I recently was reviewing the 1883 article about Ellensburg Blues. Unfortunately, the article mistakenly reported The Rock ‘N Tomahawk was listed as an area to hunt the Blues.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
My mother, Bernice Best, passed away last year and the rock hunting was closed indefinitely. In addition the phone number was canceled so it will result in someone getting numerous calls regarding hunting.
Kittitas County is rich with creative spirit — from soulful local musicians to passionate theatre performers and dedicated artists who pour countless hours into their craft. Our stages, big and small, echo with talent that deserves to be seen, heard and celebrated.
Every performance — whether it’s a live band in the park or a play in a local theatre — is the result of tireless rehearsals, unwavering commitment and hope that the seats will be filled with a supportive, engaged audience. These artists don’t just entertain — their talent showcase the incredible ability we have while bringing our community together and help shape the cultural identity we’re so proud of.
Supporting out local performers means more than applause — it’s about showing up. It’s about savoring the music, the drama, the laughter and shared moments with friends and neighbors. It’s
The closure was noted on Facebook and the website. I respectfully request that the appropriate actions are taken to rectify this mistake.
Bobbie Best-Jenks
about honoring the incredible effort behind every curtain call and guitar solo.
So get out and experience it all. Explore the diverse events happening across the county. Meet new people, taste great food and enjoy the unique cultural crafts that make Kittitas County shine.
Let’s celebrate the hard work and heart of our creative community together.
I might be the one dancing like no one is watching!
Cheers, friends!
Robyn Smith Publisher
Robyn Smith, Publisher
Rod Harwood, Contributing Writer Andrea Paris, Editor/Designer Contact us at editor1883kittitascounty@gmail.com
or not publish any submitted items, edit all materials for content and check for accuracy.
Horses on the Yakama Nation Reservation.
— Jennifer McKinnon photo
BAVETTE WITH CHIMICHURI
Bavette steak, with its rich flavor and very tender texture, is a perfect canvas for Double Rafter’s bold and aromatic marinade! Perfectly pair it with a vibrant chimichurri sauce. Fresh parsley, oregano, garlic, red wine vinegar, and chili flakes come together in a bright, tangy drizzle that cuts through the richness of the beef, creating a perfect balance. Cody knows the value of a great beef cut paired with fresh summer ingredients! Not to mention, Cody helped create some our staple recipes in the shop!
INGREDIENTS
Double Rafter Marinated Bavette
1 cup fresh parsley leaves - finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 T fresh oregano leaves, finely chopped
½ cup olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
½ t red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
Set marinated Bavette out to get to room temp. 30-45 mins
In a medium bowl combine parsley, garlic and oregano. Add olive oil, red wine vinegar, red pepper flakes and salt & pepper. Stir to blend all ingredients and let it sit.
Turn grill on high or place a cast iron skillet over high heat. Let them get hot. Carefully place Bavette on the grill or in the cast iron and sear 4-6 minutes. Flip the Bavette and repeat.
Key Note: Cook hot and fast!
Transfer to a cutting board when you reach your desired internal temp
Let rest and then slice against the grain for extra tenderness
Arrange slices on serving plates and drizzle chimichurri sauce over the sliced Bavette
Enjoy!
THE PERFECT TEMPERATURE
Depending on your desired level of doneness, your steak needs to reach a specified internal temperature:
Rare: 120°– 125°
Medium Rare: 130°– 135°
Medium: 140°– 145°
Medium Well: 150°– 155°
Well Done: 160°– 165°
CREATED BY CODY SWALLOW, OWNER DOUBLE RAFTER MEATS
Western spirit
Civic groups host Field Day to encourage community involvement
The roots run deep in Ellensburg Rodeo tradition, dating back some 102 years to when more than 500 valley men and women turned out to work on the rodeo grounds.
Ellensburg’s field day was actually a series of work days held in June of 1923. The Kittitas County Fair Board at that time asked valley residents to donate materials and labor for the construction of the rodeo grounds, and then set Thursday, June 14, 1923 as the date of a “field day” to build the new arena.
As local historian Mike Allen wrote in the Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame.org, community work projects like the Ellensburg Rodeo field day are just as much a legacy of Western heritage as the pioneers’ individualism and independent spirit. Barn raisings, corn-husking parties, quilting bees and cattle roundups all exemplified the volunteer, community-minded nature of Western Americans.
A group of community-minded organizations plan to retrace the steps of history with hopes of re-establishing that sense of civic duty and community spirit that shaped Kittitas County with an opportunity to get to know your neighbor and the people behind the scenes of local work projects with a 21st Century field day on June 14 at Teanaway Hall at the Kittitas Valley Event Center. The program will include a meet and greet from 1 to 2 p.m., then feature a series of guest speakers.
Jon Fitterer has been a volunteer behind the chutes with the Ellensburg Rodeo for decades and recently joined the Rodeo Hall of Fame board. His grandfather, Clarence Fitterer, Daily Record editor Clifford Kaynor and several others got involved with the project in 1923 that would later put Ellensburg on the map.
Kittitas County Commissioners budgeted $10,000 for the purchase of 18 acres adjacent to the fairgrounds in northeast Ellensburg on April 1, 1923 and the first Field Day was held on June 14, when residents came together to build the Ellensburg Rodeo Arena. The first Ellensburg Rodeo was held that Labor Day Weekend that year
“When I read that my grandfather could do something like that it inspired me,” he said. “We’ve lost our touch with community. With the advent of the cell phone, we’ve forgotten what the community’s like. I went to the Fair Board’s meeting. I’m fifth generation in this valley and I only knew six of the 15 board members.
“Our community members don’t know who we are. So, our intent is to host an event where people have an opportunity to learn about our communities allied organizations, what they do and how you can get involved.”
Guest speakers will have a five-minute time frame to provide their information and address how people might be more active in the various organizations. The speakers will include: Yakama Nation representative Allen Aronica, whose family sold the 18-acre parcel that became the rodeo grounds. Kittitas County Events Center director Kady Porterfield and Ellensburg Rodeo general manager Megan Meeks.
Kittitas County commissioners
Field Day
June 14
Teanaway Hall, Kittitas Valley Event Center 1 to 4 p.m.
