HOOD RIVER — Sense of Place will feature Grow a Pear on Feb. 21. This event will be offered in person at the Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River, Oregon and via livestream. Audience members will have the chance to win pear-related prizes, take home freshly ripened, winter pears, and maybe even be selected for an onstage activity, the Pear Pressure Test!
Washington and Oregon hold the coveted titles of the top two pear-producing states in the U.S., with Hood River County producing more Anjou Pears than anywhere else in the world. In a region where pears are elevated to celebrity status, the Gorge stands as a unique epicenter.
Sense of Place host and curator, Sarah Fox, will be joined in conversation by local growers Lesley Tamura and Adam McCarthy.
This rare insider’s view will follow the life of a pear, unraveling the secrets, challenges and misconceptions of growing this vital crop. Through stories, photos, and firsthand expertise, audience members will get to know the pears and the people that have been an integral part of the Columbia River Gorge for generations.
Lesley Tamura was born and raised in Hood River. She grew up on her family’s orchard, watching different pear varieties grow from buds to blossoms to pears year after year. Tamura studied elementary education at Western Oregon University and spent the next decade teaching, first as a substitute in Hood River County School District and then as a sixth-grade teacher in the Hillsboro School District. After leaving teaching, she returned home to learn the family business from her father and she is now the fourth generation of the Tamura family to grow fruit in the Hood River Valley. Tamura currently serves as vice-chair of Columbia Gorge Fruit Growers, a nonprofit organization of 440 growers and 20 shippers of tree fruit in the Mid-Columbia area.
Adam McCarthy returned to the Hood River Valley in 2013 to run the family farm. As the full-time manager of McCarthy Family Farm, McCarthy oversees all operations and personnel. A graduate of Hood River High School, McCarthey attended the University of California Davis, where he earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in agricultural and resource economics. After graduating, he went on to serve as an Orchard Manager at Harry & David for six years. McCarthy is currently serving as President of the Hood River Grower Shipper Association. He’s also on the board of the Hood River Supply Association and the board of the Washington-Oregon Canned Pear Association. McCarthey lives in Hood River with his wife Staci, who runs her own law practice, McCarthy Law, LLC. They have two children, Elli and Graham.
The event will take place at the Columbia Center for the Arts, 215 Cascade Avenue Hood River. It will also be available by livestream. Tickets cost $12. for more information visit senseofplacegorge.com.
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