Elgin chamber president urges closer coordination with local groups

Elgin’s civic calendar is getting a reset as the chamber and Lions Club push to work more like partners than separate organizers. Chamber president Kenna Collins, elected in February to a one-year term, urged closer coordination on event promotion, downtown upkeep and student support, signaling that Elgin’s volunteer groups may need to fill gaps that city hall and the schools cannot fully cover on their own.

Collins said she wanted the chamber to be more active and to combine efforts with other community organizations. That includes creating flyers for planned events, coordinating advertising for Riverfest and folding Elgin’s many celebrations into a more coherent schedule. She also raised the idea of moving the Lions’ Light Parade to the Saturday after Thanksgiving, a change that could make the parade easier for families to plan around and more visible to visitors coming into town.

Riverfest remains the clearest example of how much of Elgin’s identity rests on shared events. The Union County Chamber calendar listed the 2025 Riverfest at the Elgin Community Center grounds, with a car, motorcycle and tractor show, climbing wall, duck race, Firemen’s Breakfast and vendors. This year’s Riverfest is set for June 20, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Elgin Community Center. The event is being hosted by the Elgin Lions Club and is built around food, music and family activity, with the Old Time Fiddlers slated to play in Pocket Park.

The discussion also turned to the condition of public spaces. Collins said the city should work on cleaning up burnt-out buildings, improving park maintenance and adding public restrooms downtown. At the same time, Lions president Pat McDonald said members had completed a cleanup at Pocket Park and that the park sign was being repaired. The park sits on the Joseph Branch Trail-with-Rail corridor, where TrailLink says the trail begins at the Elgin Pocket Park Trailhead and follows the publicly owned Wallowa Union Railroad Authority right-of-way.

The club is also looking at a broader scholarship reach. Scholarship chair Kate Bottger said the selection committee recommended opening the award to any senior next year and adding a second $1,000 scholarship. The Elgin Lions’ scholarship is aimed at graduating seniors planning to attend a university, college or trade school, and it is based on community service, a personal essay and GPA. The club has already had enough strong applications in one year to award two scholarships, and in 2025 it also reported four requests for examinations and glasses while continuing school-support work.

Taken together, the moves show a small town trying to keep its public spaces cleaner, its event calendar more organized and its students better supported. In Elgin, that work is increasingly landing with the same local groups that already handle the welcome signs, the parades and the park cleanup.