Local company installs stadium gate

A Swiss Mountain Log Homes crew sets the crosspiece in a new football field gate. photo by Jim Cornelius The Sisters Outlaws have an imposing new entry archway for the football stadium behind Sisters Middle School.

A crew from Swiss Mountain Log Homes installed the log frame on Friday, January 7.

According to Swiss Mountain Log Homes owner-operator Phil Rerat, the project was the fruition of his involvement with the volunteer "Field of Dreams" program founded several years ago to organize funding and labor to develop Sisters' athletic fields.

Funding for athletic facilities and programs has been tight in recent years due to budget constraints. Volunteers have donated cash and service.

The logs for the entry gate were left from another Sisters school project -- the construction of the new high school.

"They're ponderosa pine logs and they actually came from the new high school parking lot," Rerat said.

Students from one of the high school shop classes peeled the logs.

"They did a really nice job," Rerat said.

Rerat pointed out that the gate posts incorporate the natural bend of the logs, creating a split into which his crew dropped a massive crosspiece.

Rerat noted that Sisters Rental donated the use of a compressor for the project and Sisters Landscape Co. created the layout for the area and dug the post holes.