of
the sights ... I can feel my heart
race a little just reminiscing. The
lively chatter, the dainty scent
of pine boughs and candles, the
fresh baked goods — all of it is an
inescapable memory of warmth.
Nowadays, my enthusiasm
partly stems from catching up
with longtime acquaintances
whom I see less frequently.
Tempting as telling Santa what I’d
like still seems to be, I love hop-
ping from shop to shop, looking
for the giving trees, then con-
ducting a scavenger hunt for
what I would like to imagine is
the quintessential goodie to help
share the magic.
Last year, we lacked the
bazaars and the interactions for
which we come so dearly to look
forward; hopefully, this year
will shape up to be (safely) dif-
ferent as more and more of us
slowly and cautiously start plan-
ning events and holiday gather-
ings. We shopped curbside and
ordered takeout for months; this
year, I am eager to share those
forgone holiday parties at restau-
rants and around family tables
over laughter and building future
fond memories.
See, Chamber/Page B2
EO Media Group, File
An October report by the Oregon Employment Department found the share
of workers age 55 and older has tripled across the state over the past three de-
cades — while the total number of jobs grew only about 50%.
Oregon’s aging workforce
trend expected to accelerate
By JULES ROGERS
Oregon Capital Insider
SALEM — An October
report by the Oregon Employ-
ment Department found the
share of workers age 55 and
older has tripled across the state
over the past three decades —
while the total number of jobs
grew only about 50%.
According to the report,
these aging workers held slightly
more than 10% of jobs in the
state in 1992, but by 2019, that
number increased to 24%. The
report cited that the large Baby
Boomer generation, now 55 and
older, are more likely to con-
tinue in the labor force at that
age than previous generations.
“It’s important to consider
the implications for businesses’
future ability to fi nd enough
See, Workforce/Page B2