EIGHT - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Key organizers honored as grand marshals in Great Green Parade
-Continued from PAGE ONE
The Heppner Gazette-Times from 1982
talented.”
The challenges
However they became
involved, for however long
they were involved, ev-
ery one of the eight grand
marshals racked up a trea-
sure-trove of memories
throughout the years. Some
of the organizers say the
work wasn’t that difficult;
Sheryll Bates
even though their duties
Claudia Hughes and her sometimes kept them from
legion of leprechauns as attending all the festivities,
soon as we touched Hep- they say they enjoyed work-
pner soil, I think,” Brosnan ing with people.
says of getting involved
“I’m not sure that I
as an organizer. “Soon I had anything difficult ex-
was heading the group in cept going to the meetings,
charge of getting donations, and that really was fun,”
advertising and conducting Hutchinson says. “I just en-
the auction that helped fund
the celebration.”
“I rarely say ‘No,’ and I
like being involved,” added
Brosnan. “There was al-
ways a need for more heads
and hands.”
Sheryll Bates has lived
in Heppner nearly 17 years,
and says she became in-
volved through her role as The early days. Claudia
the executive director of Hughes getting into the St.
the Heppner Chamber of Pat’s Day spirit.
Commerce. That was 2008.
joyed working with the peo-
“I stepped into the plan-
ple and seeing how much
ning and had great help
we could promote Heppner,
with volunteers to make it
promote the whole area.”
work,” says Bates.
“Trying to get people
“Although it was part
to buy into the idea that this
of my job, I wanted to
would work,” adds Ball.
make sure the event was
“And guess what? It did!”
successful, become a part
Brosnan says she didn’t
of the community and put in
find the work challenging
the hours and dedication to
but hated to be interviewed.
make it that way,” she adds.
“Having to go on the
Judie Laughlin was not
radio stations to be inter-
able to share her stories
viewed as part of our ad-
with the Gazette-Times, but
vertising efforts was never
others shared stories of her
easy for me,” she says. “I
involvement. Many remem-
am a terrible interviewee.”
ber her artistic ability.
For others, the logistics
“Judie and Phyllis Pip-
were difficult. Bates recalls
er, being the artists that they
being thrown into planning
are, stepped up and got busy
the amateur boxing Irish
painting some more wood-
Smoker.
en leprechaun signs for us
“Added to the al -
to distribute around town,”
ready hectic workload I
recalls Bates.
found myself in—a lot of
Ball says Laughlin was
after-hours calling to get
elected to create the com-
boxers to participate,” says
memorative buttons, which
Bates “The first couple of
were started in the fifth
years Daye Stone, principal
year of the celebration and
at the time, helped to put
mostly hand designed from
everything together and
1987 to 2008.
started what to be a tradition
“Judie bought a but-
for about nine years.”
ton machine and spent an
“Dotting all the Is and
enormous amount of time
crossing the Ts as the cele-
making hundreds of these,”
bration grew from a coffee
says Ball.
hour to a full day to four
“Judie’s artwork for
days was the most diffi-
posters and especially for
cult,” says Hughes. “The
the collectible buttons was
scheduling, publicity, pro-
always so impressive,”
motion, deadlines, funding,
adds Brosnan. “She is very
contracts, food safety, bal-
ance of events, music were
all on my mind at once.”
“Some days as the
event neared, I was like a
tea kettle boiling over with
both steam and anxiety,”
she adds. “Friends to the
rescue, and they were and
still are so amazing.”
Of course, putting on
an event of this size is nev-
er easy, and putting on an
event in Eastern Oregon in
March might be considered
especially challenging.
“Wondering if it was
going to rain during the
parade each year,” Sykes
replies when asked about
the challenges. “I used to
get up Saturday morning
worrying it was going to
rain. My wife April final-
ly said, ‘Stop worrying.
The people are going to
come and have a celebra-
tion whether it rains or not.’
And she was right.”
Hughes also admits to
worrying about the weather,
even while knowing she
couldn’t control it.
“Nor did any of us have
control over the fire that de-
stroyed the Wagon Wheel,
Central Market, and Boyce
Insurance not long before
St. Paddy’s Day,” she adds.