Hosts: Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame with City of Ellensburg, Ellensburg Downtown Association, Ellensburg Rodeo, Kittitas Valley Event Center, Kittitas County Chamber of Commerce, Kittitas County Fair
Brett Wachsmith, Laura Osiadacz and Cory Wright along with 15 other speakers representing organizations throughout the county will be on hand.
“The Hall of Fame will do a membership drive that day,” Fitterer said. “We’re going to re-introduce ourselves to the community. Our Yakama Nation representative, Allen Aronica, is going to do an opening prayer, then provide background the Indian involvement. Each speaker will have five minutes to let the audience know who they are and their organization.
“This is about people in the community having an opportunity to meet people and find out more how they can get involved.”
— Rod Harwood is an award-winning writer and photographer. He can be reached at rodneyharwood149@gmail.com
On the cover
Community members come together to carve the rodeo arena out of the side of Craig Hill. Several teams of men and horses, women and children joined forces to create a community legacy.
Photos courtesy of Washington Rural Heritage
Cover by Andrea Paris Graphics & Media
If trees could talk
A whale (bone) of a mystery
There are some mysteries that likely will never be solved. That certainly seems to be the case with the unusual “whalebone tree” in front of an historic two-story home at 603 East Fourth Avenue in Ellensburg.
Anyone walking by the house might look at the massive bone, jutting from the elm tree, and assume it’s just a weird growth. But a closer look reveals it’s the jawbone of a whale, which the tree has grown around.
The mystery of Ellensburg’s whalebone tree—as in ‘why is there a whalebone seemingly attached to a tree in a community that’s more than 100 miles from the sea’—has perplexed many for decades.
While it’s clear the bone and the tree have been together for a long time, one of the first mentions of the phenomenon in local media was an April 16, 1976 article in the Ellensburg Daily Record. According to the story, there were once two whalebones that crossed at the tree’s fork.
Long-time resident Glenn Stewart told the paper that he can recall seeing them “loose in the tree” in 1912. Yet Clifford Kaynor said he remembered seeing them leaning against the tree in 1909, when he first arrived in Ellensburg.
In its quest to see how long the bones had been there, the newspaper reproduced an 1896 photograph that showed the house sans whalebones. The paper’s supposition was that the bones were placed against the tree sometime between 1896 and 1909.
As for the lineage of the house behind the tree, that story is far clearer. The elegant wooden house was built in 1887 to serve as a parsonage by the Christian Church. The church had bought the parcel two years earlier.
Over the years it has had a variety of owners ranging from William Sharp, who owned it from 1901 to 1912 and was an accountant for a local hay company, to Charles Lambert, who worked at the Ellensburg Lumber Company and owned it in the 1920s, to Dale and Elizabeth Otto, who owned it from the mid-1970s to 1999 (he was a Central Washington University professor for nearly 30 years).
There appears to be no record, however, of who was the first to plant the bones in front of the tree. And while some of the earliest residents hailed from the east, none appear to have been former sea captains or to have traveled cross-country to Ellensburg with bones in tow.
Since historical evidence provides few answers, what are the legends about the bones’ origins? One of the most common is that at some point in the house’s early years an ex-whaler or sailor either moved in or was staying there for a while. According to this version, this mystery mariner brought the bones with him and set them outside, apparently leaning them in a cross-wise fashion front of the tree. This was to signal to any other passing sailors that the house was a place where they could stop by and receive a warm welcome (kind of an “X” marks the spot thing). Over time the pair of leaning bones were essentially absorbed by the tree.
bones against an elm tree in front of a parsonage house.
The whalebone tree stands in front of a historic Ellensburg Home on East Fourth Avenue.
Contributed photo
But it’s certainly something fun to speculate about.
A bizarre twist on this story came in the late 1990s courtesy of Mel Waters, the mystery man who called Art Bell, host of the nationallysyndicated late-night radio show, Coast to Coast AM, to talk about the existence of an apparently bottomless opening in the ground that became known as Mel’s Hole (this was the subject of an earlier article that appeared
— Richard Moreno is the author of 14 books, including Frontier Fake News: Nevada’s Sagebrush Hoaxsters and Humorists and the forthcoming Washington Historic Places on the National Register. He is the former director of executive communications at Central Washington University and was honored with the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame Silver Pen Award in 2007.
in 1883 Kittitas County).
THE REFERENCE DESK
The Reference Desk spotlights the newest books in the Ellensburg Public Library’s collections. This special installment of The Reference Desk will focus on a new work by local author Sarita Dasgupta. Her latest book, “Seeds of Fate,” was released recently by Gekker Publishing of Ellensburg and is available at the Ellensburg Library.
Dasgupta, a native of the state of Assam in India, is also author of “Featured Friends,” a collection of fables for children with birds as characters, and several textbooks for children. She is also the former editor of a multi-national tea company’s corporate magazine and writes and reads her own stories for children on the program, “Read Along with Grammy,” on Ellensburg Community Radio.
In “Seeds of Fate,” Dasgupta offers seven short stories, largely set in the Assam region, famed for its tea growing estates. Each of the tales spotlights a secret that, when revealed, forever changes the lives of the characters.
Writing in a clear, evocative and often lyrical style, Dasgupta crafts fascinating stories that quickly capture your attention and compel you to want to find out how each is resolved. While the setting for many of the stories is India, the stories are universal in touching on such themes as love, loneliness, connection, regret, and redemption. For example, in “Just an Old Tea Chest,” readers are introduced to Michael Fletcher, a professor at an English university who purchases a statue of Lord Ganesha, a popular Indian deity, which is packaged in an old wooden tea chest from India.
Intrigued by the chest, the man decides to find out where it came from, leading him to make an unexpected discovery about his own past.
Similarly, the titular story, “Seeds of Fate,” tells the story of Brinda, a widow living in a small cottage in the small town of Mahabaleshwar, India, and her devoted gardener, Robi. Brinda’s late husband had been a tea estate manager in Assam, who was kidnapped and accidentally killed by militants. As the tale unfolds, readers learn how the actions of the past can sometimes have a lasting impact on the future.
Author Sarita Dasgupta will speak about her book, “Seeds of Fate,” during a special presentation from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on June 11 in the Hal Holmes Community Center, 201 Ruby Street in Ellensburg. The free event is open to the public. Books (also sold on Amazon) will be available for purchase following the presentation.
