Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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WAITSBURG - When Andrew Knee and his wife, Tricia Adams-Knee, moved from Seattle to Waitsburg earlier this year, it signaled the start of a new chapter in their lives. Little did Andrew know that it would include a summer side hustle. Knee described that their search for a new home had not been straight-line process. Having decided to move to the Walla Walla Valley, looking online at homes for sale, Andrew would show Tricia a house in Walla Walla. "She would say, 'Oh, that's nice.' Then she...
DAYTON-I recently knocked on the door of Dayton's Historic Depot at 222. E. Commercial Street. Kristina Blake, the new Manager of the Depot as of June 13, greeted me in period costume clothing. She's fully into her latest post. She wasn't dressed up for just our interview, however. "I'm going to be in period clothing all the time at work. I want visitors to feel they've walked into another time." Blake said. Talk about getting your history on. "Actually, it's a whole package deal," she says. "I...
WAITSBURG-Dr. Paula Strait wants folks of all ages, to come out for a Round Traditional Folk Dance at Waitsburg's Preston Park on Sunday evening, August 20. You could be one of those dancing in that circle. That is, if you accept Dr. Paula Strait's invitation to participate in this fun, healthy, and social event. After practicing medicine for nearly 40 years, Dr. Strait, DO, retired to the Touchet Valley in April of this year. She brings a lifetime of concern about what really ails us. "The...
WAITSBURG-However you define the distinction between garden art, metal sculpture, and a retirement hobby, Terry Hofer, Jim Hofer, and Karl Newell saw many of their creative wood and metal pieces walk out the door at Waitsburg Art Garden (WAG) August 4-6. Terry and his younger brother, Jim – a recently retired farmer – showcased unique tables and benches from locally-sourced wood, many of them elegantly supported on legs of black metal. "We get some of our wood from others in town," says Terry on...
The last three months have seen a great deal of musical activity with Walla Walla Music Organization, the music training youth advocacy program I joined mid-pandemic, teaming up with founder Rodney Outlaw and serving as a program coordinator. We continue to function as an independent organization, licensed with the State of Washington, and partner with other agencies to connect our musical passions with the growth and development of students. We were hired by the 21st Century Learning Centers pr...
Music Studio Receives an Upgrade Move over, Beethoven The older you get, the faster time flies. And I’m a firm believer in the notion that whatever you’re doing now is just training for what you will be doing later, especially if you have no idea what that is. It’s just that I don’t remember anything going by faster than the last ten months. I feel younger all the time. The independent music and sound studio I joined in January became an official program of Walla Walla YMCA in Septemb...
Sometime during the next few weeks, a transformation will take place on my property at the intersection of lower West Seventh Avenue and Coppei Creek. Our house faces southwest, and the driveway runs parallel to the creek. The Coppei channel is deeper here than it is most anywhere else within the city. As far as I can see, the Seventh Avenue bridge is over fifty years old but still in solid shape (I'm not a bridge expert). According to the city, the "tee-beam" concrete structure has been...
Groovy Session One of Walla Walla Rock Camp is in the history books. As I write this, Session Two is in progress. I've been aware of Rock Camp for years through the involvement of friends in the Touchet Valley, but this is the first year I've participated. The organizers recruited me as a keyboard and vocal coach. Rock Camp is an annual intensive music program for youth ages 12-18. They receive instruction from experienced musicians on everything from guitar, piano, and voice to songwriting,...
Recently, we stepped into a movie house for the first time in over a year to watch A Quiet Place II. I had seen the first film, A Quiet Place, at the cinema in 2019. The sequel had been scheduled for box office release in the Spring of 2020. The director of both movies, John Krasinski, who stars in the film, was adamant that the sequel not be released to streaming during the pandemic but wait until cinema opened again. Krasinski introduced the film thanking the audience for coming out to the...
In my last article about becoming a part of Walla Walla Music Organization (WWMO), I quoted Director Rodney Outlaw saying, “When I enter my creative space, I am thinking about the signal flow of my actions.” Here’s another recent quote: “At the end of every slice is a new transient.” If you understand what that means, you’re ahead of me. But I’m learning. On some deeply philosophical level the phrase resonates. Life keeps shifting and evolving in sometimes swift and unexpected ways. WWMO te...
Pam was an Elder in the Christian Church of Waitsburg. Her husband Larry’s family helped build that church. I am not talking about the structure at the corner of Main and 6th Streets but the spiritual community within. On that truth, Pam and I agreed. And on many other things. When we agreed to call Pam as Elder, she balked. She was eminently qualified. She was not sure she agreed with the idea. Are women supposed to be Elders? My argument: you already are one. Still, she almost said no. She w...
It's been a while since many of us have heard from the Frog Hollow Band, a local music group composed of five men from Walla Walla and Waitsburg who are friends to many of us. Knowing how frustrating it has been to be a performer without gigs during the last year, I called up my friend Brian Richards, drummer for Frog Hollow, to check in with the local Alternative Country-Rock group whose music we've enjoyed for years. "We're still here!" Richards said. He says the group has been collecting...
