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A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
Green:
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remaining Dec. 4.
The trees are from the
Estacada area, and summer’s
severe temperatures burned
trees from bottom to the top,
decreasing the crop. The
Kiwanis Club had to search
extra hard for trees, he said.
Instead of obtaining trees
from a single seller, like
usual, the club had to buy
from four diff erent sellers.
Frink said the club paid
around $10 more wholesale
for each tree. Part of this
increase was passed on to
consumers, he said, which
is why each tree is sold on
the lot for $5 more than last
year.
While the heat has trou-
bled business, he said, the
bigger challenge has been
from competition with fake
trees. In the early days of
the lot, his club would sell
1,000 trees per year, well
more than double the current
sales. This was before fake
trees were popular, he said.
Still, even with the chal-
lenges, Frink said the tree
sale is a reliable fundraiser
for the club. It is, he said, the
second largest fundraiser for
Kiwanis, typically earning
$18,000.
“We appreciate that,” he
said.
Money from the lot goes
back into the community for
causes such as Agape House,
swimming safety lessons
and Martha’s House, he said.
Up the street from the
Kiwanis lot, in front of
Grocery Outlet, Hermis-
ton, George Ikonomou also
sells Christmas trees. Hav-
ing started the day before
Thanksgiving, he said he
expects to stay open through
Dec. 20. On a good day, he
said, he will sell 60 trees.
His trees range from $10 to
$99, and he carries Douglas
fi r, noble fi r and Nordmann
fi r trees.
Like the Kiwanis sell-
ers, Ikonomou also saw
changes through the years.
He fi rst started selling trees
around Hermiston 10 years
ago. Since then, he also has
noticed competition from
fake trees, he said, and short-
ages in trees that predates
the past year’s heat wave.
Because of the recent
shortage, though, he had to
buy in larger bulk than usual,
he said. He stores about 600
trees now, bringing them out
when needed. Ordinarily, he
would be free to order trees
when he started running low.
He is charging $10 more
for each tree these days, he
said, matching rising whole-
sale prices.
Still, he said, he likes this
COVID-19:
Continued from Page A1
their eff orts to become U.S.
citizens.
Sergio Gonzalez, a nurse
at the clinic, said he has been
to other clinics, some draw
more than a hundred people
and others attract only a hand-
ful, and spoken with people
about health and immigration
concerns. He expressed con-
business, as it is work he can
do with his brother, Deme-
tri Ikonomou. In addition, he
said he likes working around
trees.
“I like real trees. They put
me in the mood for Christ-
mas,” he said.
Brothers Tom and Jeff
Hepler, owners of Hepler’s
Trees in Pendleton, said they
held their prices the same
this year and shifted around
their stock to try to lessen the
burden of increased whole-
sale costs.
“This year has been
pretty good,” Tom Hepler
said. “It’s a bit slow during
the week but the weekends
have been really busy.”
The Heplers said the
lot has 550 trees, up from
roughly 500 last year. He
said he has a few more for-
est trees this year as opposed
to his usual supply of farm
grown trees.
“This year we got more of
them,” he said. “But they’re
big and beautiful.”
The lot plans to stay open
as long as supply allows, and
Tom Hepler said the broth-
ers have a tradition of giving
away the last tree of the year.
Ward Walker, owner of
Walker’s Christmas Trees,
said he has been able to
keep his prices steady for
more than a decade by cut-
ting the trees himself in the
Blue Mountains. Walker,
who sources his trees from
private land as well as a with
a U.S. Forest Service per-
mit, said he considers him-
self largely immune to sup-
ply chain issues.
“If it’s 10 days from
Christmas and I need more
trees, I’ll just go cut more
trees,” he said.
Walker said he would
rather sell additional trees
than raise his prices, some-
thing his unique business
strategy allows him to do.
While Walker hasn’t
changed his business model,
he said he has seen consum-
ers change the way they shop
in the last two years. Walker
said he thinks the pandemic
has made people want to get
into the holiday spirit earlier
in the year.
“Last year I thought I
was on track to have an
above average year,” he
said. “I had sold like 80% of
my trees before the 10th of
December.”
Walker said he ended up
still selling his usual 400 or
so trees, despite the quick
start, and added that he is
seeing a similar trend this
year.
Because he knows when
and where his trees are cut,
Walker said he guarantees
his trees through Christmas
and tries to stay open as late
in the season as possible to
ensure anyone who wants a
tree is able to get one.
“A lot of folks think when
the other lots run out that’s
it, but I’ll still be here,” he
said.
To further his mission of
getting a tree to anyone who
wants one, Walker has been
collecting donations to help
lessen the cost of trees for
those who can’t aff ord them.
As of Dec. 5, Walker had
collected $415 to help fam-
ilies aff ord a tree, including
roughly $120 he rolled over
from last year. So far Walker
has used about $160 of that
to help people aff ord a tree
or purchase a larger tree.
“I don’t want people to
skip getting a tree,” he said,
“just because of the cost.
fi dence that immigration offi -
cials were not tracking peo-
ple at vaccination events.
“The information is pri-
vate,” he said.
Andrea Odle, Oregon
Health Authority assistant
regional COVID-19 test-
ing and vaccine coordina-
tor, also was on hand. A fl u-
ent Spanish speaker, she said
it is important for people to
receive information about
the vaccine in their fi rst lan-
guage. When individuals
hear information in the lan-
guage they know best, she
said, they are more likely to
understand and trust it.
