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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 2019)
SPORTS Wednesday, september 4, 2019 HermIstOnHeraLd.COm • A9 COLUMN Round-Up brings benefits to entire region I t’s that time of year again. rodeo goers. They wear their Late summer, most county boots and hats with an easy style that makes it clear that this is fairs are now over, the wheat harvest is wrapped up, their frequent attire. and thoughts turn to Other, shall we say, back-to-school, football dudes and dudettes games, and the arrival of appear in Western attire Fall. Around these parts, as well, but the new- ness of their embroi- it also means Round-Up dered jeans, the immac- time! ulate and crisply blocked Having attended my very first Pendle- hats, and the finely pol- C hris ished boots seem to ton Round-Up and PBR r ush give away that this not events last year, I now PUBLISHER a way of life, but rather know what all the fuss is an attempt to blend in. I about. Working the Rotary beer sales myself own a clean straw hat that booth one day last year, I had typically only makes it off the the opportunity to do some seri- rack and atop my cranium just a ous people watching in between few times a year, so I would be pours. Of course, I saw a large considered part of this “all hat contingent of what I would esti- and no cattle” crowd. mate to be veteran Round-Up/ But I was also pleasantly sur- prised to spot several groups of what I would call Portland-style hipsters. Some might say, city slickers. The guys, in their 20s- 30s, sported finely coiffed hipster beards, pork pie hats and tight-fit- ting rolled-up jeans, and the girls wore even tighter jeans, fashion boots (not Western) and whatever made one comfortable on a warm, sunny afternoon. I gathered that this was their typical uniform and they did not seem the least bit self-conscious or concerned about being out of place. It’s an interesting develop- ment and a good thing. Round-Up has grown beyond just an Eastern Oregon event, or even a purely rural Northwest event. It’s now on people’s bucket lists from all walks of life. As Pendleton Con- vention Center Director (and a Round-Up aficionado from way back) Pat Beard told me recently, Round-Up — now celebrating its 109th year — is seen as a nation- ally acclaimed spectacle and gen- uine cultural happening that must be experienced. For one week out of the year, Pendleton may well be the hip- pest and happiest place to be in all of Oregon, if not the North- west. The event’s widespread popularity has grown tremen- dously over the past several years. Early ticket sales for this year’s edition appear to confirm that positive trend. By almost every measure (attendance, con- cession and souvenir sales) the event is still growing. Hotels and campsites between Hermiston and La Grande will once again be fully occupied, restaurants and watering holes will be jammed, and hopefully, our local mom and pop stores will benefit from the additional traffic (and wallets) walking around town. Included in today’s newspaper, you’ll see that we have inserted a complimentary copy of the 2019 Round-Up magazine with the theme “People of Round-Up.” As most locals know, it takes a vir- tual army of volunteers to pull off every facet of Round-Up, Happy Canyon, PBR, the Main Street Cowboys carnival, parades, con- certs and more. We’ve tried to capture as much of that as we can in this 80-page volume. We hope you enjoy these sto- ries and images. Now, let’s all get ready to “Let ‘er Buck!” Eastern Oregon Family Taekwondo earns two grand championship wins at Richland tourney By BRETT KANE STAFF WRITER Stanfield’s Eastern Oregon Fam- ily Taekwondo sent 18 kids to com- pete at the 11th annual Battle on the Columbia, and brought home some gold. Hermiston’s own Chris Godby, 12, took first in sparring and won the grand championship title, and Anais Garcia, 7, also won first in sparring and the grand champion- ship title. “I was so impressed,” said East- ern Oregon Family Taekwondo co-instructor Erwin Watson. “You get to the point where you watch them and you get goosebumps. It’s a great thing to hear your kids’ names announced as winners. It was the only time I was able to hear how good they did at the com- petition. It was good to hear their names on the intercom.” Godby and Garcia weren’t the only ones to bring home top honors at the Richland-hosted tournament. Kiona Idris, 15, won first in the weapons and padded weapons com- petitions, as well as second-place finishes in forms and sparring. Jor- dan Velasco, 7, took first in weap- ons. Luciano Zavala and Jezly Hig- ereda, 6, both took first in sparring. Kristian Cardenas, 8, claimed first in padded weapons, as well as second in both sparring and weap- ons. Abel Garcia, 11, also took home a first-place trophy for his performance in the padded weap- ons category, along with sec- ond-place finishes in forms and sparring. Iria Lissman won first in forms and second in sparring, Ervin Hig- ereda, 8, won a pair of first-place trophies in sparring and padded weapons, and Samuel Godby, 9, placed first in padded weapons. Watson said his team’s show- ing at the recent Richland tourna- ment was a display of the progress the team had made since the begin- ning of the year. “I don’t get a lot of kids at the beginning of the year who want to go out to these tournaments,” he said. “But when they see other kids come home with medals, it boosts their interest. Now these kids are ready for the next tourna- ment. They got the taste of it. Now they know what it feels like to be winners. They’re hooked on it. It’s great.” Watson, who co-owns the Stan- field-based taekwondo program alongside his wife Lorry, said that his team’s tournament turnouts have doubled since the start of the year. “I’m so proud of these kids,” he said. “I was impressed with every single one of them.” The Watsons and their team will have a bit of a break until their next competition, which is scheduled for November, and will take place at Mount Hood Community Col- lege in Portland. photo contributed by erwin Watson Stanfield’s Eastern Oregon Family Taekwondo team poses with their medals after the Battle on the Columbia in Richland, Wash., on Saturday, Aug. 17. Miracle-Ear Hearing Centers are looking for qualified people to test their latest product, The Miracle-Ear® Mirage RISK FREE!* Here’s the catch: You must have difficulty hearing and understanding in background noise, and your hearing must fall in the range of the hearing aid. 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