If you had asked me about shed hunting a few weeks ago, I would have assumed we were talking about rotting pieces of pioneer carpentry that folks love to photograph or scrap out for projects. I was disabused of that notion when I learned about one of Max Schmidt's favorite forms of recreation: scouting for cast-off deer antlers, called "sheds." It turns out it's not an uncommon thing to do, but I'd never met anyone who did it until I met Max. Dayton High School student Max Schmidt began shed...
Perusing a resume of Susan Matley's entire work history would be a kick. She has been an actress, an accountant, a family historian, a life-long journalist, and a musician. Her "right" and "left" brains have an effective partnership, which serves her well in the world of speculative fiction, but I'll get to that later. Many readers will remember Matley as one half of the Cowboy song and poetry duo "Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue." I first met Susan in that role, but life has altered course since...
If you've had the pleasure to walk into Locally Nourished, the coffee shop and eatery at 217 East Main Street in Dayton, you've had the opportunity to enjoy some of Danielle Barnes' kitchen expertise. She's the owner of Decadent in Dayton, one of our up-and-coming businesses. Danielle moved to Dayton in June last year, but she has known Alicia Walker, owner of Locally Nourished, for many years. The decision to make the Touchet Valley move was based on the new partnership she forged with Alicia,...
Liberty Theater in Dayton will be streaming a live production of this year's community variety show. The free show is scheduled for Saturday, March 26, and will be available on YouTube. This year's show will be directed by Liberty Theater production veteran Meghan Bromley of Starbuck. For many years, the Liberty Theater has presented delightful and entertaining variety shows produced, directed, and featuring talented Touchet Valley residents. The Spring 2020 show was canceled due to the...
In February 17, I was at the local YMCA listening to Rodney Outlaw, the Executive Director of Walla Walla Music Organization (WWMO), give a lecture to his students. What started out as a flow of technical information became a cogent narrative about how a sound engineer thinks and functions. WWMO is Outlaw's program for teaching digital audio production. Then the tone of his words began to change. It became apparent to me that he was no longer lecturing but preaching. His words were now flowing...
Over the last four years, former Waitsburg Schools Superintendent Carol Clarke has spent significant time in Panama City, Panama. She began working with Crossroads Christian Academy (CCA) after close friends shared that the school was hiring. "When I retired from Waitsburg Schools, I knew I wanted to keep my home in Waitsburg. I also knew I would need something to keep me occupied and engaged," said Clarke. "But I didn't want to teach due to my hearing impairment. I thought, well, I can't knit,...
Let me tell you about my most recent tech acquisition: the ReMarkable pad. I ordered it in April 2020 and received it seven months later. Due to Covid-related restrictions, the Norway-based company has been taking orders and shipping in batches. Once the product got to Hong Kong, it reached my front door in five days. The ReMarkable pad is an elegant digital writing and sketching instrument designed for people who love pen and paper but live in the digital world. Other digital pads and apps...
When she was in the fourth grade, Kennie Lamming's grandmother's cow was going to have twins. Kennie wanted to watch. However, it was her bedtime, and she wasn't allowed to participate. She was angry and decided to learn to help so she could watch all the births she wanted and even participate in some. "Actually, I believe that was the first time the Holy Spirit spoke to me about becoming a veterinarian," Kennie Reeves said. Reeves has been our animal doctor for 30 years, arriving in Dayton...
This past week we have received more information about the subject of last week’s column: Maude (Baim) Brown. Her little autograph book, discovered in Dayton in 2019, holds a series of handwritten messages dated 1912-1923. We received a call from Marilyn Groom, of Waitsburg. Marilyn’s parents, Harold and Marianne White were close friends with Rodney and Donna Belle Brown. Rodney is the late son of Maude and Homer Brown. Maude’s autograph book contains an early message from her future husba...
My column this week is different since my chat is with a young lady from 1912. Heather Kaas, a friend in Dayton, shared the story of how a 109-year-old autograph book from Waitsburg came into her life. "It was summer of 2019," she said. "I was working at the Weinhard Hotel before it shut down and changed hands. A couple came in, introduced themselves, and said they had old family connections in Waitsburg. Then they showed me this little paper book." She doesn't remember their names and thought i...
I've known Roz Edwards for almost thirty years. I've also known how fun storytelling can be for kids and what she began to do when the world shut down with COVID-19 is a story I needed to hear. Edwards, like many grandparents, has always enjoyed reading to her grandchildren. In March, she read a book about Marco Polo to her youngest granddaughter, Margot, through Zoom. That month, schools went to distance learning, and she knew many kids weren't going to have that experience. It was also time fo...
Patti Jo Amerein lives a relatively quiet life in rural Columbia County. She rides dressage, keeps chickens, and teaches Pilates. But in the 1980s and 90s she lived another life as a Las Vegas show dancer. The stories she tells about those years didn't stay in Vegas. For someone who met and worked with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammie Davis, Jr. (the "Rat Pack"), that's saying something. It started at age three when Amerein's mother sent her and her sister to tap dancing classes. From ther...
Before visiting Greg Petersen at his Dayton home, I'd not heard the term "Antiquarian Horologist." But that's what's on his calling card. Horology - from the Greek "hora," meaning time - is the study and measurement of just that. Greg is a man who keeps the measure of time on antique mechanical clocks. Entering his home was like stepping back in time. Looking around in awe, I asked Petersen how many clocks he had. "Oh, about 50 or 60, somewhere in there," he answered. The clocks in his charming...
