FROM PAGE ONE
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Hermiston High School graduates pose for a class photo at Kennison Field before the Hermiston High School Honor Walk on Thursday, May 27, 2021.
Honor:
Continued from Page A1
Roberto Gonzales plans
to attend Blue Mountain
Community College to
study art before eventually
transferring somewhere else
to complete a bachelor’s
degree in fi ne art.
He said during the the
fi rst semester it was harder
to stay motivated and turn
in work when his teachers
weren’t in the room with
him. He got to fi nish the year
in person, though, and looks
forward to what’s next.
“It’s exciting, but I’m
very nervous,” he said of
Funland:
Continued from Page A1
He showed up with other
Kiwanis Club members, and
said it was exciting to see
the playground almost com-
plete after the service club
had contributed fi nancially
to it.
Patricia Alder, who sat
on the steering commit-
tee that helped design the
new Funland and fundraise
for it, brought her family
out to help with the work
party. She said she was very
pleased with how the play-
ground was turning out after
all the work the committee
put into designing it.
“It’s been fun to watch
the dream come to fruition,”
she said.
Her daughter Cosette
Alder, 6, was using an over-
sized sponge to help her dad
clean off part of the exten-
sive playground.
Cosette said she was
sad when the old, wooden
version of the playground
burned down, but not now
that she has seen the new
one. She said she was most
excited to play on the pirate
ship section.
“It’s a really nice play-
ground,” she said.
Ethan Jemmett, 12, and
Dallin Smith, 13, were
working in the covered
wagon and teepee section of
the playground after explor-
graduating.
The Honor Walk was
a precursor to graduation,
which will take place on
Thursday, June 3.
Students will gather at
5:30 p.m. in the Purple
Gym at Hermiston High
School to hear speeches,
which will also be lives-
treamed on the Hermis-
ton School District website
and HSD Communications
YouTube channel.
After the speeches, stu-
dents will be brought into
the main commons area a
few at a time to walk across
the stage and receive a
diploma, with six guests of
their choice in attendance.
ing it. Ethan described the
playground as “huge,” and
said he really liked it.
Dallin said his favor-
ite parts were a giant spi-
der web of ropes for climb-
ing, the three big slides and
the tunnel to crawl through.
He said he used to play tag
on the old playground all
the time and he is looking
forward to playing it on the
new one.
“There is way more stuff
to go on,” he said.
The playground features
a variety of climbing equip-
ment, tunnels, slides and
poles, broken up into sec-
tions that refl ect diff erent
themes. A pirate ship being
attacked by a kraken domi-
nates one corner, but most of
the features were designed to
refl ect Hermiston’s history.
The structures will be
complete almost exactly 25
years after the original Fun-
land Playground opened
on June 9, 1996. That ini-
Hermiston High School
graduates take to the
streets of Hermiston for
the school’s Honor Walk on
Thursday, May 27, 2021.
Graduation is set for
Thursday, June 3.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
tial wooden structure, built
to mimic a castle, was the
brainchild of Jerry and
Kathy Blankenship. Accord-
ing to the Hermiston Herald
at the time, it took 1,920 vol-
unteers about 9,000 hours to
build it, using 32,394 feet of
lumber and 504 pounds of
nails.
That structure burned
down in a suspected arson
in 2001, and was rebuilt in
March 2002. That struc-
ture burned down in another
suspected arson on May 8,
2019.
The new playground is
made of metal and com-
pressed plastic, with a soft
rubberized surface under-
neath. City offi cials hope
moving away from wood
will deter another fi re.
The playground was also
designed to be more open
and diffi cult for troublemak-
ers to hide in, and will be
watched over by a new cam-
era system with a live feed.
Wishing an amazing girl
a birthday as fabulous
as you are!
May all your wishes
come true.
We think of you all the time.
Love - Grandpa and Grandma Powell

Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Volunteers clean play structures at the newly renovated Funland Playground in Hermiston on
Thursday, May 27, 2021.