GO! EASTERN OREGON MAGAZINE | INSIDE
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
154th Year • No. 33 • 14 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
Grant County Fair
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
The back side of the Chester’s Market fl oat during the
Grant County Fair Parade on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022.
Auction photos by Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle
Sydnie Brandon, a member of the Strawberry Riders 4-H Club and turkey reserve grand champion, proudly holds up her prize animal Satur-
day, Aug. 13, 2022.
Best in show
Annual Youth Livestock Auction draws strong community support
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
n one of the culminating events of the
2022 Grant County Fair, the annual
Youth Livestock Auction took in
nearly half a million dollars on Sat-
urday, Aug. 13.
An estimated 200 people gathered in
the Heritage Barn of the Grant County
Fairgrounds as over 100 4-H and FFA stu-
dents — ranging from 10 to 19 years old
— auctioned off livestock that they had fed,
groomed and worked with daily for the last
year.
The animals up for bid included turkeys,
chickens, goats, sheep, pigs and steers.
Grant County is an ag-based community
I
Brett Burill, of Prairie City CC and reserve cham-
pion, heavyweight, shows his market steer
with a years-long tradition of local 4-H and
FFA students who raise livestock to sell at
the annual auction, not only to earn money
but in hopes of winning a grand or reserve
champion award. The Youth Livestock Auc-
tion is one of the biggest events of the year
in Grant County and always seems to bring
people together like no other.
Shannon Springer, Grant County Auc-
tion Committee treasurer, said sales were
down about $5,000 from last year. Nonethe-
less, this year’s auction was still up substan-
tially from the fi ve years before that.
While she didn’t have the exact number
of animals sold this year, Springer said the
auction raked in $499,476.75.
See Auction, Page A14
Owen Parsons of the Beaver Believers 4-H Club
shows off his reserve champion lightweight pig
M.T. Anderson, an Izee rancher, takes a bid
Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022, during the Youth
Livestock Auction at the Grant County Fair-
grounds.
Cooper Ross of Beaver Believers 4-H club
shows a market steer
Parade fi lls
John Day streets
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — Traffi c was put on hold Saturday
morning, Aug. 13, as the Grant County Fair Parade
made its way down Canyon Boulevard and Main
Street, but no one really seemed to mind.
A Grant County tradition that takes place annu-
ally, the event drew onlookers of all ages and chil-
dren scurrying to scoop up candy thrown by parade
participants.
The parade began about 11 a.m. at Grant Union
Junior/Senior High School and proceeded down
South Canyon Boulevard before making its way onto
Main Street. The pro-
cession ended at the
unpaved area east of
Timbers Bistro.
Local businesses
were well repre-
sented, with Ches-
ter’s Market, Old
West Credit Union,
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle Solutions
Certifi ed
Ron Phillips and Denny Lang- Public Accountants,
ford ride down John Day’s Madden Realty and
Main Street in Phillips’ 1915 more having fl oats
Ford Model T during the in the parade. Also
Grant County Fair Parade on prominently featured
Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022.
were an array of
ATVs and UTVs that
were driven by various local youths.
Ron Phillips and Denny Langford weaved through
the procession in the black Ford Model T owned by
Phillips that has become a crowd favorite and sta-
ple of parades throughout the county. The Oregon
Department of Forestry sprayed parade watchers with
squirt guns from their fi re trucks in an eff ort to help
patrons beat the heat.
Also present were 2022 Grant County Fair and
Rodeo Grand Marshals Gibb and Gary Gregg,
who rode in a green Ford Bronco and waved to
the crowds.
See Parade, Page A8
Voters to decide on
pool for second time
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — Voters in the John Day/
Canyon City Parks and Recreation Dis-
trict will get a second chance to vote on a
$4 million pool bond after the fi rst vote in
May ended in an 802-802 tie. The measure
will be on the ballot for the Nov. 8 general
election.
If the measure passes, the city has $2
million in state lottery grant funding that
will go toward building the pool in addition
to the bond funding. The cost to complete
the pool is projected to be just over $6.6
million.
The $600,000 remaining after the appli-
cation of grant funding and bond funds
would be covered through a combination of
in-kind improvements, extra funds from the
sale of Gleason Pool and funds given to the
city as part of the Kam Wah Chung Visitor
Center project for local improvements. The
city expects to have an extra $1 million to
contribute to construction of the pool with
the funds from these sources.
Proposals by Opsis Architecture call for
a 3,200-square-foot pool with a multipur-
pose room, offi ce spaces, boys’ and girls’
locker rooms and a family locker room. The
pool would be built at the Seventh Street
Sports Complex in John Day.
If voters approve the measure in Novem-
ber, construction could begin in June of
2023 with the pool opening during the sum-
mer of 2024.
The push to put the pool bond back
on the ballot started with an eff ort from a
pro-pool political action committee known
as Yes to JDCC Swim Center. The group
placed a petition on change.org seeking sig-
natures in support of the measure and sent
letters to the JDCC Parks and Recreation
District board.
Following those eff orts, the John
Day City Council drafted and signed
a letter dated July 26 that voiced
support for a second pool ballot measure.
Reasons the council gave for drafting the
letter of support include the demolition
of Gleason Pool, signs that construction
cost increases may be tapering off and the
See Pool, Page A14
Silvies Valley Ranch unveils
Claire’s Course putting green
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
SILVIES — Making golf more
accessible and recognizing the role of
women in the game was the inspira-
tion behind designing a putting course
at The Retreat, Links and Spa at Sil-
vies Valley Ranch.
This summer, Silvies Valley
opened Claire’s Course, an 18-hole
reversible putting course named after
Claire Owens, the fi rst woman to play
golf in Silvies.
Scott Campbell, the resort’s owner,
said that besides honoring an infl uen-
tial woman from Silvies Valley, the
putting course aims to make the game
fun for everyone and put golf clubs in
as many hands as possible.
“We’re trying to get the whole
family involved,” Campbell said.
“Not just the guys.”
Campbell said the new course is
the fi rst of its kind and is designed to
be played simultaneously in oppo-
site directions, east to west and west
to east. Free to guests of the resort,
the 720-foot course circles the lower
half of Otter Lake, right outside the
resort’s lodge and log cabins, and has
water hazards on each hole.
The course is the creation of Dan
Hixson, the designer of the resort’s
two 18-hole reversible courses,
Hankins and Craddock, which were
recognized by Golf Digest as two of
the top four best new courses of 2018.
The reversible design means just
that. One day you can play the course
in one direction, and the next you can
play in the opposite direction.
Campbell said most putting
courses being built these days are on
vast expanses of greens and take after
the Himalayas putting course at the
St. Andrews Ladies Putting Club in
Scotland. The Himalayas, which gets
its name from the undulating nature
of its terrain, is believed to have been
the world’s fi rst putting course.
He said those courses play more
like a traditional putting green in that
people end up putting a couple of
holes, and that’s it.
With Claire’s, Campbell said, the
See Silvies, Page A14