— Richard Moreno is the author of 14 books, including Frontier Fake News: Nevada’s Sagebrush Hoaxsters and Humorists and the forthcoming Washington Historic Places on the National Register. He is the former director of executive communications at Central Washington University and was honored with the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame Silver Pen Award in 2007.
Music Mecca
Vibrant music scene rocked Ellensburg in the 1970s
Back in the 1970s, long before the Gorge at George concert phenomenon rose up out of the vineyards on the cliffs overlooking the Columbia River, Ellensburg was a dancing town and music venues were in abundance. But then the hot spots began going up in flames and getting bulldozed, and the music scene went into decline.
Goofey’s, a towering, multi-level structure dominating the corner of Fourth Avenue and Pearl Street, was the first to burn — it was replaced by a drive-thru bank. Then the Hitching Post on Cascade Way got razed to make room for a hay barn, the Buckboard on the south end of town gave way to a Chinese restaurant and Webster’s in the heart of downtown closed its doors. But the true death knell for the live music scene in Ellensburg came in the mid-’80s with the burning of the legendary Ranch Tavern, a structure shaped like and as big as an airplane hanger that had been on the Vantage Highway east of Knudson’s Lumber. All the local bands up to that point as well as names as big as John Lee Hooker, played the Ranch at one time or another.
Perhaps more than any other band, The Greasewood City Ramblers represents the dance energy in Ellensburg back in the toe-tapping, finger-snappings ’70s. The group got off the ground in the late ’60s as a three-piece country/bluegrass band with Wayne Hunt on guitar, Mike Martin on bass and Scott Hammond on banjo — the under-age sons of loggers and ranchers whose hair had grown inexplicably long and whose ways had grown a little out of the ordinary. Scott left the group shortly after it started and Al Kaatz, a high-strung, highly talented young guitarist, took his place — drummers came and went like the Ellensburg wind. Kevin Engbretsen, a steel guitar player from Yakima via Edwardsville, Ill., got word of Greasewood through the music grapevine, drove north to give a listen, and joined on; he eventually brought in a drummer from back east named Marty Vadalabene. Guitarist and keyboard player Bruce Bowen came over from Seattle and hooked up at one of Greasewood’s Sunday afternoon jams at the Ranch, Frank Johnson filled the bass spot vacated by Mike Martin in the early ’70s, and the band gelled and began to really cook, shifting from country/bluegrass to country/ rock, heavy on the rock. By the time I showed up on the scene from San Francisco in 1974, Ellensburg was probably the hottest dance spot on the Washington map.
I arrived in Ellensburg on a hot summer night and squeezed the big Hertz rent-a-van into two parking spaces in front of the Horseshoe Tavern. Through the plate glass window I could see a live band hard at it and a dance floor full of swaying bodies.
I crossed the crowded street and looking into the Ugly Bear (now the Mint), I beheld yet another band going strong. Two bands on one street in one night — I might be able to adjust to country living after all. I was thinking food, however, not music, and I cut through an alley teeming with revelers in search of a restaurant. Obviously Third Avenue was the party street in this
Greasewood was a merger of two bands “The Nash Band” and “The Greasewood City Ramblers” a very diverse act covering the Beatles to Outlaw Country rock as well as alot of original music.
Photo courtesy of Pacific Northwest Bands
small town, the restaurants must be a block over. Wrong. The alley channeled me straight into the open door of The Tav from which more live music pounded out into the night — I was beginning to feel a little unhinged, like maybe I’d made a wrong turn somewhere back down the road and had stumbled into a musical Shangri-La. I walked down the street past Goofey’s and again the sound of live music. I turned at the corner and went
south on Pearl. I went into Webster’s Cafe and Smoke House (long since gone) and got a hamburger and a cup of coffee. I noticed a dark stage in the next room at the far end of a hard-liquor bar. “No live music tonight?” I asked the waitress with a touch of big-city sarcasm. “Next week,” she said, giving me an ‘I’ve got your number buddy’ look as she swept up my empty plate. “But there’s a good blues band from Chicago at the Ranch tonight,” she called over her shoulder as she sauntered off to the kitchen. “If you like that sort of thing.”
That’s the way it was back then, weekend after weekend. The town was rife with young musicians who coalesced into hard-driving rock groups like Appaloosa, The Nash Band, Larry Van and the Movers, Rose and the DIrt Boys, The Dynamic Logs and Lucky Pierre. I must have danced my way through five pairs of shoes before the Ranch burned, the music died, and the local boys went on to bigger things in bigger places. It was a sad day when the Ranch burned. It was almost as if someone had died. But life goes on and with a little effort music sans local flavor can still be found. The Brick in Roslyn has an out-of-town band almost every weekend and you can take your chances in Yakima or at one of the pricey clubs in Seattle. And there are the weekend concerts at the Gorge, powerhouse big-name bands from across the popular music spectrum, steep ticket prices, numbered rows to sit in, a heft security force and under-cover narcotics agents. You have to scratch a little deeper to realize that local music hasn’t died — it’s been gagged by a paucity of venues. The kids are out there, learning their ax and forming tentative alliances that shimmer like apparitions and then melt like wax in the heat of venue indifference, musicians and singers such as Jed Lygre, Jake Reichert, Sean Maupin, Bill Peeper, Karen For U, Lee-Lee Layton, Chris Tomulty,
with names like Puptulla, World of Color, Free to Wander, Roy Rob and the Robots, Sexual Chocolate, Sun King, Beamus, Log Hog, Two-headed Chang, One Sun Poppers and Sir Velveteen, all short on gigs. To say there is no audience for live music, that canned music is all anyone wants, is to reveal a lack of understanding of something primal in the human heart and to ignore a smidgen of hard evidence to the contrary. Sean Maupin orchestrates a weekly Thursday-night jam session in the close confines of Starbucks, of all places, and the Mint Tavern often hosts struggling local musicians on Monday nights with good turnouts. And before Austin’s Eats changed hands, Austin would turn over his stage to hometown bands on weekends and pack the house, groups like Satus Creek and The Dank City Ramblers playing music so high-spirited, intricate and danceable that by midnight someone looking in from outside might think that a meeting of the Holy Rollers was taking place or that an Epiphany of a high order was going down. And at this year’s Jazz in the Valley music festival, prone to attract more listeners than dancers, the extraordinary Nick Vigarino and his Meantown Blues Band brought an entire audience to its dancing feet and kept them there almost an hour past the official closing time on (oh, poetic justice and message from on high!) the blacktop of the drive-thru bank where Goofey’s once stood.
