This year’s September Board Meeting was hosted by the Eastern Oregon Chapter in Pendleton, Oregon at the 113th Pendleton Roundup!
OWA Members with Happy Canyon Princesses. Left to right: Debbie Burns, Sarah Puls, Bethany Woodall, Gina Gray, Princess Lauren, Princess Layla, Gina Tyhius, Kathy Ferge, Grayson Wallis, Josie Miles
Friday morning came bright and early with breakfast at the VFW Outdoor Cowboy Breakfast where we enjoyed bluegrass music and chatting with friends. Mid-morning brought us to downtown Pendleton to board our wagon for the Westward Ho! Parade. The parade route had rows of onlookers sometimes 4 rows deep! We handed out Playdough and sour straws with labels describing what crop is used to make them.
After the parade we headed to the annual Governors Luncheon hosted by the Eastern Oregon Women’s Coalition. State Representative Cliff Bentz was the keynote speaker. The loudest of the Roundup traditions occurred at 1:15 pm as the navy jets did a fly over across the Roundup Grounds.
Our Board Meeting was held at the Blue Mountain Community College campus with our guest speaker John Burt from Farmers Ending Hunger. The mission of the organization is to eliminate hunger in Oregon by increasing the amount of high-quality food available to hungry local communities through a partnership of farmers, food processors, Oregon Food Bank and the public. He described how farmers donate portions of their crops to the organization and the process it takes to get the Food Bank.
OWA Members in Westward Ho Parade!
Thanks to everyone who participated, and we hope everyone can join us next year during the second full week of September!