Christiaan Erasmus is a man of many hats.
Husband. Father. Proprietor of Henni's Kitchen & Bar in downtown White Salmon. 80s music aficionado.
Now he can add community organizer to the list.
For the past several weeks, Erasmus has been running around the Gorge enlisting businesses and individuals to help him put on a community pig roast -- an event which has grown to epic proportions.
Erasmus says the proceeds from the event will go toward keeping the White Salmon pool open for what will hopefully be the entire summer -- something that didn't happen last year due to funding issues.
How has he found time to do all of this and run a restaurant that serves word-class, cosmopolitan cuisine?
"I'm insane," Erasmus explains.
The pig roast, which is a truncated description of all the activities planned for that day, is Erasmus' brainchild, but was inspired by his daughter, Eula.
"My daughter is a complete water rat," explains Erasmus. "She's four years old and she loves the water."
Erasmus goes on to mention that Eula was "bummed" last summer during the pool closure and Erasmus didn't want her or other children (or adults) to go without once again.
At first, Erasmus just concentrated on the pig roast, but immediately encountered a problem: he didn't have a large enough smoker. He didn't worry though.
"I knew there was some redneck out here who built his own smoker in the woods and I found one," Erasmus jokes.
The "redneck" Erasmus refers to is Matt Riley, who he says lives near Erasmus' home on Spring Street in White Salmon. Erasmus says the pig roast could not have happened without him.
Nor would it have happened without the pig. Erasmus noted that Jonathan Blake, co-owner of McCoy-Holliston Insurance, put Erasmus in contact with Riley and is also donating a 200-pound porker for the roast. Jeff O'Neal, president of Harvest Market, is donating 500 pounds of meat on top of that, along with side dishes.
Knowing people will get thirsty after eating all that pork, Erasmus used his restaurant connections to contact alcohol vendors. He said he secured donations from Domaine Pouillon winery in Lyle, a free keg of beer (plus one at cost) from Doug Ellenberger at Everybody's Brewing in White Salmon and "as much wine as we can drink" from Rich Cushman at Viento Wines in Hood River.
Erasmus approached the White Salmon City Council and the Bingen-White Salmon Business Partners with the idea of the pig roast and both groups were on board. He asked Councilman Bill Werst to book Tony Smiley -- a well-known figure in the Gorge music scene -- and got him. The Bingen-White Salmon Business Partners also got another band, Driven, for the event.
The pig roast has since snowballed from there. Bubble machines. Cotton candy. Face painting. Ice cream. Photo booth. Bouncy castles. A massage chair. Airsoft gun shootout. Kickflip skateboarding contest. Disc golf sudden death tournament. Multiple raffles. Gorge Belly dancers. Zumba dancers. Gorge Roller Derby Girls. Martial arts demonstrations.
Who knows what else? Erasmus still has some time before the day of the pig roast, which is scheduled for Saturday, June 16.
While Erasmus has actively booked many of these activities himself, an equally large amount of people have approached him both in person and online, wanting to be included in the pig roast in one way or another. Erasmus created a "Save the White Salmon Pool" Facebook group on May 2 and says he invited 100 people to join it. As of press time, 566 accounts are now members of the group. Recently, Erasmus posted on the Facebook page that anyone who volunteers to help at the pig roast will get a free appetizer or cocktail from his restaurant.
Erasmus hopes that the event will draw some big numbers and calculates that over 1,000 people could show up to the event. He expects a portion of those people will be hungry runners finishing up the White Salmon Backyard Half Marathon that will be taking place the morning of June 16. The race finishes at Rheingarten Park in White Salmon, where the pig roast will take place. The pool's opening day is also scheduled for June 16, from 1 to 8 p.m.
According to Erasmus, the city still needs $20,000 to keep the pool open for the season and he hopes the pig roast raises half of that. He also mentioned that Wally Stevenson, one of the founders of SDS Lumber Company in Bingen, has pledged to match whatever funds the event raises.
Erasmus says he's thankful for how the whole community has helped with the event and made it bigger and better.
"That's what's great about owning a restaurant," he says. "It's easy to network. It's just like, 'We're open, come on in!'"
Event Details:
The "Family Carnival Style Pig Roast" will be held at Rheingarten Park on Saturday, June 16, from 4 to 8 p.m. Prices will be $5 a plate, $5 a beer and various prices for the activities. Erasmus says if people want to just stop by for the music, that's free.
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