I hadn’t realized when I started writing that I had a point to make, but it appears I do. So, let me hammer in the last nail and bring things full circle. A week before Jazz in the Valley, and a quarter of a century after they stopped knocking out tunes on the local scene, The Greasewood City Ramblers had a reunion at the Ellensburg Best Western. Kevin Engbretsen, a school teacher now, came all the way from Johnson City, Tex., for the gig. Bruce Bowen, an engineer,
shipping clerk and still drumming. Wayne Hunt never stopped playing, became a surveyor, and still lives in Ellensburg, as does Frank Johnson who is a house painter and has been in more bands than you can count since his Greasewood days.
They were all there on the summer night of July 22, the year 2000, and they packed a large banquet room with people who had come from as far away as West Virginia, people who had to squint hard to recognize each other, people with heart transplants and kidney transplants and graying hair, people who’d become doctors and teachers and lawyers, people who’d done jail time and hard time and lost loved ones, all of them with the music still stirring inside at that primal place disco can’t touch. They laughed over reminiscences until they had tears in their eyes, and they danced until the sweat glistened. Veteran musicians like Cordell Covert from Lucky Pierre, Ron Bailey from Rose and the Dirt Boys and Chris Sandvig who has been drumming in Ellensburg bands since he was 16 came out of the audience to sit in, and as the night wore on, it seemed to me that the stage receded and the ceiling arched and the dance floor expanded until we were at the Ranch again, back in the days when live music ruled and the night streets of Ellensburg were a friendlier place.
I rest my case, whatever it may be. It has something to do with community, something to do with the human spirit, and something to do with the way music and dance make the heart sing —a point, I hope, that’s well taken.
—Local music writer John Bennett, founder of Vagabond Press, is best known for capturing the spirit of downtown Ellensburg during its heyday. With 39 published works to his name—including novels, short story collections, journalism, poetry, and his signature “shards,” a unique form of prose poetry—Bennett has carved out a distinct voice in American literature. He resides in Ellensburg.
Members of the 1972-1973 version of Greasewood City Ramblers were: Bruce Bowen on guitar, keyboards, vocals; Kevin Engbretsen on steel guitar; Rob Fraser, drums; Wayne Hunt, guitar, vocals; Frank Johnson, bass; Allen Kaatz, guitar; Kelly Reid, drums; Marty Vadalabene, drums. Contributed photo
Critical thinking
Kittitas students headed to National TSA Conference
If all goes well, national delegates from around the country will be doing a Google search to find out just where exactly Kittitas, Wash. is located.
“I think we’re going to kill it,” Kittitas Secondary School senior Aiden Roeter said with a laugh. “We’re going to be competing against school districts from all around the country, (from Los Angeles to New York City). “It’s an extreme honor, that’s for sure. I can’t remember the last time we had a team go to nationals. We’re going to really prove that it doesn’t matter where you’re from. As long as you have the skills, you will be able to achieve greatness.”
Considering the fact Kittitas Secondary School will probably graduate just 31 seniors this year, it’s a real David and Goliath setting on the national stage at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tenn.
The Technology Student Association (TSA) program will offer 40 high school competitions at the 2025 and 2026 National TSA Conferences. Team Kittitas, which consists of seniors Carter Shafer, Jacob Tyson and Roeter, along with TSA instructor Rocky Gibson, will compete in the “System Control Technology” competition.
System Control Technology participants will develop a solution to a problem presented onsite at the conference. They analyze
requirements and work out their design idea, then the timer starts, they have 2.5 hours to build their robot.
“One of our strengths is our ability to bounce ideas off of each other,” he said. “I think that’s our greatest strength is to be able to talk to each other and come up with an idea that we all agree on.
“The team gets two-and-a-half hours to design, create and program whatever we come up with. If they surprise us with something we haven’t brought, we need to make a series of worka-rounds to achieve our goal.”
They did exceedingly well at the state competition in Spokane in April, building a robot able to restock shelves. Their program allowed the robot to sense missing items and program it to stock a maximum of three items on the shelf.
Team Kittitas is a variety of critical thinkers starting with Gibson, who is in his 26th year of teaching and his third year as a TSA Tech Student Association Advisor.
Carter has been involved in the Technology Student Association for the past six years and goes in with the most experience. Roeter has been involved three years and Tyson is a relative newcomer to the program.
“Carter has been in since eighth grade. Carter worked with a senior at the time. He’s taken on some of that leadership, but we
The Kittitas Secondary School team participating in the National TSA Conference in Nashville includes, Rocky Gibson, from left, Aiden Roeter, Carter Shafer and Jacob Tyson. Contributed photo
FANTASTIC FOOD
ingredients. Cooked the old fashioned way — in grass fed lard. Cowboy Donuts in Ellensburg is a well-known and beloved vendor known for scratch-made donuts and exceptional customer service.
GOOD MOOD FOOD
Good Mood Food’s unique menu is here to put you in a good mood. Flavors used have been found through travel and through friends and we want to share the best parts of that experience with you because what we love to do most is cook for those we care about.
SANTANA GRILL
Santana Grill is a premier catering and food service company based in Ellensburg that is dedicated to delivering exceptional cuisine with a focus on fresh ingredients and exceptional customer service.
MUSIC
MEMORIES
Preserving Ellensburg’s musical history
Preserving the history of musicians in Kittitas County is vital for honoring the region’s rich cultural legacy and inspiring future generations of artists. Local musicians have long contributed to the vibrant, electric soundscape of Central Washington, shaping community identity and adding to the broader narrative of American music. Ellensburg has been the starting point for several influential musicians who have made lasting impacts on the national music scene.
