South Wasco Familiarity Tour 2024
Written by: Jackie Solomon - RARE AmeriCorps Cohort Year 31
So far during my time in The Dalles, Oregon as a RARE AmeriCorps member, there has been one event that not only expanded my experience in professional environments, but also allowed me to meet a lot of people who are now becoming familiar faces. This tour gave me important insight into people truly living rural, their accomplishments, and their needs.
The South Wasco Familiarity Tour hosted by the South Wasco Alliance on October 11th, 2024. Even as an Oregon native, this event showed me a new part of Oregon that I had never experienced before. There was a group of about 25 people from various organizations who got a guided tour of four rural towns in southern Wasco County, Oregon.
The day began with my two colleagues and RARE alums, Anna Peach and Lanier Fussell, driving down to Maupin, Oregon. Fun fact, Maupin is known as one of the best towns in Oregon for white water rafting. Maupin has a population of 418 people (2023). We also learned about their new world-class athletic field called the Maupin Deschutes River Athletic Complex. This track is Olympic-level quality, yet not many people are aware that it exists in north-central Oregon. After introductions and snacks at Maupin Works, a local coworking space, we all got onto an old bus to carpool to our next destination. Pictured below is our bus going down the spiraling roads in Maupin towards Shaniko, Oregon.
The winding roads by Maupin, OR. Photo by South Wasco Alliance
Next we drove through Shaniko, Oregon. A town with a population of 31 people (2023). Our bus driver, Pamela Brown lives there with her partner Mark Haskett. Pam and Mark own and operate the only gas station in Shaniko, it is the only gas station for the 75 miles between Moro and Madras (South Wasco Alliance, 2023).
12 minutes south of Shaniko is Antelope, Oregon. Another very small and rural town in south Wasco County. Antelope may be a recognizable name to some, as it was a town once overtaken by the Rajneeshpuram, a religious community that started a huge movement in the 1980s after around 7,000 people took over the town for 7 years.
Antelope, Oregon is a very small and quiet town. There is an abandoned café, a postage office, an old school that is not currently operating, and a museum dedicated to Rajneesh items and memorabilia. Currently, the main attraction that brings people through Antelope is the Washington Family Ranch Young Life Camp down the road. This camp is 64,000 acres and can accommodate up to 2,000 people at a time. Touring this town opened my eyes to rural life. This portion of the tour was led by a local, Brandie McNamee. Brandie is also someone who will be a part of one of Wy’East’s newest projects. Antelope, Oregon is one of the rural towns that Wy’East RC&D intends to send a BEAM unit, a mobile EV charger, to which will usually be used to charge the EV’s of people coming to the Young Life Camp. But they can also be transported during power outages, fires, and other emergencies when power is needed elsewhere. Thanks to a CREP grant that the Oregon Department of Energy awarded to Wy’East, we are beginning the implementation of these units.
After seeing Antelope we made our way to Tygh Valley, Oregon with a population of 54 people (2022). Kathleen Willis, a Tygh Valley local, led this portion of the tour, and she is also a Board Member of the South Wasco Alliance. In Tygh Valley we were all served lunch at Molly B’s Diner, a staple in the town. We got to meet Molly herself and enjoy chicken fried steak, biscuits, croissants, and more.
For our last stop of the South Wasco Fam Tour we got to meet Tony, tour his garden, and see the Tygh Creek Sustainable Farm Stand. The farm stand is stocked and operated by his daughter, and Tony stocks the farm stand with his produce. Tony’s property was awesome to see, as someone who wishes they had the time and land to grow produce in a regenerative and sustainable way, it was inspiring to hear about his work. Tony spends his days harvesting, maintaining, and watering his land. We got to hear Tony explain what he grows, his routines, his beliefs around sustainability, and his daughter's role in the Tygh Creek Sustainable Farm Stand. Of course, I bought some sweet potatoes and honey sticks while we were there. The farm stand is constantly open to the public and is full of fresh produce as well as value-added products. They operate on an honesty policy, where you weigh your produce yourself, calculate the price based on the $/lb listed, and Venmo their account before you head home with your organic and local items.
Tony at his farm in Tygh Valley, OR. Photo by South Wasco Alliance
Overall, this tour of South Wasco was very beneficial and enjoyable. I not only got to meet people that I continue to work with, but I was also able to experience the towns that Wy’East is working with currently, as well as in the future. Before my time with RARE and at Wy’East I had never heard of places like Dufur, Shaniko, Tygh Valley, or Antelope. I am now able to better understand their needs, see the large amounts of progress that locals have already made, and make connections with people throughout Wasco County.