NEWS
A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2019
Lights
Continued from Page A1
he was waiting in line to see Santa, he
said he was going to ask for a series of
books called “Who was ...”.
“I want something more to read,” he
said.
Ryleigh Leighton, 8, said she was
going to ask for a camera and a realis-
tic baby doll.
While much of the night centered
around Santa and the tree, it was also
about spotlighting downtown busi-
nesses. The Hermiston Downtown
District was having its monthly First
Thursday event in conjunction with
Winterfest, and businesses were open
later than usual and offered special
deals. Speakers at the beginning of the
event also highlighted several local
businesses and encouraged people to
shop locally this month.
Winterfest also offered a fund-
raiser opportunity for several good
causes, including Vange John Memo-
rial Hospice. The organization was
selling Christmas ornaments featur-
ing different branches of the military
to raise money for programs for hos-
pice patients. The hospice set up a dis-
play in the window of Victory Baptist
Church next to the festival street, fea-
turing snowfl akes in memory of people
who have died.
The festival street will be closed
to vehicle traffi c until Christmas, but
pedestrians are welcome to visit the
tree and see a light show each half hour
from 5-8 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Funland
Continued from Page A1
In the agricultural sec-
tion, slides lead down from
a tall grain silo, while chil-
dren can climb on a trac-
tor or giant fruits and
vegetables.
In the western section,
a large locomotive gives
a nod to the railroad that
helped bring Hermiston into
existence, while Western
storefronts can be custom-
ized to refl ect what Herm-
iston’s early downtown
looked like. The section will
also include a Native Amer-
ican campsite with teepees,
a “fi re pit” and drums.
Fetter said he consulted
with cultural specialists for
the Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Res-
ervation on the American
Indian section, and they
made suggestions to make
the section more authentic
to area tribes.
“We introduced a climb-
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
From left to right, Harley Camargo, 5, Alivia Lowe, 3, and RJ Camargo, 9, explain their Christmas wishes to Santa during the Winterfest tree lighting
ceremony in downtown Hermiston on Thursday night.
ing rock with petroglyphs
that might actually be found
in the Columbia Gorge,” he
said.
Multiple city councilors
said they wanted to do more
than just ask the tribes for
suggestions to improve the
design. If the tribes aren’t
100% on board with some-
thing, councilor John Kir-
wan said, the city shouldn’t
include it.
“Any time you have a
cultural element, you need
to get their permission,” he
said.
Drotzmann agreed, say-
ing that he hoped the play-
ground stands for gen-
erations to come, and
therefore he wouldn’t want
anything the tribes weren’t
“completely comfortable”
with.
“They gave us a tour
(Tamástslikt Cultural Insti-
tute) and there’s so much
detail and so much quality
and so much thought in that,
it’s so easy to get wrong, so
I hear you loud and clear,”
Fetter responded.
Councilor Roy Bar-
ron said he appreciated the
effort to include the tribes,
but he was disappointed
there wasn’t more to rep-
resent Latino cultures. Fet-
ter told Barron he would
love to take suggestions on
colors or other design ele-
ments that would help the
playground feel more inclu-
sive for Latino children,
who will likely make up the
majority of children using
the playground.
The fi nal tally of how
much the rebuild commit-
tee’s full vision would cost
came to $1,562,000 (an esti-
mate last week placed it at
$1.2 million). Fetter said
the city could downgrade or
hold off on some elements
if they weren’t able to fund-
raise as much as hoped.
While Fetter asked for
the council to sign off on
the design as presented, in
order to complete construc-
tion by the city’s July 4 cele-
bration at Butte Park, coun-
cilors said they would feel
more comfortable fundrais-
ing fi rst and then approv-
ing a design after they see
how much came in. Fetter
said that would likely push
the completion date back
to Labor Day, but council-
ors said they felt it would be
worth the wait to do such an
important project right.
Two committee mem-
bers, Charlie Clupny and
Patricia Alder, told the
council a lot of thought was
put into the design and they
hoped that enough money
would be able to be raised
to bring that vision to life.
Clupny said when he talked
to the Lions Club, they were
excited to talk about how
the club could help.
“I just shared three pic-
tures and by the end of the
hour they were like, ‘When
are we going to start build-
ing?’” he said.
A new committee will be
put together to begin fund-
raising in earnest and pub-
licizing the vision for the
playground. Efforts will
include the sale of fence
NW
Shade Co
LLC
pickets that community
members can engrave, and
corporate sponsorships of
pieces such as the giant
watermelon slice.
“You and your commit-
tee have the council’s bless-
ing, now go forth and make
it happen,” Drotzmann said.
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