The East Gorge Food Trail is seeking to encourage both tourists and local residents to explore the variety of agricultural products available from Mosier eastward.  The East Gorge Food Trail is a collaboration of Travel Oregon, The Dalles Chamber, Mt Adams Chamber, Goldendale Chamber, Columbia Gorge Tourism Alliance, and businesses along the trail.  Aliza McHugh of the Oregon Tourism Alliance says the trail involves a mixture of businesses that all use locally produced products.  For information on the East Gorge Food Trail, either to explore it or become a part of it, go to eastgorgefoodtrail.com.

White Salmon Valley School District Superintendent Jerry Lewis will step away from that role at the end of the month. retiring after 12 years in the position and 24 years with the district.  Lewis says he’s being asked about his favorite memories of his tenure, and he always come back to people and relationships with staff, students, and the community.  Lewis will remain connected to the district as a parent, with a child becoming a sophomore this coming school year at Columbia High School.  Sean McGeeney takes over as White Salmon Valley School District superintendent on July 1.  

Boys Basketball Redmond 59, Hood River Valley 58:  The Panthers nipped the Eagles in the final minute, coming back from a four-point deficit.  Redmond solidified second place in the Intermountain Conference with the win. The Dalles 63, Pendleton 55:  Styles DeLeon scored 22 points and Andre Niko added 12 to lead the Riverhawks to the victory. Dufur 63, Trinity Lutheran 47   Girls Basketball Redmond 53, Hood River Valley 49:  Marina Castaneda scored 23 points and Ryann Roselle scored 12 for HRV, as the Eagles twice came back from double digit deficits to tie the game, but Redmond’s 7-2 run at the end of the game was the difference. Pendleton  60, The Dalles 25 Dufur 49, Trinity Lutheran 38    

The Dalles City Council voted unanimously to adopt municipal code adjustments to allow for more middle housing options.  The series of amendments are intended to address state requirements for siting and design standards adopted by the 2019 Oregon Legislature, summarize other middle housing standards and additional related clean-up amendments, and updates that could help support or reduce barriers to development of middle housing or other less traditional housing types.  This group of amendments was the third phase of the City’s revisions, with earlier phases removing owner occupancy requirements for Accessory Dwelling Units and allowing for larger ADUs, reducing minimum lot and site areas in the High Density Residential and Medium Density Residential zones, and adding more clear and objective code language and requirements for allowing duplexes in all residential zones where single family dwellings are permitted.

The Hood River County School District has included in its budget for the upcoming school year flexibility to deal with difficult to project kindergarten and first grade class sizes coming out of the pandemic.  District Superintendent Rich Polkinghorn says they are still gathering numbers, but they know kindergarten numbers were down this current school year and there has been a feeling that parents held kids back a year to allow them to start in a more normal setting.  He’s anticipating larger than usual kindergarten and first grade enrollment, but they have put money into a contingency budget to deal with it.  Polkinghorn says they already know Parkdale Elementary will have a very large kindergarten class in September, so more staffing has been allocated for that.  

White Salmon’s draft comprehensive plan will be the subject of a public hearing to be conducted on Zoom by the municipal planning commission on June 23.  City Councilors will join the planning commission to hear a presentation on the plan from the City’s consultants at 5:30 p.m. before the planning panel holds the hearing.  Mayor Marla Keethler says the virtual meeting is being set up to allow maximum flexibility for taking public testimony, and people will not have to sign up in advance to give comment.  Keethler says when the City Council holds its hearing on the comp plan in July, their current plan is to hold it in-person with an online option.  For log-in information for the June 23 meeting, and to review the draft plan, go to white-salmon.net.

The Hood River Urban Renewal Agency is about to enter phase two of the Heights Urban Renewal process, developing a preferred streetscape plan to guide infrastructure investments.  The URA board went over goals for phase two during a Monday evening meeting.  The first phase of public engagement showed most respondents prioritized slowing traffic, creating safe streets and intersections, and street improvements that support access to local businesses.  Nathan Polanski of consulting firm MIG says it also made clear parking will be a significant point of contention between various stakeholder groups.  Plans are being made to do a parking study during phase two.  The URA board will be receiving project goal revisions to consider next month.

The Hood River City Council is getting ready to transition back to in-person meetings.  City Manager Rachel Fuller says they are waiting to see what the state does in regard to regulations when Oregon reaches the 70% vaccination rate, but told Councilors the plan is to have a hybrid-type meeting on June 28, with Councilors and staff in their chambers at City Hall and online viewing still available.  She also said new technology is being installed to City Hall to assist in streaming the meetings online.  In other business, the Council appointed finance director and assistant city manager Will Norris to serve as interim city manager when Fuller steps down on July 1.  The City has begun the process of searching for a permanent replacement.

The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce confirmed plans are underway to move forward with the Hometown USA 4th of July Parade.  The parade will be in partnership with Fort Dalles Fourth and their title sponsor Columbia Gorge Toyota and Honda.  In a statement, the Chamber said if Oregon is not able to open up by July 4th, the parade will not be held.  The parade will start at 10:00 am and will follow the same parade route as the Cherry Festival Parade, beginning at 6th and Webber Street and ending on 2nd Street by The Dalles Chamber.  Parade applications are available at TheDallesChamber.com.

Boys Basketball Dufur 69, Ione-Arlington 56 South Wasco 62, Country Christian 54   Girls Basketball Ione-Arlington 42, Dufur 40 Country Christian 61, South Wasco 40