Screaming Trees: formed in 1984 by Mark Pickerall, brothers Gary Lee and Van Conner, along with Mark Lanegan. Their unique blend of psychedelic rock and grunge distinguished them in the burgeoning Seattle music scene. After recording early work in Ellensburg they signed with Epic Records and gained mainstream success.
Krist Novoselic, co-founder of Nirvana, has deep ties to the Pacific Northwest and recently performed with The Bonafide Band, which includes Ellensburg native Mark Pickerel, highlighting his ongoing connection to the area’s music scene. In recent years, Novoselic performed at events like Gustfest.
JOIN US FOR THE IRON HORSE AFTER PARTY
Keep the music going after GustFest at the Iron Horse After Party from 7 - 9 p.m. at Iron Horse Brewery, 1621Vantage Highway in Ellensburg. Enjoy local brews, surprise musical guests and good vibes as we celebrate the close of GustFest weekend. Free and open to all — come raise a glass to music, community and summer fun!
THE SCREAMING TREES
LUCKY PIERRE
APPALOOSA
NASH BAND
KRIST NOVOSELIC
GUSTFEST
WOLFPACK SERENADE STAR ANNA
MICAH J PAT MOSS BAND
KYLE JAMES & THE HAY DOGS
Praying Hands) plays drums in the group. Megan, formerly of Portland’s Swoon 23 and Seattle’s Hazelwood Motel, handles lead vocals. Singer/songwriter Herman, of Portland’s Sunset Valley, pens the songs, sings and plays guitar. Tyler Leavitt, formerly of Centaur Midwife and currently with Kyle James and the Haydogs, rounds out the sound on bass. Megan and Herman weave tight, beguiling
draws inspiration from a wide range of musical genres and eras. His performances effortlessly weave together elements of fold, rock, blues, soul and Americana,
red haired kid hanging with my musician friends and we soon discovered we both really admired those old rhythm and blues bands and soul music. Lit tle Walter, Howlin Wolf. Richie was inspired by their music. When Nash Band formed, Richie found a niche where he could grow. He later became a guitar for hire. What good music and memories we hold. Richie would occasionally come back
and becoming a songwriter. Her powerful voice and songwriting has led to collaborations with major artists and performances with the Seattle Symphony.
KILLDEER STRING BAND
SETH GARRIDO
eventually forming the Hay Dogs. Now Kyle brings fresh energy and a full-band sound
brand of energetic instrumental music. Performing at farmers markets, ale houses, folk festivals and other cultural events, the perform a refreshing blend of original and traditional folk styles ranging from Celtic to Klezmer and Bavarian to bluegrass. Whether it’s an Irish jog or a cover of Hey Jude, the Killdeer String band explores delicious boundaries of traditional acoustic music.
well versed in many musical genres from country western and be-bop, swing to soul. His album, “Heavy Handed Heart,” was released in 2021.
NATE & ALYSSA
as an in-demand performer across the valley and beyond. As a longtime resident, her music is inspired by the valley’s rambling winds, big sage and of course, the Ellensburg Blue. This inspired the name of her cover band, the Ellensburg Blusers. Lyssa owes much of her success to her bandmates, supporters and duo guitarist, Nate Zech. Her first single, “Last Light” is available on all music streaming platforms.
Why GustFest?
GustFest is a celebration of Ellensburg’s rich musical heritage, dedicated to preserving and honoring the diverse sounds and stories that have shaped the community over the years. Through performances, historical showcases and community engagement, GustFest aims to connect the past, present and future generations while highlighting the enduring impact of music on Ellensburg’s culture and identity. We are committed to fostering a deeper appreciation for the town’s musical history while inspiring creativity, unity and pride within the community.
MEMORIES
Top left: Lucky Pierre flyer by Lynn McCowin
Top right: Nash Band art by Flying Weasel 77
Above left: The Screaming Trees
Above right: Ranch Tavern tokens for beer
Photos contributed by Fran Cuhtahlatah
No half measures
Powerhouse vocalist Nicole Prigge-Taylor is unstoppable
When Nicole Prigge-Taylor commits to something, she’s all in— no halfway measures, no holding back. It’s a philosophy that defines every role she takes on, from powerhouse vocalist and devoted mother to top-tier real estate broker and community advocate.
Whether she’s commanding the stage with Under the Covers Band, guiding first-time homebuyers through life-changing decisions or working behind the scenes with Kittitas County Pride, Prigge-Taylor approaches each endeavor with focused passion and a heart full of purpose.
“Everything I do is intentional,” she says. “I’m going to do the best that I possibly can—whether it was my first job at the gym cleaning or advocating for my clients now.”
Born and raised in Ellensburg, Nicole’s deep-rooted connection to the community is reflected in her work and her words. “For me, what I like about Ellensburg comes down to the people,” she says. “It’s the diversity and the array of people. Regardless of any difference of opinion, I think the hearts are good.”
At the center of her life is her daughter, a spirited four-year-old who inspires Nicole daily. “She is my top priority. Outside of work, it’s all about her,” she says with a smile.
When Nicole steps onto the stage with Under the Covers Band she brings the same level of energy and commitment she brings to the rest of her life. She’s been with the group since 2019, and alongside Riley Schmit (lead guitar/saxophone), Homero Tamez (drums), Chris Davidson (bass/ vocals) and Marc Brown (rhythm guitar/vocals), the current lineup is thriving.
“We’ve really hit our stride in the last couple of years,” she says. With a vocal range that seamlessly moves from Billie Holiday to ZZ Top, Nicole’s musical background is as diverse as her resume.
“My background is actually in jazz and a cappella,” she explains. “I was in a college a cappella group that ranked in the top 60 nationally two years in a row. Carmen McRae, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James—they shaped my voice. And of course, Fleetwood Mac and the Beatles were big inspirations.”
Under the Covers plays a genre-spanning mix of hits—Fleetwood Mac, Prince, ZZ Top, and more. Their summer calendar is packed with performances at The Wenas Creek Saloon in Selah, The Brick in Roslyn and the Suncadia Harvest Festival, to name a few.
“I would say we’re about 40 percent private parties and 60 percent bars and events,” she adds. “If you’ve done music long enough, you’ve maybe had one or two groups where everything just clicks. This is one of those groups. It’s fun to work this hard with these four people.”
