BUSINESS
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
HeRMIsTOnHeRaLd.COM • A7
Family sells Heller &
Sons to Carson Oil
Maxwell Market kicks
off summer season
By JADE MCDOWELL
neWs edITOR
By JADE MCDOWELL
neWs edITOR
Longtime
Hermiston
business Heller & Sons Dis-
tributing will be losing the
Heller name after the fam-
ily sold the business to Car-
son Oil.
Mike Heller said his
father, Glea Heller, origi-
nally worked for a petro-
leum distributor in Mil-
ton-Freewater before buying
a distribution business in
Hermiston and moving the
family there in 1957.
“He started with one
truck, and we sold 500,000
gallons in a year,” Mike
said. “Now we do 500,000
in less than two weeks.”
Heller & Sons provides a
range of services, including
weekly deliveries of fuel,
fuel recycling, lubricant
support, various aviation
fuel services and five Pacific
Pride cardlock stations. The
company also runs a gas sta-
tion and convenience store
at 30 W. Catherine Ave.
Mike and his brother,
Jim Heller, grew up around
the business and joined offi-
cially when they were older.
They have carried on run-
ning it since their father died
in 1990, and have had help
from other family members
through the years.
Mike said the Heller
siblings are getting older,
though, and fuel distribu-
tion has mostly been taken
over by much larger compa-
nies, so they “saw the writ-
ing on the wall” and started
discussing retirement.
“The business itself is
changing,” he said. “It’s a bit
Area growers and craft-
ers were showing off their
wares Thursday, May 27,
on the opening day of the
Maxwell Market.
For Diana Bork of Irri-
gon, it was her first time
at the market as a vendor
instead of a customer. Her
table featured a variety of
jars and plastic bags full of
colorful freeze-dried can-
dies under the label Diana’s
Freeze Dried Goodies.
“I’ve been freeze-drying
things for about five years,
and candy became some-
thing that everyone loved,”
she said.
The freeze-drying pro-
cess uses extremely low
temperatures in a vacuum
to remove all the moisture
from a food, preserving
it. Bork said freeze drying
candy intensifies its flavor.
It also gives the candy a dif-
ferent texture. Freeze-dried
gummy worms at Bork’s
table, for example, had a
crunch similar to biting into
a Cheeto. She cautioned if
people are planning to eat a
bag of freeze-dried candy,
“you’re gonna need a drink
of water.”
Freeze driers retail at
about $2,000 to $3,000
apiece, so Bork said it’s
not something people can
easily make at home. But
freeze-dried foods can stay
good for up to 25 years.
Nearby, Cecilia Lopez
of Hermiston had set up a
table for Cecilia’s Arts and
Crafts. Her crafts ranged
from custom-made mugs
Jade McDowell/Hermiston Herald
Heller & Sons in Hermiston has been sold to Carson Oil.
like farming. The little guys
are not there anymore. The
big boys are taking over.”
He said he has known
Lance Woodbury, president
of Carson Oil, for a long
time, and he and Jim eventu-
ally decided after significant
due diligence that Carson
Oil would be the best com-
pany to take over serving
Heller & Sons’ customers.
The sale was finalized on
May 1, but the Heller broth-
ers are still on board for now
to help with the transition.
Mike said many Heller &
Sons customers have been
with the business since it
first started in 1957, and he
will miss talking with them
regularly.
“The customers have just
been wonderful,” he said.
“That’s the thing I’m going
to miss the most, is working
with them and taking care of
them.”
Mike said he will also
miss working with employ-
ees, some of whom have
been with the company for
20 years.
He will also miss the
community
involvement.
Heller & Sons has always
been a significant contrib-
utor to community proj-
ects, and the company was
named Hermiston Business
of the Year at the 2014 Dis-
tinguished Citizens Awards.
The business has been one
of the core sponsors of the
Farm-City Pro Rodeo and
its name is prominently dis-
played on the donor walls of
projects around Hermiston,
including Kennison Field.
When a customer at the con-
venience store won an $18
million lottery prize in 2001,
Heller & Sons donated most
of its $100,000 award to
local schools.
Mike said Carson Oil
plans to continue to partici-
pate in the community. The
business’ distribution trucks
already say Carson Oil, and
at some point the gas sta-
tion and convenience store
will too, but he said people
still can expect the business
to look largely the same,
including some of the same
employees.
“It’s been a long run, and
I’m going to miss it a lot,”
he said. “It’s going to be
tough to walk out that door
for the last time.”
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CAT10284-1
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Veronica Delgado helps customers at her booth, Veronica’s
Fresh Produce, at the Maxwell Market in Hermiston on
Thursday, May 27, 2021.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Dieleka Kone, of Kennewick,
sells homemade, organic,
chemical-free
skincare
products made with shea
butter at Segou Shea.
to painted succulent pots,
complete with a live succu-
lent. She said it was her sec-
ond year at the market, and
she was glad to be back.
“Everyone is friendly,
and the community can get
together and have some
fun,” she said.
Veronica Delgado of
Pasco echoed the same sen-
timents, and said she loved
getting to talk to people
while at her booth, Veroni-
ca’s Fresh Produce. She has
been at the Maxwell Market
since its first summer under
a tent across the road from
its current location at the
Maxwell Pavilion.
On May 27 her table
included fresh garlic, aspar-
agus, cilantro, radishes and
more. She said the selection
will change as new crops
are harvested.
Next to Delgado was
the Segou Shea booth, run
by Dieleka Kone of Ken-
newick. Her business sells
homemade, organic, chem-
ical-free skincare products
made with shea butter and
other natural ingredients.
She said she started the
business after she had trou-
ble finding a skincare prod-
uct that she liked.
The farmer’s market will
run every Thursday through
Oct. 7, from 4-8 p.m. at
the Maxwell Pavilion at
South First Place and West
Orchard Avenue.