The staff of Shelco Electric were awarded the 2016 Business Partner of the Year during the 2016 Umatilla County Fair appreciation dinner.

Lou Lyons will serve as the grand marshal of the 2017 Umatilla County Fair in a year of transitions

By JADE McDOWELL

Staff Writer

Lou Lyons will be one of the faces of the Umatilla County Fair in 2017 after he was named its grand marshal.

Lyons was one of about 360 supporters of the fair who celebrated “new faces, new places and old friends” Saturday night at the 2016 Fair Appreciation Dinner.

The theme of the night — and the 2017 fair — was a nod to preparations for moving the fair and Farm-City Pro Rodeo to their new digs at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center, where the dinner took place.

“This is a whole new ballgame up here,” Umatilla County Fair board member Gay Newman told the audience.

After Newman and other board members thanked a long list of supporters throughout the night they recognized Lyons, owner of Elmer’s Irrigation, as strong supporter of youth activities at the fair and its companion event, the Farm-City Pro Rodeo.

Lyons came to Hermiston to work with Elmer Georgeson at Elmer’s Irrigation in 1989, and quickly became involved in the company’s tradition of involvement in the fair and rodeo. He said they always did “little things with the fair” but their biggest involvement has always been with 4H and FFA — something that Lyons continued when he took over the business.

That involvement includes giving about 400 tickets to 4H and FFA youth to the Thursday night rodeo and sponsoring the calf dressing event, where high schoolers from the various chapters compete to see who can get a T-shirt on a calf the fastest. The winning chapter gets a $1,000 check from Elmer’s Irrigation, hats and their name on the calf-dressing trophy.

“They get out there and chase those calves and it’s a great time to watch,” Lyons said.

He said Elmer’s Irrigation also buys three or four animals from the youth auction each year and gives the meat to their employees. They do the same for the Morrow County Fair and Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo, and also support other youth events such as sports booster fundraisers.

“There’s different avenues to support youth in the community, that allows them a really positive path,” Lyons said.

He said the real thanks goes to customers in the community who support Elmer’s Irrigation, enabling him to sponsor these events. Lyons said he’s not big on being in the spotlight but was honored to be asked to be the grand marshal.

Two other people in the spotlight Saturday were the 2016 volunteers of the year.

Male volunteer of the year went to Warren Smith, who has done “odds and ends” for the fair since the 1970s, including work on the sound system, the rodeo, and building stronger gates for the pigs. Smith he has made good friends through the fair and enjoyed helping out.

“I think this is an exciting move this year up here,” he said.

Female volunteer of the year was Alice Newman, who has worked through the years on everything from coordinating exhibitors to serving as a chaperon for the Umatilla County Fair Court.

“All I can say is I love this fair and love supporting it, so thank you,” Newman said after receiving her award.

The business partner of the year went to Shelco Electric, after Dan Dorran gave a demonstration with potatoes of how they somehow manage to fit “15 pounds of potatoes in a five pound bag” when it comes to supplying electricity to all of the fair’s needs.

“I’d like to recognize Shelco Electric for carrying the Umatilla County Fair for as long as I’ve been on board — and it hasn’t burnt down!” Dorran said.

The county’s youth sale committee was also recognized by the Oregon State University Extension Center for their work in making each year’s youth livestock auction such a success.

The board introduced the 2017 Umatilla County Fair Court on Saturday. The court said goodbye to 2016 princess Raylee Lenhert, but 2016 princesses JaNessa Prewitt and Kira Krumbah-Kuhar were joined on the 2017 court by newcomer Karolyn Jones.

Prewitt is a Hermiston High School senior, Krumbah-Kuhar is a McLoughlin High School sophomore in Milton-Freewater and Jones attends Pendleton High School.

Also announced Saturday was the entertainment line-up for the fair: country pop duo LoCash on Tuesday, Southern rock/country band Marshall Tucker Band on Wednesday, country music artist Tracy Lawrence on Thursday, Latino Night on Friday (band to be announced) and rock band Great White on Saturday.