BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2022 A3
LOCAL
Wolf Creek Grange feeds
Thanksgiving dinner
to community members
BY DICK MASON
The Observer
NORTH POWDER — North
Powder has a generous com-
munity, one that sometimes is
a bit too generous — at least for
some. That’s something Cecilia
Lovely, the head cook for North
Powder’s Wolf Creek Grange’s
annual community Thanksgiv-
ing dinner on Sunday, Nov. 20,
knows firsthand.
One of the donated turkeys
Lovely cooked for the dinner
weighed a cumbersome 50
pounds.
“It was so huge we had to cut
it in half,” Lovely said, because
the big bird would not fit into
Wolf Creek Grange Hall’s ovens.
Handling the large turkey was
one of the challenges the cooks
for the grange’s dinner, which
has been conducted almost ev-
ery year for at least 60 years,
confronted while preparing the
annual feast, which was free and
open to the public.
The cooks lost more than a
few hours of sleep preparing the
meal in the days leading up to
it, but not their sense of humor.
This was apparent on Nov. 20
Another Thanksgiving meal in Union County
Faith Center invites the community to a free Thanksgiving dinner
with food, family and fellowship on Thursday, Nov. 24, beginning at
3 p.m. in the Next Gen building, 10208 S. D St., Island City. Doors open
at 11 a.m. for those who would like to cook together. For details, call
Brooke at 541-663-6589.
as the cooks made last-minute
preparations for the meal.
“We have so many things go-
ing on that I’m not sure where
I’m at,” Lovely said with a laugh.
Bringing the community
together
Despite a few speed bumps,
the Wolf Creek Grange Hall
opened for its Thanksgiving
dinner 20 minutes early with
a bountiful selection that in-
cluded turkey, ham, rolls,
mashed potatoes and gravy and,
of course, pies.
Barry Princevalle, of North
Powder, was among the more
than 40 people who came.
“It is so fun to get together
and see old friends,” he said.
Jeff Nielsen, who came to the
dinner with his wife, Wynn, said
the annual Thanksgiving dinner
is symbolic of what Wolf Creek
Grange does.
“It brings the community to-
gether,” he said.
Nielsen noted that the an-
nual Thanksgiving meal has
enormous historical signif-
icance for the Wolf Creek
Grange, which celebrated its
100th anniversary in 2021. He
said it is believed the grange
has been conducting its
Thanksgiving dinners since it
moved in 1957 to its present
location, a building that previ-
ously housed many businesses
including a meat market and
mercantile store. He said the
site is a far cry from its origi-
nal location near Wolf Creek, 8
miles northwest of North Pow-
der, that was destroyed by a fire
in the early 1940s.
Liz Robinson, a volunteer
who helped prepare the dinner,
said one of the best things about
it is that it gives all people the
chance to enjoy a good Thanks-
giving meal.
“Not everybody is able to
cook,” she said.
Robinson said the Wolf Creek
Grange members and the other
community members who assist
with the Thanksgiving dinner
program share a common trait.
“We are all community ori-
ented,” she said. “We will do
whatever we can to help people
in the community. That is what
we are here for.”
Fauna Ferenbach, the pro-
gram director and lecturer for
Wolf Creek Grange, said the
annual Thanksgiving dinner is
Fauna Ferenbach helps serve at the Wolf Creek Grange’s annual
Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022, in North Powder.
Dick Mason/The Observer
symbolic of what makes North
Powder special. Ferenbach
moved to North Powder six
years ago from Portland.
“I found a sense of commu-
nity I had never felt in my life,”
she said.
A job well done
Lovely said one of her favorite
things about being part of the
community Thanksgiving meal
is seeing its effects.
“Watching everyone enjoy
the meal makes us feel appreci-
ated,” she said.
Lovely is the head cook for all
Wolf Creek Grange’s meals.
“She always does an amazing
job,” said Linda Dixon, a mem-
ber of the grange.
Dixon said Lovely’s knowl-
edge of cooking is second to
none.
“She absorbs knowledge and
then shares it,” she said.
Lovely noted that many of
those helping to prepare the
meal are of an age in which they
no longer have big families to
cook for.
“It is nice to be able to cook a
big meal and then go home and
put your feet up,” she said.
Dick Mason/The Observer
Liz Robinson, left, volunteers in the kitchen at the Wolf Creek Grange’s
community Thanksgiving meal on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022, in North
Powder.
Dick Mason/The Observer
About 40 people took advantage of the annual community Thanksgiving meal at the Wolf Creek Grange in North Powder on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022.
Traffic
ESD, Eastern Oregon University, EOU
Head Start, Building Healthy Fami-
lies, Oregon Department of Human
Services, Saint Alphonsus-Baker City,
Baker County YMCA, Baker City Po-
lice Department, Baker County Sher-
iff’s Office, Baker County, Baker City,
The Trailhead and ODOT.
Continued from A1
“We wanted to preserve the work by
Anderson Perry,” he said.
The walk-behind machine is typi-
cally used to paint parking spots — in
straight lines — but this county crew
was able to draw the curved lines dic-
tated in the plans.
