Window To Your World

Life-long cowboy Darrell Winters By Ted Escobar Photos courtesy Darrell Winters WHITE SWAN — The first Yakima Valley Team Penning Club competition of the 2019 season is set for March 23-24 at Specks Arena in Sunnyside, and you can expect 70-year-old Darrell Winters to be there. Expect Winters to compete at the highest level. He’s been aging well, taking 3 rd in open class individual point standings in 2018. He finished 2nd in 2016. “Years and injuries do affect performance, but when it's time to win, lets get it done,” Winters said recently. Winters is still in cowboy shape. With a rigid back, the linebacker-sized Winters sits tall in the saddle and commands his horse as if the two had been born a matched pair. “Darrell has consistently done well in the Club because he has a competitive personality and a drive to win,” Club President Mark Crowley said. “He rides quality horses year after year.” Team penning is a ranching skill turned into a sport. It is not...

Friends of Harrah meet every morning for breakfast. There are usually 20-30 members. By Ted Escobar HARRAH — Junior and Sally Ford invited me to the Harrah Cafe several times, and I kept wondering why that was important to them. I finally committed to going last Friday, but I had to be there no later than 7 a.m. Junior wanted me to meet some of the breakfast regulars, all connected to agriculture in some way. It was the third morning in a row that Junior and Sally were cooking. I walked in, and there were about 24 guys at a long table made up of shorter tables end-to-end. They were busy rolling dice to see who would pay for coffee. I walked over to the kitchen counter. Junior and Sally said “hi,” then Junior introduced me to the Friends of Harrah. They were an extremely friendly bunch “How do you join?” I asked, walking right into the trap. A couple of the fellows told me to pull up a chair and toss my five dollars into the game. “And you’re in,” one of them sa...

It takes hundreds of volunteers to decorate the Wapato Buddhist Hall and prepare the meal for the annual Sukiyaki Dinner. Within three and a half hours, more than 1,500 people will visit the hall. (Courtesy Lon Inaba). WAPATO — It’s been said many times: If you want to get something done, call on a person who’s busy. Around here, one of those people is Lon Inaba who, with brothers and other family members, operates a family farm of 1,200 acres. Its primary product is vegetables. The family has grown their father’s original 200 acres to the current 1,200. Operations Manager Inaba is busy with the farm, but that hasn’t kept him from taking a place in his community. He is secretary of the Central Washington State Fair’s board of directors. He is president of the Friends of Harrah organization. He sits on other boards. Next up on Inaba’s schedule is the 58 th annual Sukiyaki dinner at the Wapato Buddhist Temple, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 3. At 63, Inaba...

Maple Grove’s country store became low-rent housing, as did Shirley’s Market. (Ted Escobar). By Ted Escobar LIBERTY — Before the world went high-speed and high-tech, the Yakima Valley was dotted with country stores. It seemed that there was one at each corner. Many were the centers of the communities in which they stood. “I used to ride my bike to those when I was a kid,” recalled Norm Childress, the recently sworn in new Yakima County Commissioner. There were several country stores on the way to White Swan, on the Fort Road and W. Wapato Road, and in between. There was, and still is Kyle’s Corner, now called Wheeler’s Corner, west of Wapato. Others included Hoyt’s Market, Thyers Corner, Clark’s Corner, Lindsey’s Lockers and Chapel’s Corner. Going to the Lower Valley, there was Leighty’s Market, Kellog’s Corner and Del’s, which still operates today. There was the Satus Store on the way to Mabton. And there were others that older Valley residents may rememb...