Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Gothard Sisters return to Heppner’s
St. Patrick’s event
The Gothard Sisters
will be taking the stage at
the St. Patrick’s Catholic
Church parish hall for Hep-
pner’s 35 th annual St. Pat-
rick’s Day celebration on
Saturday, March 18. Their
performance will begin at
7:30 p.m. and admission
is free due to funding by
Morrow County Recreation
District, so everyone is in-
vited to come out and enjoy
the evening of Celtic/Irish
musical entertainment.
The Gothard Sisters are
a dynamic group of three
sisters whose impressive ar-
ray of talents have set them
apart as “one of the most
refreshing and compelling
acts in Celtic music today.”
The sisters’ unpredictable
and theatrical flair brings a
youthful splash to the time-
honored tradition of Celtic
folk music, bridging the gap
between modern pop and
folk-rock with a sunny, op-
timistic style that has been
described as “beautifully-
arranged, melodic-minded
Celtic folk-pop.”
Hitting the streets of
their hometown of Ed-
The Gothard sisters will return to perform two times during
this year’s Wee Bit O’ Ireland Celebration in Heppner. -Con-
tributed photo
monds, WA in 2006, The
Gothard Sisters first began
playing together as a vio-
lin trio busking for tips at
the local farmer’s market,
working their way onto
stages at local fairs and fes-
tivals. Audiences responded
with enthusiasm, and more
than 1,000 performances
later the band recently per-
formed at the Millennium
Stage at the Kennedy Center
in Washington D.C., have
completed several national
concert tours of the United
States, regularly perform as
guest entertainers on Dis-
ney Cruise Line in Europe
and South America, and are
well-known musicians on
the national Celtic festival
circuit. In December 2016
the Gothard Sisters charted
on Billboard’s World Mu-
sic Chart with their latest
Christmas album, Falling
Snow, alongside notable
Irish music phenomena
Celtic Woman and Celtic
GRAND MARSHALS
-Continued from PAGE ONE
Mike Kenny worked
at various jobs before fil-
ing for homestead rights in
Sand Hallow. In 1884 he
married Mary Doherty and
they moved into a small
house on the homestead.
From a meager beginning,
their ranching operation
expanded with the purchase
of livestock and property,
as well as the addition of
their children—John, Sarah
(Farley), Roseanne (Healy),
Joseph and Cecelia (Buck-
num). They also had three
sons who died at an early
age.
Life was difficult in
the early days of Morrow
County and, in June of
1911, Mike and Mary had
an especially hair-raising
experience. They had been
in Heppner and were return-
ing to their ranch by buggy
and team. As they ascended
Matlock Hill, an electri-
cal storm arose. Lightning
struck the buggy and team,
instantly killing one of the
horses. The buggy whip
was hit, as well as the leath-
er around the metal eyelets
of Mike’s shoe. The couple
walked Espresso
the rest Specials
of the way
home, a distance of four or
five miles.
Mike and Mary’s oldest
son, John,
worked for his
Mike and Mary Kenny with six of their children—John, Jo-
seph, James, Sarah (Farley), Roseanne (Healy) and Cecelia
(Bucknum). -Contributed photo
parents until he got married.
John’s wife, Bridget Mol-
lahan, was born in Ireland.
She left her homeland at
the age of 16 to come to
America. She worked for
a time in New Haven, CT
before traveling to Oregon
to join her brother James.
It was there that she met
her future husband, John
Kenny. The couple was
married June 23, 1913 at
St. Mary’s catholic church
in Pendleton.
After their marriage
they purchased land from
John’s parents and moved
to Sand Hollow. It was on
that ranch that they spent
more than 50 years ranch-
Bistro and
Menu
ing
raising their seven
children—Edward,
Mat-
Friday Breakfast 7am-10am
thew, Ilene, Emmett, James,
Patricia and William. Matt,
Emmett, James and Billy all
Saturday Breakfast 7am-10am
Lunch/Dinner Special 11:30am-5:30pm
Espresso Specials
Bistro Menu
St. Patrick’s Day Schedule
Friday Breakfast 7am-10am
Friday- Saturday, March 17 th -18 th 7:00am – 6:00pm
Saturday Breakfast
7am-10am
Large Selection of St. Patrick’s
Day Items
Custom Apparel
Stop in and check out the
Beautiful array of flowers and plants
available at
Gifts Decorations Balloons
Lunch/Dinner Special 11:30am-5:30pm
Grab your
St. Patrick’s Day Schedule
St. Patrick’s Day Gear
Sweatshirts
Let us add a personal touch to your
St. Patrick’s Day Celebration!