“Heppner rallied and so
did the weather, with an
outdoor auction, huge hot
air balloon, and concessions
springing out of the ashes.”
“We burned down the
center four blocks of Hep-
pner, one block every 10
years,” Hutchinson, a vol-
unteer firefighter, adds.
And, as if all that
weren’t enough, Bates re-
calls the events of 2020 as
some of the most difficult.
“The year we had to
cancel a day before the
event due to COVID and
had to make the decision
to not hold it the following
year again due to Covid,”
she says.
The best of times
Challenges weren’t a
constant, though, and the
years of St. Pat’s held many
fond memories.
“I had great volunteers
who took responsibility to
help organize certain activi-
ties, serving as a resource in
helping me get more famil-
iar with the full event,” says
Bates. “It was wonderful
to see a great crowd come
out to help us celebrate
our local Irish heritage and
participate in the activities.”
Osmin says she enjoyed
“all of it,” with the general
good feeling everyone had
during the celebration. One
memory that stands out for
her is dressing up in the
duck costume for the O’
Ducky Race.
“I was teaching at the
grade school at the time,
and saw lots of the stu-
dents,” she says. “One of
my students was afraid of
the duck and did not hold
back in telling me so! It was
interesting the following
Monday back in the class-
room when we all had a
discussion about the duck.”
She adds that, as the
duck, she did not talk.
“Seeing all the people
come and enjoying them-
selves during the celebra-
tion,” Sykes says. “It was
usually the first celebration
after the winter months and
people really liked getting
out, having fun and renew-
ing friendships and starting
new ones.”
Sykes says his fondest
memory was watching how
the KUMA Coffee Hour
grew over the years. To
Hughes, the best part of
the KUMA Coffee Hour
was Father Condon, Dom
Monahan and Congressman
Greg Walden bantering
back and forth—a priest,
a lawyer and a politician,
she notes.
“(They) would have
been a sensation on any
comedy hour or late night
show,” she says.
Also especially memo-
rable was the visit from the
true Irish singers and danc-
ers who came all the way
from Ireland in 1991. Fam-
ilies in Heppner stepped up
Bill “Hutch” Hutchinson
to host them in their homes
and long-term correspon-
dence resulted.
That year was also a fa-
vorite for Hutchinson, who
was visiting the celebration
decked out in his traditional
leprechaun garb.
“I was walking down
the street after the cof-
fee hour and one of those
Irishmen chased me down
and said, ‘Wait, wait, wait!
I want to take your picture
and send it back to Ire-
land!’” Hutchinson recalls.
“That made my day.”
Brosnan also enjoyed
being a leprechaun, though
her outfit sported the huge,
paper mâché head created
by Marti Mitchell, Geor-
gia Van Winkle and Judie
Laughlin.
“Being incognito, see-
ing the little kids’ expres-
sions,” says Brosnan. “Only
once did a naughty boy
who was probably about
12 harass me by pulling on
my jacket and insisting that
I tell him where my treasure
was!”
Ball’s fondest memory
involved the sheep dog
trials, which were held at
the fairgrounds at the time.
“I was lucky enough to
encounter a small, jolly lit-
tle Scotsman from Victoria,
B.C., by the name or nick-
name of Scotty,” says Ball.
Scotty and wife Winnie
had brought their dogs for
the sheep dog trials. Scotty
took a liking to the inex-
pensive little “tam” Ball
was wearing and wanted to
trade hats.
“It took some convinc-
ing to get me to trade, as
Scotty’s was a real wool
Scottish tam from Scot-
land,” Ball adds. “He told
me it has ‘spent the night in
a real Scottish castle.’ I tried
to refuse, but he wouldn’t
hear of it.”
The craziest of times
Some of the craziest
memories also involved the
sheep dog trials. Hutchin-
son said he always enjoyed
watching the talented dogs
and their workers.
“There was a guy at the
sheep dog trials that came
down from B.C. and had a
dog that was about ready to
drop pups,” says Hutchin-
son. “That dog was still
a working dog. That dog
would want to go out and
work those sheep when it
wasn’t her turn. She’d start
to sneak out and he’d call
her back.”
