Tag: Holiday Market

Sweet Lorane Community News – December 8, 2016

December 8, 2016Newspaper Columns, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
December 8, 2016
By Pat Edwards

I can’t believe that the holidays are upon us already! As nice as our family Hawaiian luau was for Thanksgiving, I’m having a hard time adjusting to the fact that Christmas is just two weeks away. When I think about what I need to fix for our annual prime rib dinner on Christmas Day, my mind keeps conjuring up visions of turkey and dressing.

This is the second time in 74 years that I have seemingly “lost” Thanksgiving. The first time was back in 1983 when I was released the day before Thanksgiving from a week’s stay at the hospital following surgery, only to be rushed back a half-day later with a high fever. They thought it was a complication of the surgery, but instead, an ultrasound revealed that I had a large tumor encapsulating my left kidney. I spent Thanksgiving Day in a feverish fog and had my kidney removed on Black Friday. I had a lot to be thankful for that year because, despite the 80-20 odds against me, the tumor proved to be benign. I don’t dig up those memories often, for obvious reasons.

Fortunately, this year’s “lost” holiday was not really lost… just different, and I’m having a hard time adjusting to the fact that it’s time to decorate and prepare for Christmas. But, you know, I can deal with that!

If you get a chance, try to make one of the two performances of “A Fairytale Christmas Carol” by the drama group on December 12 and 15 at 7:00 p.m. at Crow High School. Admission is $5 per adult and $3 for students and children. They encourage you to bring an item for the S.A.N.T.A. project of Veneta. By doing so, you will receive a $2 discount. Toys, dolls, stuffed animals, games, books, and coats for children 3-17 are needed.

The Lorane food boxes are in all organizations (Rebekah Lodge, Fire Hall and Grange) and the Lorane Family Store. The donated food will go to deserving families within the community. If you know of a family in our community that would benefit, please contact Marissa Cooper. There is a list of items that are suggested for donation at the Lorane Family Store. You may also contact Roberta Miller, who lives in the house across from the Grange.

An Angel Tree has been set up at the Lorane Family Store, too, as well as at Crow High School. Selecting an ornament from the tree will ensure that a local child or teen will have a good Christmas this year. All food and gifts must be in by December 15.

Get in the holiday spirit by attending the Winter Concert at Applegate Elementary on Tuesday, December 13. The program begins at 7:00 p.m. The school district has always benefited by a strong music program. For many years now, under the direction of Mr. Pat Dixon, our students have gotten a good introduction to band and choir, and the concerts always have provided joy to the holiday season.

Joe Blakely, Jo-Brew, Jennifer Chambers and I are sharing a booth at the Holiday Market located at the Lane County Fairgrounds again this year. We’re not only selling our mainly Oregon history books, but even better… we’re getting to see and visit with friends we have not seen in years who happen to be passing by. I enjoy that part of it, especially. If you visit the Holiday Market, stop by and see us. We have a corner booth in the southwest corner of the main building, just down from the entertainment stage. We’d love to have you drop in and say “hi.”

Sweet Lorane Community News – December 10, 2015

December 10, 2015Newspaper Columns, , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

xciting news!! The Lorane Rebekah grant writing committee, consisting of Amy Struthers, John Wigle, Effie Hughes, with the assistance of Rural Art Center grant writer Lisa Livelybrooks, has received $2,500 from the Lane County Cultural Coaltion and $2,500 from Lane County Historical Society to help fix the roof of the Lorane Rebekah Lodge. The Rebekahs hope to raise another $5,000 this spring so the roofing can take place this summer. You can help by passing along your returnable bottles and cans to Sande Maxwell, recycling your metal in the bin outside the lodge, buying coffee and treats at their early Wednesday coffees, or with cash donations. Let’s make “Raising the Roof” a community project to benefit an organization which has provided so much to our community over several generations. Congratulations, Rebekahs!

The Crow High School drama class is presenting a winter program that includes two fantastic short plays and holiday carols on Wednesday, December 16, in the Crow Middle/High School cafeteria. The plays, “What, No Santa?” and “A Cowboy Christmas,” will be performed from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. that day, and again on Thursday, December 17, when all Crow Middle High School students will get to see the plays from 1:30 to 3:15 p.m. The program is open to the public both days and is free to all students. Donations from the public will gladly be accepted for the drama program, but otherwise, there is no charge.