Now on hold until spring, these ini-
tial markings will be turned into a full-
fledged design to help teach youngsters
to be safe while riding bikes or walking.
The design was created by parent
Kate Rockwell with the help of Marlow
Stanton, ODOT senior traffic design
engineer.
Discussion for the project started in
May 2021, prompted by Angela Lattin,
who was BELC director before moving
to Pendleton in the summer of 2022.
“Without her efforts up front, this
may not have ever happened,” Nickens
said of Lattin.
An initial grant of $2,500 was
awarded from the Transportation
Safety Office of the DMV to cover
materials for mobile bike rodeos and
traffic garden items, such as stop signs,
traffic cones, crossing guard equipment
and ramps.
Community partners donated work
throughout the process — Anderson
Perry provided survey markings, Baker
City swept the area, and Baker County
did the striping.
Elk
Continued from A1
“We butchered it ourselves,
cleaned the skull, boiled and
bleached and pressure washed
it,” she said. “A lot of people
helped me, and everyone had a
lot of fun. At least we still have
the meat.”
Gyllenberg said she and her
boyfriend had been preparing
what’s known as a European or
skull mount of the bull at his
Ski
Continued from A1
The road to the ski area,
which is about 34 miles north-
west of Baker City, has been
plowed and sanded.
Anthony Lakes is celebrating
its 60th birthday this winter.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
A Baker County crew — Dan McQuisten, right, Eli Witham and Jeff Martin — painted stripes on the blacktop at the Baker Early
Learning Center on Oct. 29, 2022, for what will eventually be a traffic garden to help teach bicycle and pedestrian safety.
The design will be striped like a road
— white outside lines, and yellow dot-
ted lines for lanes of traffic. It includes
straight sections, curved areas and a
roundabout.
The plan also includes artistic details
home at 810 D St. in Baker City.
(A European mount includes
the bare skull, without the hide,
and the antlers.)
On Friday morning they
planned to boil the skull one fi-
nal time.
Then she got a text from her
boyfriend. He was asking if she
had taken the skull and antlers.
“I thought he was kidding,”
Gyllenberg said.
She hadn’t taken the trophy.
But it was gone.
The ski area officially opened
on Jan. 12, 1963.
Anthony Lakes will commem-
orate the birthday with Throw-
back Thursday on Jan. 12, 2023,
when lift tickets will be $2 for ages
13 to 69, and $1 for ages 7 to 12.
From Jan. 12-22, visitors are
invited to bring their most mem-
to be added by students from Eastern
Oregon University, who will earn a sti-
pend from Eastern Oregon Head Start.
Nickens said the initial grant expired
Sept. 30, 2022, before all the work was
completed, but it was renewed until
Sometime between about
8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17,
and 6 a.m. the next day, some-
one stole the skull and antlers
from the property. The trophy
was outside, behind a fence. No
one was home during the night,
Gyllenberg said.
Because the antlers aren’t
visible from the street at night,
she suspects the thief or thieves
saw the trophy during the day
and returned under cover of
night.
orable photo from Anthony
Lakes and pin it to the “Through
the Years” wall display.
The resort’s main birthday
celebration will take place Satur-
day, Jan. 21.
Events include the Anthony
Lakes Cup, a dual slalom race pre-
sented by the Anthony Lakes Ski
Sept. 30, 2023.
Partners
The traffic garden is a project of nu-
merous community partners, including
Baker School District, Intermountain
Although the loss of the tro-
phy is disappointing, Gyllenberg
said she’s especially bothered
that whoever is responsible took
the item that has sentimental
value while leaving other things
that have more obvious mone-
tary value.
That includes the power
washer she had used to prepare
the skull, as well as bird-hunting
decoys and other items.
“It’s kind of sick,” she said. “It
makes you wonder if (the tro-
Racing Association, live music by
the Greenneck Daredevils from
3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and other events.
Skiers and boarders are in-
vited to wear 1960s-style gear
and attire.
Snow reports and other in-
formation is available at antho-
nylakes.com.
Bike trailer
This isn’t the first focus on bicycle
safety in Baker County.
Prior to the pandemic, Baker School
District partnered with The Trailhead
to receive a grant from the Wildhorse
Foundation for two enclosed trailers
outfitted with bicycles and tricycles.
Before that, Community Connection
had received a grant from the Jump
Start program to request a trailer with
bicycles to teach skills at local schools.
That program was for one year, before
the trailer moved to another commu-
nity.
“The school district valued the pro-
gram so much that they looked for
funds to continue the program on their
own, so they applied for and received
the grant from Wildhorse,” Nickens
said. “The problem is that shortly after
that award, everything was shut down
with COVID restrictions and the trail-
ers sat essentially unused for a period
of time.”
Now, when the traffic garden is com-
plete, children will have a safe place to
practice using bicycles.
phy) was taken to hurt the per-
son who owned it. You can buy
another pressure washer.”
Gyllenberg said she’s not op-
timistic that she’ll ever recover
the skull and antlers.
But she said anyone who has
information about the theft can
call her at 541-519-2702.
“We still have the memories
of the hunt, but we don’t have
the trophy,” she said. “I just
think it’s sickening to know that
someone could ever take some-
thing they didn’t even work to
get.”
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