T-shirts
Hats
(customization available)
Espresso Specials
Bistro Menu
Friday Breakfast T-shirts
7am-10am
Hats Condon for over 50 years!
Espresso Specials
St. Patrick’s Day Gear
Heppner,
Bistro Serving
Menu
Lexington, Ione &
Sweatshirts
(customization available)
Potato Hash & Eggs $6.50
St. Patrick’s
Day Schedule
St. Patrick’s
Day Schedule
more times at the Coffee
Hour after it outgrew the
showroom and moved to
the Heppner Elks Club.
Billy worked for his
parents for several years be-
fore he took over the opera-
tion of the ranch. All of his
children spent time working
on the farm, especially dur-
ing harvest. His son-in-law,
Ed Fisher, also helped dur-
ing harvest. He was there
in 1996 when the combine
caught fire. Billy was able
to drive it to rocky ground
and keep the fire contained.
The combine was a total
loss but he felt fortunate the
fire did not spread. A good
neighbor, Jerry Dougherty,
finished harvesting the rest
of the wheat.
The government had
started a conservation pro-
gram a few years before the
combine fire occurred. Billy
decided it would be a good
time to quit farming and
participate in that program.
He continued the cattle
operation with the help of
his son Joe.
Joe and his wife Linda
lived on the ranch and Joe
worked for Devin Oil. His
boss, Dick Devin, was very
good about letting Joe help
his dad before coming in
to work at the fuel plant.
Joe took over the ranch
operation in 2009. Billy
continued to go to the ranch
very frequently until his
health failed. He died Sept.
15, 2014.
Joe and Linda continue
to live on the ranch in Sand
Hollow, which has been in
the family for more than a
century.
The Great Green Pa-
rade will travel down Main
Street in Heppner begin-
ning at 1 p.m. on Saturday,
March 18. Everyone is
invited to come out for the
festivities and say hello to
the Kenny family.
Heppner woman
meets boxing legend
On Feb. 25, Theresa Crawford of Heppner got to meet Mike
Tyson at the Field of Dreams Sports Shop in Las Vegas, NV. “It
was a great experience,” Crawford said. “He was very friendly
and soft-spoken.” -Contributed photo
Chamber lunch
meeting
Due to the Wee Bit O’ Ireland Celebration next
weekend, there will be no chamber lunch meeting March
16. The next lunch meeting of the Heppner Chamber of
Commerce will be an all entities report on Thursday,
April 6, at noon in Heppner City Hall conference room.
Cost of lunch is $10. Chamber lunch attendees are
asked to RSVP at 541-676-5536 no later than the Tuesday
before to guarantee a lunch.
Grange reading fair
a success
Parents and children browse tables with special Dr. Seuss-
themed activities at the Lexington Grange March 4. The
Lexington Grange held the reading fair, which featured crafts,
snacks, face painting and more, in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday
and Read Across America Day on March 2. The event was a
success with more than 46 books donated and two family pool
passes raffled off. Approximately 55 children participated.
The Heppner Junior High leadership team was on the job to
help set up, run two stations and clean up after the event. The
new books collected will be donated to the local library, and
the used books will go to the Free Little Library in the park.
-Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
Arts and crafts sale
planned for St. Pat’s
Morrow County Cre-
ative Arts and Crafts will
be at Les Schwab with a va-
riety of hand-crafted items
during the St. Patrick’s Day
celebration March 17-18.
Hours on Friday, March 17,
will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. On
Saturday, March 18, mem-
bers will be there from 8:30
a.m. to 4 p.m.
Phyllis Piper will have
Raggedy Ann dolls and dish
towels.
Dennis Wall will bring
handcrafted sterling silver,
precious metal clay and
copper jewelry, and lathe-
turned wooden and acrylic
pens.
Dave Williams has
wood items, jewelry and
leather.
Carmen Williams will
be on hand with crocheted
towels, blankets, and other
crocheted materials, includ-
ing pillows.
Babette Wall will have
cotton aprons and pot hold-
ers, as well as wool felt pin
cushions.
Don and Joann Shan-
non will be there with cro-
cheted items, plaques, wood
work, décor and craft items.
Dottie Hunnicutt has
adult and children’s aprons,
coasters, magnet pothold-
ers, cast-iron handle pot-
holders, recipe bag holders,
baby blankets, baby bibs
and burp cloths, and more.