Jim says that the Angel Tree at the Lorane Family Store has been very busy. Tags have all been removed from the tree on several occasions and the gifts are coming in. They are picked up on a regular basis and the tags are replenished each day. Please make sure we keep both of the trees (at the store and at Crow High School) stripped of the tags so that every child in our district can be remembered this holiday season. Good job, Lorane!!

I have no doubt that the Lorane food pantry organizers will soon be putting an official box in the Lorane Family Store, but until that happens, please feel free to drop off non-perishable food donations at the store. Jim will put them into a temporary box until they are collected by the organizers. We have proven each year that we live in a generous, caring and giving community.

I want to share a special gift that those of us who know and love Jo-Brew, my co-author for our OREGON’S MAIN STREET: U.S. Highway 99 books and former correspondent for the , were given this week. Jo had major surgery last Wednesday on what we all feared would be a life-threatening condition. Jo came through the surgery fine; a tumor was removed and she is expected to make a full recovery. Our prayers have been answered and we are so relieved to welcome this very strong, enterprising woman back to the road to good health. Let the healing begin!

Our Holiday Market booth at the Lane County Fairgrounds that Joe Blakely, Jo-Brew and I have rented to sell our books is doing a gangbuster business. Of course, Jo-Brew is not able to be there, although she was really looking forward to meeting her readers and signing books. To help with the work shifts, my colleague, Jen Chambers, has agreed to help fill in on some of the days at the booth when I can’t be there. She will be bringing her newly published book, “Remarkable Oregon Women; Revolutionaries and Visionaries” with her. So, if you plan to come by our corner booth at the southeast side of the exhibit building, we’ll have another wonderful Oregon history book to offer. Welcome Jen! and thank you.

Holiday Market booth

Jen Chambers and Joe Blakely at our Holiday Market booth at the Lane County Fairgrounds

Sweet Lorane Community News – November 26, 2015

November 26, 2015Newspaper Columns, , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
November 26, 2015
By Pat Edwards

I hope that everyone took some time this past week to contemplate all the things in life that we can be thankful for. Sometimes it’s easy to allow the trials and tribulations to take over the focus of our lives, but there are usually multiple “some things or some ones” that we can add to the blessings’ side of our lists. Thanksgiving is the time to make a point of recognizing them.
Be sure to mark you calendars for the Lorane Grange Christmas dinner on Sunday, December 13 at 1:30 p.m.  Turkey, gravy, ham, and potatoes are furnished by the grange, everything else is potluck. He community is invited.
Thanks to quite a few of our Groundwaters’ Lane County Authors for participating in the West Lane Holiday Bazaar the weekend of the November 21. We were set up at the Applegate Regional Theater on Central Road and we had a successful sale. We really appreciate the support shown by the community, too.
If you are at the Holiday Market at the Lane County Fairgrounds, Joe Blakely, Jo-Brew and I are sharing a booth there to sell our books. So far, we’ve been very successful and Jo’s and my Highway 99 books as well as Joe Blakely’s “Oregon’s Coast Highway” and other books are selling quite well. Stop by our booth (#206) in the southeast corner of the Holiday Market building just to say “Hi” if nothing else. It’s always fun to see people we know.
I don’t have any more community news to report that I didn’t cover in last week’s column, so I’ll include a short piece from one of our Highway 99 books.

An excerpt from OREGON’S MAIN STREET: U.S. Highway 99 “The Folk History”:

“After 1865, the stagecoaches no longer used the steep Territorial Road to cross the Calapooya Mountains, past the Cartwright House/Mountain House Hotel and Lorane on their way to Eugene City. Instead, they were rerouted by way of an old road which wound through Pass Creek Canyon. The road was poor, soft and muddy along the creek bottom and the canyon passage was narrow.
“Robert H. Ward, who lived at the southern end of the new route, built a corduroy road by laying 8-foot cedar logs side by side across the road through the pass. This road became known as Ward’s Toll Road, with Ward collecting a toll from northbound travelers and Ira Hawley collecting the southbound tolls.
“On the stage route, Hawley’s Station was located 10 miles north of Estes Ranch on the Ira B. Hawley Donation Land Claim. It provided a rest stop and a horse-changing station there.
“The passengers found food and overnight accommodations at the house and a big barn sheltered the team of horses on the large 4,000 acre cattle and sheep ranch. There was also a small community school on the property that served the surrounding area.
“Today, U.S. Highway 99, south of Cottage Grove passes the red ranch buildings and barns which belong to the present Hawley Land and Cattle Company on the site of Ira Hawley’s Stage Station.”