Her real estate career, launched in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, is another testament to her perseverance. In just a few short years, she’s been named Best Realtor in the Best of Kittitas County four years run-
ning—from 2021 through 2024.
“I really love working with first-time buyers, sellers in transition, and helping support folks during a giant change,” she says. “I focus on education and believe the best time to buy or sell is when you are ready—mentally, emotionally and financially.”
That level of dedication isn’t possible without a strong support system. “None of what I do is possible without an incredibly supportive partner and without my folks, who adore spending time with their granddaughter. It takes a village,” she says.
Nicole’s service doesn’t stop with business and music—she’s also a dedicated member of Kittitas County Pride, currently serving on the board of directors and chairing the sponsorship committee.
“I think it’s about giving different members of our community a voice and helping people connect,” she says. “There are plenty of people looking to connect. I mean, when you get out of school, where do you make friends? Pride is a way to be a part of something and meet people that align with your ideals.”
Contributed photo
In every sphere of her life, Nicole Prigge-Taylor shows up with energy, integrity and purpose. For her, being all in isn’t just a personality trait—it’s a way of life.
Nicole Prigge-Taylor performs at the Kittitas Cafe with the Under the Covers band.
Days of magic
Ellensburg’s
live music scene was all about a having great time
As the story goes, longtime Ellensburg musician Frank Johnson used to book side gigs for a little walking around money. He’d work out the particulars with club owners and set it up, then put out the call he needed a guitar player, a drummer etc. for a certain date.
They’d just make up a band name so promoters had a name to
put on the check and once it was cashed the name vanished into the Ellensburg wind.
“We used to do that all the time. Guys from different bands would get together for a night to make a little extra money,”
former Greasewood City Ramblers guitarist Al Kaatz said. “It was a lot of fun just playing.”
There was a time in the early to mid-’70s when music flowed like wine and a half a dozen bands lit up the night at venues from Kittitas to Cle Elum, making the Kittitas Valley one of the primer dance locations on the Washington music scene. Kaatz was right there in the middle of it.
Now a group of music lovers in Ellensburg are spearheading the Music Preservation Project to keep the memories and the spirit alive with the second annual GustFest on June 22 at the Kittitas County Fairgrounds. Kaatz put to rest any hopes of a reunion with Richie Blue and Mike Thorpe of Nash Band for the event.
“I had COVID five times during the pandemic and I’ve developed Long Covid. So I’ve cut back on my playing quite a bit. But I actually have a gig that weekend, but I’d love to get together with those guys sometime,” said Kaatz in a telephone interview from La Conner.
He moved to Seattle in 1975 and eventually toured with Bonnie Bramlett and Doug Kershaw. He did session work or toured with the likes of Bo Diddley, Etta James, Mary Wells, Big Mama Thornton and Charlie Musselwhite.
But back in the day, the 1969 Ellensburg High School graduate was right in the thick of the Ellensburg Music Scene at the classic venues like The Ranch Tavern, Goofey’s, the Hitching Post, The Buckboard and Webster’s.
“The Ranch was really happening back then. At that time in the early ’70s, Playboy Magazine had Ellensburg listed as one of the Top 10 College Party towns. It was: there were keggers every weekend. It was wild,” the now 73-year-old recalled. “There was a lot of great musicians, a lot of great bands. I used to sit in with Lucky Pierre and play with Keith Wohlford and Cordell Covert.
“I used to play a little bit with Richie Blue. I think the last time I played with Richie was Cordell’s memorial a few years ago. We never did get to play together at Frank Johnson’s memorial, but he’s a lot of
fun to get together with.”
The Ranch Tavern was the beacon — the guiding light in the middle of the musical storm of energy brewing on the horizon. Legendary national acts swung by on their way from Seattle to Spokane, guys like John Lee Hooker, J.J. Cale and Elvin Bishop. But all the locals cut their chops in the funky structure shaped a like an airplane hangar. It was the scene and the dance hall were musicians brought people to their feet and the party seemed to never stop.
“The Ranch was an experience. The audiences were always into it in the mid-’70s. When The Ranch burned down it really knocked the shit out of the music scene. Then Goofey’s closed,” said Kaatz, who later played in Las Vegas with Kershaw. “Goofey’s was a great place to play because it had a really good stage and it sounded really good in there. Everything was perfect.
“But the real killer was that disco came along with the DJ crap. A lot of clubs switched over to that because it was a lot cheaper to pay one guy rather than pay for live music.
There was a wide variety of music and talented musicians at every turn. Bands like Appaloosa (1970’72) with Andy Aldrich (guitar), Cordell Covert (guitar), Robert Mowell (guitar), Ken Ostrich (drums) and Keith Wohlford (bass). Lucky Pierre was another Wohlford project along with Covert and Steve Busby.
NashBand came along a little later, featuring Richie Blue (guitar), Ted Grover (drums), Randy Hiner (bass), Pat Martin (guitar, keyboards), Mike Thorpe (drums, vocals). Garey Williams also did a stint on drums.
The DiTomaso Group included Ron DiTomaso, Al Kaatz, Frank Johnson and Jon Newton,
There were others of course, but perhaps more than any other band — The Greasewood City Ramblers — represented the dance energy of Ellensburg back in the time when music ruled the night.
The group started in the late ’60s as a three-piece with Wayne Hunt on guitar, Mike Martin on bass and
Scott Hammond on banjo.
Vagabond Press founder John Bennett called them, “The under-age sons of loggers and ranchers whose hair had grown inexplicably long and whose ways had grown a little out of the ordinary.”
Hammond left shortly after it started and Kaatz came on board, bringing a new energy. Kevin Engbretsen was originally from Edwardsville, Ill. He got word of Greasewood through the grapevine and brought in a drummer from back East Marty Vadalabene. Johnson took over the bass chores when Martin left in the early ’70s, and the band shifted from country/bluegrass to country/rock with a little more emphasis on the rock side. Guitarist and keyboard player Bruce Bowen used to come over from Seattle and hook up at Greasewood’s Sunday afternoon jams at The Ranch.
“I lived in upstate New York for two years until 1970, so when I came back I hooked up with them. The original group was more bluegrass. Ellensburg was really my first introduction to country music,” Kaatz said. “We were mostly doing cover songs. Sometimes we’d attract older people in their 50s and rednecks to our gigs because they liked country music.