Roberta Jones will have
jewelry.
Everyone is encour-
aged to stop and see these
local artists and crafters on
St. Pat’s weekend.
KUMA Coffee Hour, Ceili promise
foot-stomping fun
A special lineup has
Friday Breakfast 7am-10am
been scheduled for the
KUMA Coffee Hour and
Lucky Charms Mocha Lunch/Dinner Special 11:30am-5:30pm
Ceili for this year’s St.
Serving Heppner,
Patrick’s event on March
Pinch Me a Latte
Lexington, Ione &
Corned Beef & Cabbage $9.50
18. Both programs will be
Condon for over 50 years!
held upstairs at the Elks
Sassy Leprechaun
Saturday Breakfast
7am-10am
Saturday
Breakfast 7am-10am
Lodge as in the past. The
KUMA Coffee Hour, sched-
Leaping Leprechaun Homemade Biscuits & Gravy
uled from 10-11:30 a.m.
Half order $4.50 Full $8.00
Redbull
Saturday, will be led by
Tom Melton with jokes and
Lunch/Dinner
Special 11:30am-5:30pm
Lunch/Dinner
Special 11:30am-5:30pm
Pot O’ Gold Frappe
stories shared by Rep. Greg
Walden, Dom Monahan
Baked Potato Bar $8.50
and Heppner’s own Father
Gerry Condon.
The Irish Singers will
217 North Main St., Heppner • Phone 676-9158 • Floral 676-9426
be there to entertain the
Shamrock Mocha
Grab your
served in the United States
Military. They were proud
to be Americans but they
were also very proud of
their Irish heritage.
After graduating from
high school, Billy attended
Gonzaga University and
Eastern Oregon College.
The Korean War was going
on at that time, and he was
drafted into the U.S. Army.
After serving two years in
the infantry, he returned
home to help his parents on
the ranch.
On Oct. 17, 1950 he
married Marjorie Mahoney
in Baker City, OR. The
couple made their home in
Heppner, where they raised
their family. Their children
are Joseph Patrick, Kath-
leen Marie (Guy), James
Edward, William Emmett,
Karen Rose, John Matthew
and Thomas Michael. An-
other son, Dennis William,
died in infancy.
Billy was gifted with a
beautiful Irish tenor voice.
Throughout his life he sang
at countless weddings and
funerals and many com-
munity events. He was of-
ten accompanied by Carly
Drake. When Jim Farley
convinced the KUMA radio
station to have its Coffee
Hour broadcast from his
automobile showroom in
Heppner, Billy sang at that
very first Coffee Hour, held
35 years ago. He sang many
Thunder.
When sisters Greta Go-
thard, Willow Gothard and
Solana Gothard fuse their
musical talents together, the
result is an irresistible mix
of spritely violin and fiddle
tones, pure sibling vocal
harmonies, mandolin and
pennywhistle accents, all
supported by the powerful
and exuberant rhythms of
the Irish bodhran, African
djembe, and acoustic gui-
tar—creating what Irish
Central calls “an earthiness
that gives the songs a lively,
approachable, down-home
sound.”
After 10 years of play-
ing together and a lifetime
of getting to know one an-
other, the Gothard Sisters’
collaborative process and
eclectic style has evolved
into a jubilant live perfor-
mance, full of entertaining
sibling-banter, Irish step-
dancing, foot-stomping
tunes, lyrical melodies,
storytelling, and a genu-
ine lightness of heart that
leaves audiences feeling
refreshed and inspired.
- THREE
crowd with the usual Irish
songs, and everyone will
get to hear from this year’s
grand marshals, the Kenny
family. Of course, Joe Lind-
say will be singing and will
bring another Irishman or
two to join him.
The Irish Brogue Con-
test will give the audience a
chance to tell the best “blar-
ney” stories for a chance to
win some gold coins.
The Ceili will run from
2-4 p.m. The Irish Singers,
Joe Lindsay and the Irish-
men, and the Gothard Sis-
ters will sing a few songs to
The KUMA Coffee Hour and the Ceili will again bring good
music and lots of blarney to the St. Patrick’s celebration in
Heppner. -File Photo
get everyone warmed up for
Saturday evening. Two but-
ton winners will be drawn,
one at the Ceili and one at
the evening entertainment
at the St. Patrick’s Catholic
Church parish hall—one
more reason to come grab a
seat, clap your hands, stomp
your feet and get a good
laugh in with some Irish
music and entertainment.