Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home Economic Development Group elected two new members to its board during its annual meeting held on March 16.
They also reported that, with budget cuts, the Oregon Jamboree should stop suffering losses and start providing proceeds to SHEDG.
SHEDG has owned and operated the Jamboree for 25 years as a mechanism to raise funds for SHEDG’s economic development projects. In recent years, the three-day country music and camping festival has operated at a loss.
Jamboree Event Director Robert Shamek told the SHEDG membership that the 2016 lineup is set. Every slot is filled.
The event has cut some $200,000 from its budget, he said. “We’re on a good track for the year to get out of the red” – or at least less deeply in the red.
The festival has added some new things this year, he said. Among them will be a bingo tent sponsored by Spirit Mountain Casino. The Jamboree also will take over the Arts and Crafts Fair, which had been run as a fund-raising event by the Sweet Home Beautification Committee.
Debbie Yeack, a member of the Beautification Committee said that the committee did not have enough volunteers to run the fair, and the proceeds were relatively low for the time involved. The group has formed a new subcommittee to brainstorm new ways to raise funds for the Beautification Committee.
The Jamboree also is adding new shows to its annual concert series around the state, Shamek said. The Mystery Concert, scheduled for April 27 at Oregon State University, is selling faster than ever, but seats are still available.
Additional shows include Love and Theft at the Ponderosa in Portland and then at the Sisters Rodeo. Josh Gracin will play a show in Bend on April 21, and the Jamboree is working a possible second show.
For more information, call the Jamboree at (541) 367-8800 or visit oregonjamboree.com.
SHEDG officials reported their efforts are continuing to prepare and secure possession of more than 200 acres of former Knife River property northwest of Clark Mill Road, along the south shore of the South Santiam River.
Linn County currently owns the property. It was last owned by Western States Land Reliance Trust. The county foreclosed on the property for nonpayment of property taxes.
SHEDG requested that the county deed the property to SHEDG for use as a concert and campgrounds.
A SHEDG property committee has been completing due diligence on the property for the last year.
Several projects are under way on the project now, said Rachel Kittson-MaQatish, chairwoman of the property committee. That includes a South Santiam Youth Watershed Council water monitoring project, an upcoming bee survey by Rich Little and reclamation projects by Knife River, which owned the property prior to WSLRT.
The all-volunteer committee has completed an approved legal description, helped work out a lot line adjustment to move property lines to the center of the river and reviewed the property’s history with contamination, Kittson-MaQatish said.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has issued a no further action finding for the property, she said, and SHEDG is now working with the county on transferring ownership.
Meanwhile, the committee has been bouncing around a lot of ideas about how to develop the property, she said. It could become a music festival on the water, a campground, a part of a “water trail” and more – the kinds of things that may help draw more people to Sweet Home for recreation.
Following reports on the Jamboree and the Knife River property, the organization’s membership elected three incumbents, Joe Graybill, Kittson-MaQatish and Mike Hall, to continue serving on the board. The members also elected newcomers Jared Cornell and Diane Gerson.
Leaving the board were President John Wittwer, after 14 years, and Rob Poirier. Jared Richey resigned in December, and the board appointed former SHEDG President Ron Moore to complete Richey’s term.
Gerson will serve until 2018. The remaining directors elected last week will serve through 2019. Moore will complete his term in 2018.
Other candidates included Donna Poirier, wife of departing board member Rob Poirier, and Barbi Riggs, a teacher at Hawthorne Elementary School.
Over the past 10 years, Cornell has worked with the communities of Sweet Home and Lebanon in economic development and community programs. He also has served on the Oregon State University Alumni Board and the Boys and Girls Club Board of Directors. He currently is a financial adviser with Edward Jones in Sweet Home.
Gerson is a retired public school administrator who has served on a variety of local boards, including the Sweet Home School District Board of Directors, the Kidco Head Start Board, the Sweet Home Public Library Board and the Sweet Home Friends of the Library Board. She is a member of the SHEDG Finance Committee.
As he departed the SHEDG board this month, Wittwer left some final thoughts with the membership.
“A small investment in one’s community easily produces compounded returns and builds a true legacy,” Wittwer said. “That is so because a small beginning often contagiously generates interest and inspires others to add in their various own ways. With time and patience, even small efforts may have great cumulative impact.
“Simply put, SHED’s mission, together with SHEDG’s vision for the future and the values by which SHEDG guides its corporate conduct all ring true with me. I consider SHEDG’s mission, its vision and its values components of a worthy legacy.
“SHEDG’s mission statement bears frequent repetition: To effectively lead efforts to enhance and promote thriving, diverse economic development in the Sweet Home community.”
SHEDG’s mission is to lead, he said, poking here, pushing there, funding this and applauding that.
“It has been wisely said that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm,” Wittwer said. “SHEDG can play that helm role in our community. On occasion, for example, in the case of the Knife River property, SHEDG may even be like an icebreaker.
“I urge SHEDG’s board and its other constituent members to constantly increase mastery of what economic development is and to constantly monitor whether SHEDG is staying on task in pursuit of economic development in the Sweet Home community.
“SHEDG’s vision looks to the future. What you have already heard tonight should give you cause to celebrate wonderful progress toward full realization of SHEDG’s vision, a lasting legacy.”
Wittwer expressed heartfelt appreciation for the time, energy, thought and experience the board and members will share on behalf of the community by working on sustaining SHEDG’s legacy.
“Those of you here who have linked arms as part of the SHEDG team – my colleagues on the board, dedicated staff, the army of Jamboree volunteers and their selfless leaders, participants in SHARE and members of SHEDG’s various committees – you all share a desire to realize SHEDG’s vision in ever-increasing measure,” Wittwer said. “Should we not now all feel inclined to look with optimism to a future for SHEDG that bodes success for the organization and leaves a legacy of progress for the community we serve.
“With more than good reason, I say, thank you, and Godspeed to you all.”
For more information about how to become a SHEDG member, call the Jamboree office at (541) 367-8800.