Community
Blue Mountain Eagle
The deadline for What’s Happening items is 5 p.m. Friday.
Call the Eagle, 541-575-0710, or email editor@bmeagle.com.
For meetings this week, see our list in the classifi eds.
THURSDAY, NOV. 16
W HAT’S
HAPPENING
4-H international education night
• 6-8 p.m., OSU Extension classroom, 116 NW Bridge St.,
back entrance
A night of cultural activities, food creation and a movie is
planned, centered around local international exchange student
and hosting opportunities. For more information, call the OSU
Extension offi ce at 541-575-1911.
A7
SUNDAY, NOV. 19
2018 queen coronation
• 5 p.m., Grant County Fairgrounds pavilion
The public is invited to a festive evening with a tri-tip dinner,
no-host bar, live and silent auctions and a dessert auction. 2017
Queen Jessica Carter will pass the crown to 2018 Queen Trinity
Hutchison. The cost to attend is $15 each or two for $25. Tick-
ets can be purchased at the fair offi ce or online at grantcounty-
fairgrounds.com. For more information, call the fair offi ce at
541-575-1900.
THURSDAY, NOV. 23
Community Thanksgiving dinner
SATURDAY, NOV. 18
• 1 p.m., The Teen Center, 145 W. Front St., Prairie
City
The Prairie Baptist Church will host a community
Thanksgiving dinner. Everything will be provided for
diners. For more information, call the church at 541-820-
3696.
Christmas on the Prairie
• Downtown Prairie City
The theme for this year’s holiday event is “A Vintage Christ-
mas.” Activities include an ornament hunt, gingerbread house
building and other children’s crafts, bazaars, merchant sales,
vintage camp trailer tours, open mic night at Hotel Prairie, FFA
auction, art exhibit and tree auction and photos with Santa and
the elves. Santa Paws will be available from 9-10 a.m. for pho-
tos with pets. Maps will be available showing where and when
each event is taking place. For more information, call 541-820-
3675, read the article below or see the ad on Page A9.
Community Thanksgiving dinner
American Legion Auxiliary Christmas bazaar
• 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Prairie City High School gym
The annual bazaar will feature local vendors with various
items for sale. For more information, call 541-820-3692.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Contributed photo/Nicole Israel
Grant County Fair and Rodeo Queen Jessica Carter,
right, and Princess Trinity Hutchison at the NPRA Finals
Rodeo in Prineville.
• 1-4 p.m., John Day Elks Lodge, 140 NE Dayton St.
A free holiday meal with all the trimmings will be of-
fered. Contributions of side dishes and desserts are wel-
come. The lounge will be open for pool, shuffleboard, card
games and football on big screen TVs. Home deliveries are
available for those who cannot make it to the lodge. Call the
lodge in advance to make arrangements. Volunteers are also
needed to help cook, set up, clean up and deliver meals. For
more information, call the lodge at 541-575-1824.
Scarecrows decorated Dayville streets
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Eagle file photo
Three-year-old Blake Jacobs asks Santa for play clothes
at the Teen Center during last year’s Christmas on the
Prairie in Prairie City.
Christmas on the Prairie
20th annual
event set
Saturday
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Christmas on the Prairie,
set for Saturday, is a citywide
tradition in Prairie City that’s
been going strong for 20 years.
This year’s event will fea-
ture the popular Ornament
Hunt, with a drawing for a
prize basket that includes gifts
from each of the town’s mer-
chants.
People can fi nd ornaments
at local businesses, the Amer-
ican Legion Auxiliary bazaar
at the school, post offi ce and
DeWitt Museum and Sumpter
Valley Railway Depot.
DeWitt, which is open for
free that day, will also have a
children’s art exhibit and an auc-
tion of decorated trees to benefi t
the museum.
Photos with pets, by do-
nation, will be available from
9-10 a.m. at the Teen Center, at
145 W. Front St., benefi ting the
nonprofi t Hope 4 Paws.
The famous gingerbread
houses for children, also at the
Teen Center, are available for
“construction” from 10 a.m. to
3 p.m., or until supplies run out.
This will be the fi fth year
Anna and Tom Smith have
provided the handmade ginger-
bread houses. They started with
100 fi ve years ago, and this
year they’ll offer 135.
