community members celebrated down Oak Street during Hood River’s Pride Parade, organized by Visit Hood River, Columbia Gorge Pride Alliance, The Next Door Inc. and the Hood River Hotel, on June 6.
community members celebrated down Oak Street during Hood River’s Pride Parade, organized by Visit Hood River, Columbia Gorge Pride Alliance, The Next Door Inc. and the Hood River Hotel, on June 6.
June began with Pride events and celebrations across the Gorge. At Hood River’s parade, Jamba Marimba performed while kids tried silk dancing and others bounced between booths lining the street. Afterward, people gathered in the Hood River Hotel for late-night, diva drag bingo.
Disaster struck on June 11, however, when the Rowena Fire ignited alongside two smaller fires in Skamania County almost simultaneously. Cars were stuck on the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge for hours as portions of State Route 14 and Interstate 84 shut down. Ultimately, the fire destroyed 61 homes and 91 outbuildings, directly impacting an estimated 400-600 people and hitting the Tooley Terrace neighborhood particularly hard.
The Rowena Fire mere minutes after it initially ignited on June 11.
Gary Elkinton photo
Several residents joined a mass action lawsuit that remains ongoing, alleging that sparks from a Union Pacific train caused the fire, but Oregon’s Department of Forestry is still investigating the cause. While the state sponsored initial hazardous debris removal, a lapse in funding and policy barriers delayed the second phase of cleanup, which is addressing ash and all other materials, until mid-December.
The first of this year’s two major “No Kings” protests, organized to push back on the current administration and policies viewed as authoritarian, came on a few days later on June 14, the same day as Trump’s birthday and the U.S. Army’s 250th Anniversary Parade in Washington, D.C. Approximately 2,300 individuals in Hood River, Bingen, The Dalles and Stevenson participated. Relatedly, fears over immigration enforcement led one cherry grower in The Dalles to begin harvesting with about half of his normal labor force.
Locals lined Steuben Street in Bingen for this year’s first “No Kings” protest on June 14.
Nathan Wilson photo
Give Them Wings, a safe and sober living program for mothers and children, announced its decision to close after 10 years of operating a five-bedroom house in The Dalles as June ended. Additionally, Oregon’s official special election results were certified this month, bringing new faces to several school, library and fire districts in Hood River and Wasco Counties, and to the Port of Hood River.
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