NEWS
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2021
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
Echo’s Oktoberfest gives rare
opportunity to local musicians
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
ECHO — Getting ready for Okto-
berfest, a pair of local musicians
dressed in lederhosen and tuned their
instruments. By start time, they were
ready to perform.
Proceeds from the event Saturday,
Oct. 16, in Echo, benefi tted St. Peter’s
Roman Catholic Church and and local
scholarship fund.
Margaret Mayer, a Blue Mountain
Community College music instructor,
was one of the two performers. She
said she has played at a few Oktober-
fests and other local events many more
times.
“It’s fun,” she said of Echo’s Okto-
berfest. As an accordion player, she
does not get many chances to per-
form publicly. And since she enjoys the
instrument, she also likes any opportu-
nity to play.
“Everyone remembers somebody
who plays the accordion, but no one
seems to play it anymore,” she said.
She took it up 15 years ago, because
a musical needed one. She was in the
pit orchestra at the time. With some
lessons from a Walla Walla teacher
Horrace Lazzari, and some indepen-
dent study and practice, she was ready
to perform for the musical.
More often than not, however, she
plays the accordion for her own enjoy-
ment, but she plays other instruments
as well. She plays piano, guitar and
clarinet, which are all more popular
among her music students.
She said she thinks she knows why
students do not gravitate toward the
accordion.
“It’s really hard to play,” she said.
One thing that makes it harder than
the piano is “you can’t see what you’re
doing.” The instrument obscures
the views of a player’s hands. But
there are some masters of the instru-
ment, including “Weird Al” Yankovic,
Art Van Damme, Dick Contino and
Lazzari.
Mayer said likes the variety of the
accordions, as well as the versatility
of the instrument. Accordions are used
in Cajun, Mexican and other musical
traditions.
Mayer performs with Alan Feves,
who also plays a rare instrument — the
bass banjo, which was built for him by
Cathy Stolz/Contributed Photo
Bill Jennings, Vietnam vet, staff s the Veterans Yard Sale in
Hermiston, Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021.
Auxiliary president
surprises folks with big
American Legion yard sale
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Musicians Margaret Mayer and Alan Feves, both of Hermiston, pose for a photo
Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, at Oktoberfest in Echo.
banjo maker Verne Marr of Pendleton.
He said he and Marr saw the instru-
ment in an old photo of country musi-
cians, and they thought making one
would be an “interesting project.”
He said has seen only a few peo-
ple with bass banjos. Johnny Pepper-
craft is one of the few contemporary
players.
Feves learned to play on his own,
but it was not much of a challenge,
because of its similarity to other
instruments, he said. The upright bass,
for example, has the same tuning as
the bass banjo.
“I’ve been playing the upright bass
since junior high school,” he said.
Since then, he has played with jazz
groups, symphony groups and rock
bands. He also plays the electric bass,
the bass fi ddle and the bass guitar,
which also prepared him to play the
bass banjo.
“The fi ngering and notes are the
same on all of those instruments,”
he said.
In addition to bass instruments, he
also plays the steel guitar and slide
guitar.
He is interested in Oktoberfest not
because of heritage, but because he has
the skills to entertain, and this event
was simply an opportunity.
Both Hermiston residents, Mayer
and Feves have known each other and
have performed together for more than
20 years. Theirs is a good friendship,
they said.
“We don’t have to think about it,”
Mayer said of their friendship. “We
just play, and he just moans, like a
good bass player.”
The Veterans Yard Sale
on Oct. 9 in Hermiston put
some money into the coff ers
of American Legion Herm-
iston Post 37 and Auxiliary.
This money will be used to
fund Legion activities, Cathy
Stolz, Hermiston’s American
Legion Auxiliary president,
said.
Stolz added, the sale’s
results “surpassed every-
one’s expectations,” except
her own. “I knew our gener-
ous citizens would rally and
support the needs of our vet-
erans and their families.”
Stolz, a Hermiston resi-
dent, had been pushing for
this yard sale because she was
confi dent it would be a suc-
cessful fundraiser. She was
sure of the success of a yard
sale because the Legion did
well when it joined the VFW
on another sale in November
2020, she said.
People told her the Legion
would make around $600.
She scoffed, knowing it
would earn at least $2,000.
The yard sale ended up
making $2,197.
“This is going to go for
scholarships for veterans’
children and for veterans and
their spouses. It’s going to go
to youth programs, teaching
kids flag etiquette,” Stolz
said.
She said she believes,
if not for the winds, which
picked up in the middle of
the sale, the yard sale would
have made more than $3,000,
thanks to the hard work of
volunteers and the sponsor-
ship of local companies.
“We received invaluable
help from Hermiston Scout-
master Dan Greenough with
Troop 654 and the 4-H group
‘Kinda Cousins,’” Stolz said.
“Coming to our rescue lead-
ing up to the event, Swain
Motors allowed the veteran
organization to stockpile on
their property early donated
items. Also, Rogers Toyota
provided the use of a new
truck with a power outlet in
the bed, allowing shoppers
to test electrical appliances
before buying them.”
In addition to selling items
at the yard sale, the Legion
sold 50 to 100 $10 beef raffl e
tickets, which benefi ted the
upcoming American Legion
Youth Patriotic Oratorical
Competition.
The raffle ticket sale
amount was not even fi g-
ured into the $2,197 earned
from the sale. Also, some
more money, another $100,
was made from a silent auc-
tion to benefi t the Legion
Auxiliary.
When asked if she would
bring the sale back next year,
Stolz said people might not
have to wait that long.
“How about next spring?”
she said.
The Legion on Saturday,
Oct. 23, will have a Veterans
fall social with a potato dar
and dessert potluck.