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United Way of the Columbia Gorge presents Jennifer Batten and Full Steam Friday July 15 at Bargeway Pub.
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An unusually cool and windy June has meant a later-than-normal start for cherry harvest, which is now in its second week. Initial cherries were smaller than desired, but hopes are cherries picked this week will be bigger.
Columbia Gorge United Way awarded $275,000 to 36 agencies in the Mid-Columbia region Tuesday at the Best Western Plus Hood River Inn. Jeff Heater, president of the United Way Wasco/Sherman Council, said a record number of contributions came in from area residents and businesses in 2016, which allowed more local programs to receive assistance.
The bottom of the cherry market has fallen out with a bountiful harvest across the Northwest, which means that smaller fruit cannot be sold. That bad news has been delivered by Jeff Heater, field man for The Dalles Fruit Company, to about 25 cherry growers in Wasco and Hood River counties who process crops at the packing plant, located in Dallesport.
Community members are invited to a block party Friday that not only provides an evening of fun but helps take care of the area’s most vulnerable populations. Funds from the fifth annual benefit concert hosted by the United Way Wasco/Sherman Council are used in 36 different programs, including those to help domestic violence victims, developmentally disabled adults, seniors on limited incomes, needy families, runaway teens and the homeless.
Cherry harvest is underway in the Columbia River Gorge and there are plenty of pickers despite worries that President Donald Trump’s focus on border security would cause laborers from Mexico and Central America to stay home. “For the most part, all of my growers say they’ve got plenty of people — they’re even turning workers away,” said Jeff Heater, field man for The Dalles Fruit Company, which runs a packing plant in Dallesport.
The community is invited to a centennial celebration at Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center on Aug. 8.
