Gypsy McFelter is looking forward to unveiling the holiday transformation of the Flagstaff Gallery at the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center during Sunday’s 20th annual Holiday Open House.

She’s dubbed the exhibit “a gallery of unique trees,” which will be decorated with ornaments crafted from all types of recycled paper and serve as the backdrop for refreshments served from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. during Sunday’s free event.

Fewer people than expected turned out for free Thanksgiving Day dinners offered by community businesses and the Calvary Baptist Church, but those sponsoring the meals plan to repeat the events again next year.

Pastor Dave Deputy said more than 100 people were served full turkey banquets by 15 to 20 volunteers, including several who were not members of the congregation, but who simply wanted to contribute to the effort.

A team of federal officials that President Obama tasked with speeding up the permitting process for seven proposed power lines will conduct a site visit next week for an Idaho Power Company line that’s slated to bisect Baker County.

The president’s “Rapid Response Team for Transmission” will be in Boise on Dec. 6, and in Ontario on Dec. 7.

The team is not scheduled to travel to Baker County.

Mark Bennett, the county’s planning director, said he will attend some of the meetings.

Rice cakes, peanut butter and seeds are quick and easy ingredients to make crispy, gooey bird feeders. Eager to please the birds Friday during Family Fun Day at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center were, from left, Janelle Boothby; her daughter, Hadley, 4; niece, Mason, 3; and daughter, Ella, 7; and husband, Casey. Sara Durflinger, right, helped youngsters get started and wrapped bird treats to be taken home.

By CHRIS COLLINS
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Brothers Mark and Casey Boothby brought their families home to Baker City for the Thanksgiving holiday and were among those to participate in Family Fun Day at the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center Friday.

Seven-year-old Ella Boothby and her little sister, Hadley, 4, toured the center with their parents Casey and Janelle Boothby, who traveled from Boise. Mark and Amy Boothby made the trip from Homedale, Idaho, with their two girls, Logan, 8, and Mason, 3.

By TERRI HARBER
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Downtown businesses will try to woo local shoppers using a variety of methods during the holiday season.

Black Friday promotions usually grab attention, but business owners know that it takes more than one good day of sales for small businesses to turn a healthy profit.

A Baker City couple and their two chihuahuas were displaced by a fire that started when an electrical cord overheated Monday night at their home at 2523 Valley Ave.

Baker City firefighters were dispatched to Tim and Carol Roberts’ house at 8:12 p.m., said Fire Chief Jim Price.

Fifteen firefighters spent one hour and 40 minutes extinguishing the blaze, Price said. No one was injured.

Price said the fire started when an electrical cord that powered a fan motor in a natural gas fireplace insert became crimped, causing it to overheat. The fire traveled to the wall and up into the ceiling and attic of the house, Price said.

Early storms have brought enough snow to the Elkhorn Mountains to allow Anthony Lakes ski area to open Saturday, Nov. 26.

By JAYSON JACOBY
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Local skiers and snowboarders would do well to lay in a supply of sandwich bags before Thanksgiving.

Those turkey sandwiches will need to be assembled in advance, to be gobbled at the lodge rather than in the living room.

A beneficent jet stream has bestowed Anthony Lakes Ski Area with sufficient snow that the slopes will open Saturday, Nov. 26.

That’s always the goal at the resort in the Elkhorn Mountains, about 35 miles northwest of Baker City.

But it’s a goal not always realized.

Noel Salazar, left, snugs a stretchy hat on his 1-day-old daughter, Alexandria Jules Salazar, while his wife, Rosalinda Salazar, smiles.

By LISA BRITTON
For the Baker City Herald

Alexandria Salazar may be just a day old, but she makes her preference for hats known in the only way an infant can.

She cries.

But then, as her mother gently slips a stretchier purple hat on her tiny head, Alexandria quiets and falls asleep in her father’s arms.

Crying babies is what brought about these purple hats, made to raise awareness about the Period of PURPLE Crying,  an infant abuse prevention program developed by the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome (NCSBS) to educate parents on normal infant crying.