The “labor” of love starts
in August, when they buy the
ingredients. Then it takes one
week for Tom to make the
dough, and one week for Anna
to roll it out and bake it. Their
daughter Rose from Portland
also helps bag up candy used to
decorate the houses.
Anna said she started offer-
ing gingerbread houses to add
an activity for kids during the
festivities.
“I thought this would be nice
for the kids to have something
to do,” she said. “Someone sug-
gested graham cracker houses,
but I said no, they want to have a
full gingerbread house.”
For four of the fi ve years, the
couple provided everything out
of pocket — this year’s cost is
$1,500. She said people offer
donations, but she never asks for
money.
“It’s not a cheap thing, but I
enjoy doing it,” she said.
Another highlight for the
kids is a visit from Santa from
11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Teen
Center. The cost is $5 for an
8-by-10-inch photo, or people
can bring their own camera.
There will also be a chil-
dren’s scavenger hunt with a
couple of age divisions, which
will begin at the Public Works
building at 2 p.m.
There will be an FFA dinner,
which includes petite sirloin
steaks with all the trimmings, at
5 p.m. with an auction at 6 p.m.
at the Prairie City Community
Center.
Wanda Winegar, who is or-
ganizing the event along with
a committee of merchants and
volunteers, said another fun
event will be decorated vintage
trailers at the blacktop near the
town reader board. She said
more trailers are expected this
year, but the number depends
on the weather.
“I would like to invite
everyone to come up,” she
said. “It’s a good chance to
get some Christmas shopping
in and visit with friends, and
most merchants are having
drawings, special sales and
refreshments.”
For more information, call
Winegar at 541-820-3675.
Eagle file photo
There were gingerbread houses galore at the Prairie City
Teen Center during last year’s Christmas on the Prairie.
Here, AmeriCorps volunteer Abby Luu of Albuquerque,
New Mexico, helps Emma Charette, while Kaitlyn
Charette and her mom, Amy, work on her creation.
The city of Dayville held its fi fth
annual Scarecrow Contest, sprucing
up the town with 16 creative entries.
“It’s always fun to have these
‘new residents’ join us for a month
or so,” said city recorder Ruthie
Moore.
This year, the scarecrows were
up for three weeks, beginning with
the town’s Oct. 3 Fall Festival pot-
luck.
Lyndee Billar of The Fish House
Inn had the top-placing creation, a
hunter/fi sherman.
Dayville teacher Carrie Sullivan
and her third- through fi fth-grade
students won second place.
Voted for the most creative
scarecrow was Connie Moore for a
horse, which had a skull for a head
with refl ector eyes.
Rachael Tobin won the potluck
award for her rodeo scarecrow.
Winners received candy scare-
crow necklaces, with a small con-
tainer of caramel dip for the head,
Cracker Jacks for the body and
miniature candy legs and pepperoni
sticks for the arms.
“They defi nitely liven up our
town, and people get a kick out of
Contributed photo
it,” Moore said.
To see more of the scarecrows Rachael Tobin stands with an NFR rodeo
entered in the contest, visit the scarecrow she created for Dayville’s scarecrow
Friends of Dayville Facebook page. contest, winning the potluck award.
Contributed photo
The scarecrow by
Grayson Schmadeka and
his mother, Tiffnie, was a
crow.
Contributed photo
Lyndee Billar of The
Fish House Inn won
the Dayville scarecrow
contest with this friendly
looking hunter/fisher.
Hello Grant County,
We just finished our Installation
Dinner, which was a great
success! The Elks Club
prepared a delicious dinner,
and the cupcakes from Kim
from Eve’s Sweets were
wonderful! Thank you to all who
attended and a special thanks
to those businesses who
donated items for our silent
auction and raffle.
A very special thanks to our
master of ceremonies Jack
Southworth and guest
speakers Ted Ferrioli and Nick
Green.
We welcome Sally Knowles
and Elaine Livran as new
Directors to the Chamber
Board and thank Scotta
Callister for agreeing to serve
another term.
I am looking forward to serving
as Chamber President for the
next year. We have great plans
for the upcoming year, and we
will keep you posted.
Due to the holidays and just
having had our annual meeting,
we will not have a meeting this
week.
Our next meeting will be
December 21st.
Don’t forget – “The best road
trip across Oregon goes
through Grant County to John
Day where the high desert
meets the mountains!”
Have a safe and very happy
Thanksgiving,
Bruce Ward
President, Grant County Chamber
of Commerce
23649