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Posts published in “Day: December 13, 2008”

Shopping mobs at Enterprise and Joseph

READING Hadn't heard before about the weekend shopping bus from the La Grande area north and east into the country not much renowned as a shopping center - Enterprise and Joseph. Now we have.

There are crafts businesses and other retailers in those cities, but they're a tad out of the way for most people - an hour's drive (albeit a pretty one) from La Grande. The buses make an event out of it, as the Wallowa County Chieftain notes:

"Down the street and around the corner, Wendy Stewart's Bee Charmed Marketplace also did great business - selling more than a month's-worth of product in one day. 'It was really great,' said Stewart. 'It is well worth being a sponsor for this event. I have more customers come in during the bus tour than I do in three winter months added together.' Up in Joseph the good sales continued, with Joseph Fly Shop and Lamb Trading Company reporting 'brisk sales.'"

Five figures

READING There's an impact on the psychology of a town - especially a smaller town - that comes from its population marker. After a certain point, a city like Portland or Seattle, encased as it is by suburbs, seems less defined by its population number.

But Baker, Oregon, has never quite reached the 10,000 population mark. Drive through it and you'll see a small city whose leaders clearly once thought it would be much bigger, but never quite got there. But now, after all these years, it may have crossed the line into five figures. Maybe.

You take what you get.