The former Home Independent Telephone Co. building in Wallowa now is home to Wallowa Mountain Midwifery and a community health care clinic, part of the Winding Waters health care system. The building is a beneficiary of state Parks and Recreation Department grants awarded in Wallowa and Enterprise in 2023.

WALLOWA — Five Wallowa businesses and one in Enterprise are the beneficiaries of part of 27 Oregon Parks and Recreation Department grants worth nearly $5 million awarded to Oregon Main Street Network organizations across the state, according to a press release.

To be eligible, the projects must encourage economic revitalization and range from facade improvement to basic facilities and housing, with awards ranging from $62,930 to $200,000.

“This is really exciting stuff coming down the pipeline,” said Eli Hendricks, of the Northeast Oregon Economic Development District. “Wallowa County really took a lead role in putting this together.”

The NEOEDD was instrumental in applying for the grants for the Wallowa and Enterprise businesses.

The funded projects in Wallowa are the old Telephone Building that now houses Wallowa Mountain Midwifery and a Winding Waters health clinic, the old Mercantile Co. building, the McClean Theater, the Lending Heart Building and the old Masonic Lodge that now is the Nez Perce Homeland Visitors Center. There’s also the Red Rooster Cafe in downtown Enterprise.

Hendricks said work funded by the grants can begin as early as July 1, which is the beginning date for the grant cycle. Several projects will address a variety of preservation needs from window repair to electrical and plumbing. Among those projects are ones identified by the NEOEDD.

He said the timing of submitting the applications for the grants was the main reason those funds went to Wallowa and Enterprise. Joseph also had hopes of getting some of the funds, but wasn’t able to put together its downtown plans in time.

“A key part of this grant was you need to have a downtown plan put together,” Hendricks said.

“That’s something we are actively working on now” for Joseph, he added. “Those plans will be ready for next year.”

In Wallowa, some of the grant money will go toward repairing damage from last August’s hailstorm.

Hendricks noted that funding is coming from other sources for those repairs as well, but that will not preclude the Parks and Rec grants from being used toward such repairs.

Lisa Dawson, executive director of the NEOEDD, agreed that the use of the funds won’t be limited by the storm damage.

The five properties in Wallowa will receive a total of $113,271 with another $42,554 in matching funds.

The Red Rooster Cafe in Enterprise will receive $79,979 with $24,180 in matching funds.

The projects in Wallowa are for complete rehabilitation work there, made doubly necessary by the hailstorm the city is still struggling to recover from.

The work on the Red Rooster Cafe in Enterprise will go toward facade improvements, the construction of an apartment unit and complete energy efficiency upgrades.

These projects are among 27 throughout the state that total $4,997,535 with a matching total of $13,470,908.