Turns out the Easter Bunny lives in a remote corner of northeast Oregon.
You’re more likely to see him wearing a baseball cap than bunny ears, but he keeps a pair of the latter at the ready.
“Just in case I need to jump into character, like Batman,” he says, reaching for a white headband topped with what looks like a couple of furry wings.
This Easter Bunny’s name is Stirling Webb. He’s a 47-year-old glass artist whose creations include hand-blown vases, drinking vessels, ornaments — and eggs. Whimsical, colorful glass eggs.
In the spring, Webb and his friends on the “bunny committee” hide 100 of these one-of-a-kind works of art around Wallowa County for what just might be the most epic Easter egg hunt ever.
Some eggs are hidden along hiking trails or on the local football field. Others are tucked away inside the county’s small-town shops and restaurants.
Easter morning, usually around 9 a.m., Webb posts clues about the eggs’ locations on Facebook. Folks who want a few minutes’ head start on the hunt — it’s finders keepers, after all — congregate outside Moonshine Glass Art, Webb’s glass-blowing studio and gallery in the county seat of Enterprise. Webb is there, in his bunny ears, handing out lists of clues and getting the crowd pumped up with chants of “I say, ‘Wallowa!’ You say, ‘County!’”
“People get really excited about it,” Webb says, sporting a smile that suggests he’s every bit as into it as they are. “After being cooped up all winter, it just feels like a great way to kick off the season, to get out there and have some fun in this beautiful, special place.”
Glacier-carved Wallowa Lake, about a mile south of Joseph, boasts clear water and a mountainous backdrop. (Photo by Lori Rackl)
Rugged and rural, sparsely populated Wallowa County is a nature lover’s nirvana. Its namesake mountains, dubbed the Swiss Alps of Oregon, rank as one of the state’s “Seven Wonders.” Sprawling carpets of open land share space with snow-capped granite peaks, glacier-carved lakes, deep canyons and scenic rivers. It’s like catnip for outdoorsy types — and for artists, who don’t have to look far for inspiration.
The former timber town of Joseph, not far from Webb’s studio, has reinvented itself as a thriving arts community with western vibes. Its visitor-friendly Josephy Center for Arts & Culture hosts rotating exhibits in an airy log cabin. The center also happens to be a great place to learn about Indigenous history in the Wallowa Valley. The town of Joseph is named after the Nez Perce chief whose people were driven out of this region, their ancestral homeland, by U.S. soldiers and militia in the 1870s.
More than a dozen bronze sculptures of Native Americans, cowboys and wildlife flank Joseph’s Main Street. Many of these life-size figures were cast at the nearby Valley Bronze of Oregon, a fine-art foundry that’s open to the public for tours. The petite downtown’s boutiques showcase locally made goods: soaps, purses, jewelry. Many of the art galleries’ paintings, sculptures and photography pay homage to the life and landscape of the region.
The former timber town of Joseph has become a haven for artists and tourists looking for a base to explore Wallowa County. (Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce)
But you don’t need to hunt for Easter eggs to enjoy the great outdoors in Wallowa County. There are plenty of ways to immerse yourself in the area’s natural beauty.
You can appreciate the clarity of Wallowa Lake’s water from a glass-bottom kayak. JO Paddle offers rentals and tours, including a nighttime excursion that usually comes with top-notch stargazing.
DIY hiking trails abound. But if you’re looking for a guided adventure, Go Wild runs backpacking and camping trips, packrafting excursions and more, typically from May to October.
Or you can hop on the Wallowa Lake Tramway for a 15-minute gondola ride to the top of Mount Howard. This 8,000-plus-foot perch delivers endless vistas of Eagle Cap Wilderness, the largest wilderness area in Oregon.
The Wallowa Lake Tramway delivers passengers to the top of Mount Howard for soaring views of the surrounding landscape and Wallowa Lake far below. (Photo by Lori Rackl)
“It’s a big place that feels small, which is how a lot of us like it,” says Webb, a Portland native who initially moved clear across the state to Joseph to take care of his ailing mother. “Now, Wallowa County is home. I get to wake up every day, come into the studio and make what’s in my heart.”
Visitors who get swept up in the creative spirit, like Webb, can become makers themselves. The Josephy Center runs a robust calendar of art classes, including drop-in sessions for people wanting to spend a couple of hours dabbling in wood carving, drawing and other disciplines. The home decor store Element offers Friday night painting workshops using beeswax and tree resin. Or drive a few miles north of Joseph to Enterprise for a glass-blowing session with Webb. He’ll show you how to craft your own glass ornament, flower or Easter egg.
Some of Webb’s customers want a more intimate keepsake. They bring in the cremated remains of a loved one or a pet, and Webb incorporates these ashes into glass art, usually in the shape of a heart or an orb.
Stirling Webb works in his studio, Moonshine Glass Art, in Enterprise, Oregon. (Photo by Lori Rackl)
“It’s taking something sad and making it into something beautiful,” Webb says. “People will come in crying and leave high-fiving each other. It’s like glass therapy. I love doing it.”
Webb’s introduction to glass-blowing began in an unlikely place: a bar. He had a job brewing beer at Terminal Gravity, a popular pub in Enterprise. One of the guys he bottled beer with also worked at a glass-blowing studio. Webb wanted to know more. He got invited to the so-called hot shop to check it out. It was love at first sight.
“I couldn’t believe what I saw,” Webb recalls. “You get to gather lava and blow bubbles? I knew I had to work there. I was like, “I’ll take a position, whatever it is.’”
The position turned out to be mostly administrative stuff, like paying the bills. The compensation? They’d teach him how to blow glass.
Fast-forward a few years and Webb is opening up his own one-man hot shop in Enterprise in early 2019. Webb thought a fun way to introduce Moonshine Glass Art to the community would be to hide 40 glass Easter eggs along Joseph and Enterprise’s Main streets.
Some of the hand-blown, glass eggs Stirling Webb will hide around Wallowa County this Easter Sunday. (Photo by Lori Rackl)
The response turned out to be so enthusiastic, Webb decided to do it again the following Easter. But bigger. And better. “A hundred eggs,” he says. “Lots of locations. Top-secret style.”
A tradition was born.
“It’s crazy how rewarding it is to do this,” Webb says. “When the dust settles on (Easter) Sunday, I look at my phone and have hundreds of messages and photos from all these different people.”
One message in particular sticks with him. It came from a woman who drove a good distance last year to hunt for eggs with her husband, father and young daughter.
“They weren’t having any luck, but they were having fun exploring the area,” Webb says. “Then someone who found an extra egg came up behind her and said, ‘Here, hide this for your daughter.’
“That’s so heartwarming,” he says, proving that even the Easter Bunny isn’t immune from getting teary-eyed. “That’s the message of all this: to be kind. It’s exciting to find the eggs. But it’s an even better experience to do something like that.”
Lori Rackl is a freelance writer.
