Steve Graeper, President of the Rhododendron Community Planning Organization (CPO), would have been pleased with 10 submissions for the group’s logo contest. So when 45 entries came
in for the Saturday, March 17 meeting where the top six were selected by the
CPO’s membership, Graeper was enthused, to say the least.

“We are blown away by the number of entries we received,” Graeper said.
The CPO plans to use the winning logo on a potential community gateway
sign, as well as t-shirts, hoodies, hats and other merchandise as part of the
fundraising for its Rhody Rising effort, a plan to revitalize the community of
Rhododendron.

A total of 78 votes were cast by the 28 CPO members in attendance (each
member received three tickets to vote with), according to Graeper. The top
five were to be selected to move on to the next round, but a tie for fifth place
lead to a sixth potential logo to move on.

Graper did not release vote totals, but the artists behind the six entries were
Haley Montana, Mark Schumaker, Cheryl Budd, Laurie Crabb and Renee
Lamoreaux, who had two designs selected.

David Lythgoe was impressed with the talent on display and noted that
making his selections was tough.

“I think they’re amazing,” he said, noting that he was drawn to one that
shared elements with a logo used by Oregon’s Mt. Hood Territory, which
would be good for hats and shirts. “I’ve always liked that look. And there’s
one over here that had that.”

Rod Brewick noted that many of the designs were very representative of
Rhododendron, including images of the namesake flower and Mount Hood,
while he liked the images that included a frontier element in them.
“I’m just kind of anxious to see which one becomes the logo,” he said.
“Hopefully it's one of the ones I voted on.”

The six designs will now move on to the CPO’s “Decision Making Matrix,” a
scorecard filled out by the group’s Rhody Rising subcommittee and two
members of the Clackamas County Arts Alliance. The scorecard, used to
“expand thinking beyond a simple popular vote,” ranks each finalist from one
to six in four categories: popularity, ease of production, cost of reproduction
and visual acuity.

Scores from each member will be added together and the top three will
appear at the Rhododendron Post Office and in the Mountain Times before a
final vote at the CPO’s May meeting.

The winning entry will win a prize package that will include: golf and cart for
two at The Resort at The Mountain, two lift tickets at SkiBowl, a gift certificate
to Skyway Bar & Grill and Cross Country Ski Rental from Otto’s Ski Shop in
Sandy.Winning prizes include: 18 holes of golf and11 cart from The Resort at
the Mountain; $25 gift certificate from the Skyway Bar & Grill; cross
country/snowboard/or snowshoe rental from Otto’s in Sandy; and lift tickets
for two for tubing or skiing at Skibowl.

The winner will also receive a $500 cash prize, and Graeper noted at the
meeting that this part of the prize would be funded by donations and an
anonymous $250 matching donation, but no money had come in to be
matched. That’s when Mike Budd, owner of the Mt. Hood Cannabis Co.,
stepped up and pitched in $250 to make the prize whole.

“I want to support my community,” Budd said. “I’m here to see all this move
forward.”

The May CPO meeting will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 19, at The
Resort at The Mountain, 68010 Fairway Ave. in Welches.