B USINESS
Hermiston
A4
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM
Local dealership hits 70 year mark
By JADE MCDOWELL
Staff Writer
Sherrell Chevrolet
is celebrating its 70th
anniversary this week
with food, giveaways
and tours of the deal-
ership.
“We want people to
come in and just look
around,” said business
development manager
Kari Christiansen.
C h r i s t i a n s e n ’s
grandfather, Al Sher-
rell, started the car
dealership in Arlington
in 1945, then moved
his business to Herm-
iston in the early 1960s
after the completion
of the John Day Dam
forced Arlington busi-
nesses to relocate to
higher ground.
Her grandparents
passed the business
onto her parents, Rich
and Donna Sherrell,
who then passed the
business on to Chris-
tiansen and her hus-
band Dave.
She said Hermiston
has been a welcoming
community and a good
place to run a car deal-
ership.
“It’s just kind of full
circle,” she said. “We
do a lot of things for the
community and they
do a lot for us. We’ve
seen a lot of loyalty.”
The business moved
from Main Street to
North Highway 395
almost two years ago,
and Christiansen said
it has been a great lo-
cation and allowed for
some much-needed ex-
pansion room. She said
she hoped community
members would take
the opportunity during
the anniversary cele-
bration to come in and
check out the building.
On Thursday, the
dealership will have
appetizers,
desserts
and wine tasting with
Sno Road Winery from
5-9 p.m. On Friday
,from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.,
there will be coffee and
donuts in the morning
and hot dogs and soda
in the afternoon, along
with prize giveaways
including Trail Blazer
tickets.
On Saturday the
dealership is hosting
a muscle car cruise.
Owners of Cameros
and Corvettes are in-
vited to bring their car
to display starting at
9 a.m., take a group
photo at 10 a.m. and
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to eight mile cruise to-
gether at 10:45 a.m.
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Sherrell Chevrolet
is located at 2258 N. Sherrell Chevrolet, as it looked story after the ribbon-cutting ceremony at its
2258 N. First St. location in Hermiston in 2014.
First St. in Hermiston.
Smitty’s used to mean soft pancakes not hardware
By GARY L. WEST
Herald Editor
In September 1970 a new
restaurant opened in Hermis-
ton. Gilbert “Gib” Gettmann,
then proprietor of Hermiston
Drug, opened a restaurant be-
hind the drug store on the cor-
ner of Highway 395 and East
Hurlburt Avenue.
Smitty’s Pancake House
held its grand opening on
Sept. 4, 1970. The restaurant
was part of a chain of restau-
Gib Gettmann, owner of the
Smitty’s Pancake House,
receives an award for PaciÀ c
Power’s Chuck Bailey for
the electrical sSeciÀ cation
the new building met when it
opened in September 1970.
rants that started in Seattle in
1957 by J. William “Smitty”
Smith who attended the open-
ing.
The story in the Hermiston
Herald at the time said: “The
$145,000 restaurant covers
3,100 square feet and seats
150 persons, including 30 in
the private dining room.” The
story reports that the restau-
rant featured all custom-built
appliances and 18 stoves of
various types to allow “many
simultaneous instant-service
cooking operations.
Smitty’s was located
where the Golden Palace
restaurant is located today.
The Seattle-based restau-
rant chain did leave a leg-
acy. There is a Smitty’s
Pancake and Steak House
in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and a
Smitty’s Pancake House in
Wenatchee, Washington, that
still carry the name but are
independently owned. There
is a Smitty’s family restau-
rant chain in Canada, which
takes it’s name from Smith’s
Seattle restaurant. Smith
was the founder of what is
today know as Perkins Fam-
ily Restaurants, and some of
the early restaurants were
franchised under the Perkins
name, for Mat and Ivan Per-
kins, who took Smith’s reci-
pes to the Midwest, where the
two restaurant businesses —
Smitty’s and Perkins — were
separately operated.
The Smitty’s name is gone
from Hermiston now, unless
you count Smitty’s Ace Hard-
ware, but some of us still re-
member things like pancakes
for lunch after church on Sun-
days. For us Smitty’s meant
pancakes long before Shari’s
or Denny’s came to town.
