A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2017
NEWS
Oregon mayors face off in Portland
Annual event
pays tribute to
late founder
of watermelon
giveaway
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
PORTLAND — Amid
some light trash-talking
and
heavy
pressure,
Hermiston Mayor Da-
vid Drotzmann faced off
against Portland Mayor
Ted Wheeler in the annual
watermelon seed-spitting
contest at Portland’s Pio-
neer Courthouse Square on
Friday morning.
“I understand Mayor
Wheeler has never done
this before, so we’ll give
him a practice round so he
doesn’t get embarrassed by
us professional seed-spit-
ters,” Drotzmann said, to
laughs from the crowd.
Wheeler appreciated the
handicap.
“Normally, when doing
something this important
I’d have practiced,” he
said, “But I’ve never spit
a watermelon seed. You’d
better win,” Wheeler he
told his Hermiston coun-
terpart, “Or you’re not go-
ing to have a job in Herm-
iston!”
Based on Wheeler’s
comment,
Drotzmann
can keep his job, after he
launched a seed past the
one Wheeler spit, but not
without a twist: both men
were beaten by Wheel-
er’s director of strategic
partnerships, Jennifer Ar-
guinzoni, who stepped in
at the last minute to partic-
ipate.
Each mayor also spoke
briefl y about the event, to a
crowd that had gathered to
collect the free watermel-
ons that some Portlanders
have come to anticipate
each summer.
“These are the best wa-
termelons in the world and
there’s no reason to get
melons shipped from any-
where else,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler also spoke
about other facets of East-
ern Oregon’s largest city.
“Hermiston is a thriv-
ing city,” he said. “While
we think of watermelons,
there’s lots of good em-
ployment
opportunities.
They’re working very hard
under this mayor on eco-
nomic prosperity. It’s good
to take a fun day like this
and remember that we are
one state.”
Drotzmann, too, said he
was glad to be showcasing
Hermiston’s most famous
crop on the west side of the
state.
STAFF PHOTOS BY JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
TOP, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler chats with Hermiston Mayor David Drotzmann before the two faced off in the watermelon
seed-spitting contest Friday in Portland. ABOVE LEFT, Josh Burns, Hermiston Chamber of Commerce board chairman,
holds two watermelons in downtown Portland on Friday. Burns stood at the corner of Pioneer Courthouse Square, alerting
pedestrians walking by to the presence of free watermelons. ABOVE RIGHT, Hermiston city councilors, chamber members
and Mayor David Drotzmann pose with Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler before the watermelon giveaway in Portland on Friday.
“Normally when we’re
here, we’re a hundred
deep,” he said. “We’ve got
a lot of good produce to
give away.”
Debbie Pedro, presi-
dent/CEO of the Herm-
iston Chamber of Com-
merce, estimated that they
were giving away nine bins
of melons, each of which
contained between 20 and
30 melons.
Drotzmann added that
partnering with Portland
was important for both cit-
ies.
“It’s interesting because
Portland is larger than us
by about 650,000. So we
think they have different
issues — but when we sit
down with them, the issues
we have are very similar.
We’re thinking about eco-
nomic development, pub-
lic safety, housing, water.
How do we, as a state, con-
tinue to be prosperous?”
After the brief remarks,
Drotzmann,
Hermiston
city councilors Lori Da-
vis, Rod Hardin and Jackie
Meyers started handing out
melons. They were joined
by Hermiston Energy Ser-
vices superintendent Nate
Rivera and Debbie Pedro,
Josh Burns, Shirley Par-
sons, Ian Coyle and Cindy
Meyers from the Herm-
iston Chamber of Com-
merce.
Though the crowd
wasn’t as thick as some
councilors recalled in past
years, there was a steady
stream of people through-
out the giveaway. Burns
stood at the corner of Pi-
oneer Courthouse Square,
advertising the presence
of free melons to Portland-
ers walking past, which
brought in several waves
of eager customers.
Some, though, came
prepared.
Kathy Leichleiter and
Brenda McSweeney were
the fi rst ones in line, wait-
ing with a small cart with
wheels.
“We’ve come before,”
McSweeney said. “Maybe
10 or more times.”
McSweeney said she
buys Hermiston melons
when she can, and that her
family loves the fruit.
“They’re
nice
and
sweet,” Leichleiter said.
Wheeler was scheduled
to meet Drotzmann, Har-
din and Meyers for dinner
on Thursday night, but
canceled about an hour be-
fore due to a Portland City
Council meeting that ran
long.
“We take public com-
ment, and it included use
of force issues,” Wheeler
said of his absence. “Un-
fortunately, I was not able
to go to dinner.”
Though this was Wheel-
er’s fi rst watermelon give-
away event as mayor,
many of the Hermiston
councilors and representa-
tives have been coming for
years.
“Over the years, we
would have people up in
their offi ces, looking down
on the square and waiting
for us to get out here,” Pe-
dro said. “We’ll recognize
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Pedro said it’s important
to keep building a partner-
ship with Portland.
“It’s very important to
share the concerns we have
in rural areas and they get
to let us know what’s going
on here,” she said. “When
it comes to economic de-
velopment, it’s really
exciting to have friends
across the state.”
The event, which was
started in 1991 by former
Hermiston Mayor Frank
Harkenrider and former
Portland Mayor Bud Clark,
petered out in the late
2000s, and was revived
three years ago by Drot-
zmann and then-Portland
Mayor Charlie Hales.
Drotzmann remembered
Harkenrider, who passed
away late last month, in
his opening remark at the
events.
“He never knew an ene-
my,” Drotzmann said. “He
served on our city coun-
cil for over 50 years, and
he was the pioneer of this
event.”
Hardin
remembered
some of the earlier events,
and the two fl amboyant
founders of the watermel-
on giveaway.
“Bud was kind of a con-
troversial mayor,” he said.
“I think they (Harkenrider
and Clark) were a perfect
fi t. One from a small city,
one from a big city. But
both, you never knew what
was going to come out of
their mouths.”
He recalled one partic-
ular gathering, a few years
ago.
“Bud Clark rode his bi-
cycle to the event, and he
showed up with a water-
melon (bicycle) helmet,”
Hardin said. “That was the
last one they were at to-
gether.”
Hardin said the event
is a good way to remind
people in Portland of the
role the east side of the
state plays in their daily
lives.
“It’s mainly to remind
them, most of your food
comes from our direction,”
he said.
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