Hutrchinson also re-
calls a year when there was
a sheep dog in the parade,
herding six or seven geese
down the parade route.
Brosnan recalls the
year she drove committee
heads Hughes and Osmin
in her MG convertible. The
pair rode on the back.
“Thing was, it was rain-
ing,” adds Osmin. “So we
had to get plastic tarps
with our heads poking out
of the tarp, and holding
umbrellas. It was quite the
sight!” she says, adding that
she wouldn’t mention what
Hughes’s son said about
the ride.
One of Bates’s craziest
memories was of a late
snow that left mounds of
snow downtown and in side
streets where they planned
activities.
“Our great public
works team started loading
snow into dump trucks
and dumping it elsewhere
so we could safely have
our annual event,” says
Bates. “Needless to say,
we had another successful
St. Patrick’s Celebration
weekend!”
Several of the organiz-
ers share memories of being
leprechauns both during the
festivities and to promote
them—some crazier than
others. Hughes and Brosnan
share a memory of…well,
of being kicked out of Wild-
horse Casino or stopped at
the door, depending who
you ask.
“My fellow leprechaun
and I—we went after dona-
tions in costume—went to
Wildhorse Casino to ask for
a donation,” says Brosnan.
“Little did I know the
big head was considered
a mask and not allowed
within the casino,” adds
Hughes.
Ball remembers step-
ping up to host the coffee
hour for Claudia Hughes
one year, since Hughes had
a previous engagement.
“I announced myself as
Claudia Hughes,” says Ball.
“I received some strange
looks, like I had lost my
mind. At that point, I may
have.”
Other memories in-
clude the parade and events
surrounding it. Ball remem-
bers being “coerced” into
the O’ Planky and O’ Bed
races…perhaps the instance
Sykes also remembers?
“The Gazette-Times
entered the bed race. We
got a baby crib, I attached
wheels to the bottom and
our newspaper editor at the
time got inside with a baby
bonnet holding a large calf
milk bottle for effect and we
raced,” says Sykes. “We did
not win but had a lot of fun
doing it.” (Editor’s note:
The Gazette-Times editor
will not be participating in
the bed races this year.)
“So many crazy mem-
ories, and some cannot be
told,” Hughes adds.
Where we go from
here
Over the years, the cel-
ebration grew from a stew
feed, to a radio coffee hour,
to a four-day event that has
included the Great Green
Parade, Cruz-In car show,
motorcycle races, kids’ ac-
tivities like the Leprechaun
Run and O’ Ducky Race,
Irish Smoker boxing, Re-
membrance Walk, dances,
a Ceili and other live en-
tertainment, and even bull
riding.
“All in all, wonderful
memories of the Wee Bit
O’ Ireland Celebration,”
says Osmin. “I just hope it
continues for years to come
so others can have fond
memories!”
“Not one person or
group can make this event
happen,” says Bates. “It
takes a community to pull
together to make it happen,
and I have been fortunate
to see a great community
in action. Thanks for the
memories and the opportu-
nity to organize this event
for about 13 years.”
“My hair and beard are
not as red as they were back
then,” Hutchinson admits,
but says he hopes to don
his green suit and show up
again this year as Heppner’s
leprechaun. “I just gotta
make sure it fits. We might
have to do some alterations
on it.”
“Thank goodness
younger people and new
people to our area started
to take over the ‘business’
so some of the ‘oldies’
could retire,” says Ball.
“I hear often how people
are ‘too busy’ to work on
the committee, but guess
what…when this celebra-
tion first began, all of the
committee members were
working full-time jobs, had
kids, etc. It’s just a matter of
priorities.”
“Heppner should be
proud of the St. Patrick’s
Day celebration they’ve
created,” she adds. “It sure-
ly takes a village.”
“It takes a village and
two counties to celebrate a
Wee Bit O’ Ireland in Hep-
pner,” concludes Hughes.
“Top o’ the morning to all
of ye Irish and Irish-for-
a-weekend. See you St.
Patrick’s Day!”
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