Hermiston History is
a regular feature in the
Hermiston Herald. If you
have something to share
about the history of the
greater Hermiston area,
send your submission to
editor@hermistonherald.
com with “Hermiston His-
tory” in the subject line. If
you have a question about
the area’s history you
would like the Herald staff
to look into, you can send
your questions to the same
email address with “Herm-
iston History question” in
the subject line.
3rinted on
recycled
newsprint
Gary L. West | Editor • gwest@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4532
Tammy Malgesini | Community Editor • tmalgesini@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4539
Sam Barbee | Sports Reporter • sbarbee@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4542
BRIEFCASE
Session provides free
fi nancial info
A curriculum that teach-
es economic empowerment
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edge is being offered in Uma-
tilla this fall.
Cornerstones of Financial
Literacy assists participants
in creating a spending plan,
improving debt to income ra-
tios, build a good credit rating
and exploring consumer pro-
tection. There are no fees, and
child care is provided
Conducted in both English
and Spanish, the sessions are
Thursdays beginning Oct. 8
from 5:30-8 p.m. at McNary
Heights Elementary School,
120 Columbia Boulevard. It
runs for four weeks.
For more information or to
register, call 541-922-5574.
GEODC hires new
executive director
Tillman Carr has joined
the Greater Eastern Oregon
Development Corporation as
executive director.
Carr, who started in the
position Aug. 3, will oversee
the activities of GEODC. He
has a long career in banking,
including 13 years as a bank
Kim La Plant | Multi-media consultant • klaplant@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4530
examiner, 14 years with the
Farm Credit System, three
years with the Federal Home
Loan Bank of Seattle and
three years as commercial
credit administrator at Spo-
kane Teachers Credit Union.
In addition, Tillman was a
private business owner and a
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ganization that provides a va-
riety of economic development
assistance and services for pri-
vate sector businesses and pub-
lic sector government agencies
in Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Mal-
heur, Morrow, Umatilla and
Wheeler counties.
For more information,
contact 541-612-7090, till-
man.carr@geodc.net or visit
www.geodc.net.
Irrigon chamber
announces luncheons
Marc Garst, manager of
the Irrigon Fish Hatchery, is
the featured speaker of the
upcoming Irrigon Chamber
of Commerce meeting.
The no-host luncheon
gathering is Wednesday,
Oct. 14, at noon at Stokes
Landing Senior Center, 195
Opal Place, Irrigon. The
cost is $8 for members and
$10 for non-members.
In addition, Phyllis Dan-
ielson, chamber director,
encourages people to plan
now for the Veterans Day
chamber luncheon Wednes-
day, Nov. 11. Bud Costel-
lo, a World War II veteran
from Irrigon is the featured
guest. He recently traveled
to Washington, D.C., as an
honored veteran and will
share his experiences and
show pictures. All veterans
are urged to attend.
For more information,
contact Phyllis Danielson
at
irrigonchamber@irri-
gonchamber.com or 541-
922-3857.
Business owner
answers questions
Carol Frink, owner of
Real Business Solutions,
will answer business ques-
tions during an upcoming
event sponsored by the
Umatilla Chamber of Com-
merce & Visitor Center.
Coffee with Carol is
Thursday at 7:30 a.m. at the
Umatilla School District
RI¿FH6L[WK6W)ULQN
is a nationally recognized
expert in assisting people
with starting and keeping
businesses.
Space is limited to 10
people. To RSVP, contact
karen@umatillachamber.
net or 541-922-4825.
Chamber plans
orientation for trip
The Hermiston Chamber
of Commerce will host an ori-
entation meeting for a trip to
Ireland it is offering next year
at 4 p.m. Oct. 13 in the board
room at Hermiston Confer-
ence Center, 415 S. Highway
395.
The trip April 14 through
April 22 costs $2,695, in-
cluding airfare, lodging,
meals, transportation and tour
guides.
For more information,
contact Debbie Pedro, 541-
567-6151.
Jade McDowell | Reporter • jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4536
Sean Hart | Reporter • smhart@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4534
Jeanne Jewett | Multi-Media Consultant • jjewett@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4531
To contact the Hermiston Herald for news,
advertising or subscription information:
• call 541-567-6457
• e-mail info@hermistonherald.com
• stop b\ our of¿ ces at 333 (. 0ain 6t.
• visit us online at: hermistonherald.com
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0ember of (2 0edia *roup &opyright 2015
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