Another nurse at the
event, Christine Daniel, said
she hopes people will over-
come their concerns about
the vaccination.
“It’s very important for
health issues,” she said.
“People are getting sick. Peo-
ple are dying. We want to get
back to normal, and vaccina-
tions will help us get there.”
Business picking up in
Pendleton
The Scouts BSA Christ-
mas tree lot along South-
west Court Avenue in Pend-
leton on Saturday, Dec. 4,
was able to get its full order
of trees.
“We haven’t gotten much
attention yet, but it’s pick-
ing up,” said Alexander Kro-
kosz, senior patrol leader for
the Pendleton Scouts BSA
Troop 700.
“We were lucky that all
the droughts and fi res did not
aff ect the trees we wanted,”
Holly Krokosz said.
She is the troop’s com-
mittee chair and said the lot
sources trees from the Mol-
lala area each year. The troop
“A LOT OF
FOLKS THINK
WHEN THE
OTHER LOTS
RUN OUT
THAT’S IT, BUT
I’LL STILL BE
HERE.”
Ward Walker, owner of
Walker’s Christmas Trees
used a donated truck to pick
up their order of roughly 180
trees.
“We have regular folks
that come through year after
year,” she said.
The Scouts use the money
raised through the sale of
Christmas trees to help fund
trips to summer camp and
other excursions. Holly Kro-
kosz said the troop wants
to ensure any scout who
wants to go to camp is able
to aff ord to do so either at a
reduced rate or for free.
Organizers had planned
to close the lot on Saturday,
Dec. 11.
Pendleton tree lots hold
prices steady
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2021
Funland:
Continued from Page A1
such vandalism.
“It’s unfortunate that there
are people who just want to
come out and destroy and
wreak havoc on our things
that are for children,” he said.
He added that children
5-12 years old are not going
to have such a destructive
attitude. It is the older peo-
ple, he said, who want to get
a rise out of people and brag
about what they can do.
Artz said this destructive
spirit was at work the pre-
vious times the playground
was vandalized to the point
of immolation.
More protection on the way
Waving his outstretched
arm to the outer edge of the
playground, he pointed to
where a fence is going in.
It will stand just outside of
the pathway surrounding
the playground, he said, and
stand 4 feet tall.
The director said he was
once “on the fence” about
building a fence for the play-
ground. He said he sees tall
fences topped with barb
wire, and he was uncom-
fortable about such a fence
for this playground. Such a
fence would be unfriendly
and unwelcoming, he said,
sending “the wrong mes-
sage” to playground users.
He thought about this
more, he said, and he
agreed for the need of a
smaller fence, which would
keep casual trespassers out
and keep young children
contained.
“There are quite a few
parents like me,” he said. As
the father of a child who he
describes as “a runner,” he
said he would feel more com-
fortable if a fence existed to
block children from escape.
“I think a fence is defi -
nitely necessary,” he said,
and Farm City Fence is han-
dling that work in the spring.
People already have spon-
sored pickets to the park,
he said, and those pickets
will include the name of the
sponsors. People can donate
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Funland Playground in Hermiston is a source of community
pride and employs several measures, including lasers, to
protect the unique features at the park.
to build this fence. Informa-
tion on sponsorships is on the
Hermiston Parks and Recre-
ation website.
The parks department
also is adding a speaker
to Funland to notify peo-
ple when they trespass after
hours. The police also will
receive an alert, as will Artz,
through an email.
This automated email ser-
vice already is operating, Artz
said. Recently, when some-
one entered the playground
to jump on a portable toilet,
Artz said he was notifi ed of
the action and ramifi cations.
In this instance, police offi -
cers responded within 10
minutes of his action to con-
front the intruder, Artz said.
A 10-minute police
response is pretty standard,
Artz said. Often, police can
be faster, he added, even in
the middle of the night.
Motivation for protection
Every piece of equipment
tells a story, he said, and it
should be protected. Dis-
cussing his feelings about
the playground, he patted
the drinking fountain, which
looks like a lion. The Herm-
iston Lions Club raised
funds for the fountain and
worked to have it installed.
“You look at this, and it’s
awesome,” Artz said. “You
come here and you get to
stick your head in a lion’s
mouth to drink some water.
This has to be protected.”
Hardworking people and
donors added other pieces,
he said, and Artz was among
those who tightened bolts
and put up panels.
“My blood, sweat and
tears, shivering out in the
cold last winter, went into
this, so I have a huge sense
of pride in this,” he said.
Jason Barron, parks
supervisor,
and
Brian
Fricke, municipal service
worker, did most of the
“heavy work,” setting posts
into the ground and lay-
ing concrete, Artz said, but
many people were involved
in making the playground a
reality. The director said he
knows these people, and he
does not want to let them, or
the community, down by not
adequately protecting their
work.
He said he was present
at the playground’s open-
ing. When children started
playing on the equipment,
Artz’s initial feeling was to
rush out and tell them not to
play on it. After a moment
of reconsideration, he said,
he remembered children are
supposed to jump on it and
get it dirty, he said.
“That’s what it’s here
for,” the director said.
Though this playground
has received much attention,
damage, theft and vandalism
is not uncommon to such
facilities, Artz said. He said
he has researched and found
other parks around the state
face similar issues.
Picking up a lost shoe at
Funland, he noted this play-
ground is kept pretty clean
and maintained. He said he
wants to keep it this way.
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