“We’d like to play the Grateful Dead, The Band others, so it the early stages of country-rock. We played at The Brick when it was just one side of the bar. It was a really fun gig and we loved playing (in Roslyn) because it was always a great crowd. We liked playing The Ranch a lot because it was really happening back then.” The Ranch burned down, Goofey’s closed, along came disco. But for a time the Ellensburg Music Scene was magical.
GustFest is dedicated to keeping the spirit of the music alive as well as showing off Generation Next with the idea of creating a new wave on an old crest to keep the ride alive in the Kittitas Valley.
— Rod Harwood is an award-winning writer and photographer. He can be reached at rodneyharwood149@gmail.com.
Opposit page: A Greasewood City Ramblers flyer. Contributed photo
Far Left: 1969 Ellensburg High School graduate Al Kaatz joined in the celebration of life at former bandmate Frank Johnson’s memorial.
Rod Harwood photo
Above: Local photographer Laura Stanley captured the moment when Chuck Boom played a First Friday Art Walk at the Gard Vintners.
Laura Stanley photo
Left: Al Kaatz with Bonnie Bramlett.
Contributed photo
June 3
Jazz Combo Concert 1, CWU McIntyre Music Building, 6pm
EVENTS CALENDAR
Tattoo Pop Up, Pearl Street Books, 10am
Cuttinup Ranch Horse Showdown, Washington State Horse Park, 5pm
Fundraiser, 241 3rd St Ronald, 5pm
Jazz Combo Concert 2, CWU McIntyre Music Building, 8pm Valley Voices Choir Ellensburg Presbyterian Church, 6:30pm
June 4
Paint & Sip with Erin Oostra, Dru Bru Cle Elum, 6pm Community Listening Session, Kittitas Valley Event Center, 6pm
Weaving with Wahpeniat, 1200 Wildcat Way, 5:30pm Bike Night, The Porch, 6pm All Day Happy Hour, Woody’s Ellensburg, 2:25pm Trivia Night, Iron Horse Brewery, 6:30pm Strum Along, Gard Vintners, 5:30pm Roslyn Music Jam, Roslyn Creative Center, 6:30pm Karaoke with DJ Kozmo Blue, Logan’s Roslyn, 8pm
June 5
Line Dancing, The Brick, 6:30 Valley Voices Pint Night, Iron Horse Brewery, 4pm Bingo, Ellensburg Adult Activity Center, 11am Composition 1 Recital, CWU McIntyre Music Building, 7pm
Salsa Night at the Ridge, The Ridge Restaurant, 6:45pm Coffee with Cops, Brooks Library Fishbowl, 7pm
June 6
Pyrocene Opening & Reception, The Palace Gallery, 5pm
Late for Supper, Valo Tasting Room, 6pm Cascade Knights, Gard Vinters, 6pm Noel Walsh, The Mule, 7pm First Friday Art Walk, Downtown Ellensburg, 5pm The Sleepers, Cornerstone Italian Kitchen, 7pm Pride Gloga, Ellensburg Yoga and Coffee House, 5:30pm
Free Pet Food, Open Table, 11:30am Open Studio Line Dancing, The Studio by EDE, 6pm
Karaoke with DJ Forrest Gump Brick Saloon, 9pm Ben Naught, Nodding Donkey, 7pm Art Walk After Party, Nuwave Gallery and Fortuity Cellars, 6:30pm
June 7
Roslyn’s Women’s Mountain Bike Ride, Roslyn Yard, 9am
Kittitas County Master Gardener Plant Clinic, The Armory, 11:30am
June 11
Trivia, Iron Horse Brewery, 6:30pm
Karaoke with DJ Kozmo Blue, Logan’s Roslyn, 8pm The Black Velvet Band, Old Skool’s, 7pm
June 12
Dementia Support Group, KV Hospital, 11am
Salsa Night at the The Ridge Restaurant, 6:45pm
June 13
Father’s Day Cancer Free Run, Liberty Noon
Live Music, Old Skool’s, 7pm
Petting Zoo and Kids Crafts, Quiet Cadence and Kristen Jentges, 730 Alford Road, Ellensburg, 10am
Loco Motion, Gard Vintners, 6pm
Welter Brothers, Cornerstone Italian Kitchen, 7pm
Karaoke with DJ Forrest Gump, The Brick, 9pm
Karaoke with DJ Kozmo Blue, Logan’s Roslyn 8pm
June 14
Farmers Market, downtown Ellensburg, 9am
Warrior Wrestling Crab Feed Dinner & Auction
Kittitas County Geology & Native History Tour with Nick Zentner and Randy Lewis, KC Historical Museum, 8:30am
Ice Cream Event, Dusty’s Nursery, 11am
Field Day, Kittitas Valley Event Center, 1pm
Brewfest 2025, 1621 Vantage Highway, 2pm
Kyle James and The Hay Dogs, Iron Horse Brewery/ Linda McRae, Kittitas Cafe, 5pm
Solomon, Cornerstone Italian Kitchen, 7pm
High Voltage, Brick Saloon, 9pm
Roberts Band, Cle Elum Eagles, 7pm
June 15
Roslyn Farmers Market, Roslyn, 10am
Behind the Scenes Tour with Wildflowers, Wild Horse Renewable Energy Center, 9:15am
June 16
Cle Elum/Roslyn Boys & Girls Club Summer Camp, 8:30-6:30pm
VTC Reader’s Theatre presents: The Importance of Being Ernest, Gard Vintners 6:30pm
Parents Night Out, The Studio at EDE, 5pm Bochet (Crafting Night with Dudes), 6pm
June 17
Trivia, The Mule, 5:30pm Rodeo Camp, Kinship Trail Rides, 7am Horse Camp, Twisted TK Quarter Horses, 9am Mid Columbia Fisheries Pint Night, Iron Horse Brewery, 6pm
June 18
Touch a Truck & Bike Rodeo, Rotary Park, 11am Juneteenth Celebration, Red Pickle parking lot, 4pm Ellensburg Night Market, downtown, 4pm Bike Night, Red Horse Diner, 5:30pm Trivia, Iron Horse Brewery, 6:30pm, Roslyn 8pm
Karaoke with DJ Kozmo Blue, Logan’s Roslyn, 8pm
June 19
Golf Tournament, SunCountry Golf, 10am Melany Peterson, The Brick House Gardens and Nursery, 6pm
A Night at the Museum, Carpenter House Cle Elum, 5:30pm
Salsa Night at the Ridge, Ridge Restaurant, 6:45pm
June 20
Teanaway Trail Fest, Teanaway West Fork Road Cle Elum, 5pm
Wild & Whiskey History Tour, Wild Horse Wind Farm, Noon
June 29
Roslyn Farmers Market, Roslyn, 10am
PNW Dispersed Camping Cleanup at French Cabin Creek, 11am
For a detailed calendar of events, please go to www.kittcoevents.com
CWU hosts annual student fashion show
The Apparel, Textiles and Merchandising (ATM) program at Central Washington University is hosting the 29th annual Fashion Show titled Transcendence on Saturday, June 7 in the Milo Smith Tower Theatre.
Doors open at 2 p.m. for the silent auction which will feature a variety of items donated by local businesses and artisans. Attendees can view the auction items and participate in digital bids via a QR code in the printed program before the fashion show kicks off at 3 p.m.
This year’s show features the original creations of nine student designers embodying themes of innovation, self-expression and the transformative power of fashion. The event is brought to life by the combined efforts of 13 production students from the ATM program in collaboration with the CWU Theatre Department.
Presale general admission tickets are $20 and students $15. Tickets will also be available at the door for $22. To purchase presale tickets go to cwuwildcattickets.universitytickets.com. For questions about the show or ATM program, contact Andrea Eklund at andrea.eklund@cwu.edu.
Words on the wind
Ellensburg’s Wipple Park has two new features
Community members have probably noticed a lot of changes in Wipple Park in the past couple years, starting with the relocation of the Downtown Community Garden.
A new Native Pollinator Garden was created by the Morning Rotary Club and visitors will find a plant list with matching labels within the garden as well as pollinator hotels that house welcome guests.
The wind sculptures from the Rotary Pavilion were relocated to Wippel Park and there are also discussions of a mural for the north wall. A new Little Free Library also was added.
But the park has undergone another transformation with the additions of a poetry pole and wind phone.
In 2023, Keely Murphy-Pickerel was given permission by the city’s Parks Department, Arts Commission and city council as well as members of The Wippel Park Community Garden and Morning Rotary Club to install a poetry pole and wind phone in the park. The poetry pole was placed at the end of summer in 2023, and the wind phone was installed at the end of May 2024.
A cedar post was carved with the word POETRY on the east and west sides. This allows people come to pin poems and read poems left by others. The poems eventually are removed and kept in a place of safekeeping.
The first poetry pole was imagined by Jim Bodeen of Blue Begonia Press in Yakima following a visit to Pablo Neruda’s home in Chile in 1996. Many more poetry poles have been planted since.
Murphy-Pickerel was introduced to the Yakima poetry pole by her Yakima Valley College English teacher, Dan Peters. That poetry pole has collected thousands of poems and is now in Selah.
After nearly 20 years of pinning poems to that pole, MurphyPickerel felt the pull to create one for Ellensburg. She is the keeper of the Ellensburg pole.
Bodeen said, “Poetry poles are places to share spiritual insights, longings and truth. Poems here are written directly to the muse without editors intervening.”
“If you’ve ever experienced the right poem given at the right time—whether falling in love, aching in heartbreak, getting married, celebrating birth or navigating grief—you know poetry can help us say what it is to be human. The poetry pole is for everyone, not just those who call themselves ‘poets.’ It’s about telling your story and being found in the stories of others,” Murphy-Pickerel said.
Everyone invited to pin poetry on the pole where it has already been found by all sorts of poets, including children.
The second addition to the park is a wind phone. Since Ellensburg is known for its wind the idea of the wind phone seemed an obvious complement to the poetry pole. Murphy-
Pickerel first heard of wind phones on the long-running radio program This American Life. A 2016 episode highlighted the first wind phone in Japan that was created by Itaru Sasaki in 2010. Sasaki placed an unconnected rotary phone in his garden to help him cope with the death of his cousin.
After thousands died or were unaccounted for in the 2011 tsunami, Sasaki’s wind phone was visited by thousands of bereaved survivors. While wind phones have no religious connotation they do seemingly help with the grief process for
some. Hundreds of wind phones have since been installed around the world. The Ellensburg wind phone is dedicated to MurphyPickerel’s late brother, Brendan. The back of the wind phone faces northwest—the direction the wind usually blows here—so when you stand at the wind phone you are found both in the shelter of the elm tree and in the shelter of the wind phone. Special thanks to artist and neighbor, Chris Schambacher, for partnering with Murphy-Pickerel in the creation of the Ellensburg wind phone.
“Both the pole and the wind phone are broad invitations to connect something within to something outside of ourselves. Both allow us to send our words on the wind. My hope is that these projects may be bridges to connection in a time when the U.S. Surgeon General has named ‘an epidemic of loneliness.’ Those who visit these places are connected by their humanity and their willingness to search for the words. May our poetry pole and wind phone be found by the ones who need them most,” MurphyPickerel said.
An early morning view of the poetry pole and wind phone in Wipple Park.
Favorite Double Rafter Steak of your choice
Your favorite pizza crust
Jar of pesto
Mozzarella ball or pearls - thinly sliced
Handful of Arugula
Shallots - thinly sliced
Drizzle of Balsamic Glaze
Instructions
Set your steak on the counter to reach room temp, approximately 30-45 mins
Season steak with salt and pepper
Turn your grill to high heat
Spread pesto over crust and place sliced mozzarella on top
Sprinkle sliced shallots throughout the pizza
Bake according to pizza crust according to instructions f
While the pizza crust is baking, grill your steak. Hot and fast is key!
Grill 3-4 mins each side. Remove from grill and let your steak rest.
Pull your pizza crust out and sprinkle arugula over the top.
Put back in the oven 2 minutes.
Thinly slice your steak and put on top of pizza
Drizzle Balsamic glaze and enjoy!
CREATED BY JIMMY WATTERSON, OWNER DOUBLE RAFTER MEATS
