Independent, local businesses are the heartbeat of neighborhoods, the spine of the local economies, and help contribute to the spirit of a town. Such is the case with Elmer’s Irrigation in Hermiston, Oregon. “Proudly serving and investing in the future of our communities,” reads their tagline on their website.
“We are much more than just an irrigation store,” says Lou Lyons, the store's owner. “We give back to the community. We are local. We're involved. We support the area schools and especially FFA, and 4-H organizations.This year marks the 25th year that Elmer's Irrigation has sponsored the Youth and Ag night at the Farm City Pro Rodeo at the Umatilla County Fair, giving 400 tickets to the rodeo for all 4-H and FFA participants. There have been up to 9 Umatilla County FFA chapters that have participated in the local calf dressing contest. The event features competing teams of two FFA members who attempt to be the first to “dress a calf.” This year's prize, donated by Elmer's Irrigation, will be a thousand dollars—as well as bragging rights. Lou would like to encourage everyone to come to the Umatilla County Fair and Farm City Pro Rodeo, August 6-10. Thursday is Youth and Ag Night and Saturday is the youth animal auction.
“We like to give back to the community,” Lou said, and anyone who has stepped into Elmer's has seen the walls are covered with posters, pictures, and hand-written thank you cards for the support he has shown local kids and clubs. “All this is made possible by our customers,” Lou smiles.
It isn't just the community support that keeps his customer's returning, it's providing them with as much help as he can. “We may not know everything, but we know people that do!” Lou says, “and we'll take care of our customers. Lou then tells a story about a customer with an 18 inch pipe that broke on a Sunday. “We don't carry anything that large in stock, but we made phone calls, and soon we were able to get him parts to fix it, the same day.”
Elmer's Irrigation stocks everything from lawn and garden to pivot and wheel line equipment. “We are a bit unique in that we don't sell pivots—but we sell everything to fix them. We are like Napa Auto Parts for irrigation,” Lou says pointing to nearly 7 acres filled with PVC pipe and fittings, pivot parts, valves, repair couplers, sprinklers and more. Their customer base attests to the variety of parts stocked. They have ship parts to people in Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Montana. “We've even shipped as far away as New England,” Lou says proudly.
They sell a lot of Nelson products, especially their Rotator and Spinner sprinklers for pivots and wheel lines and solid set. They design yard systems, field systems (for wheel line, solid set and pivots.
His family immigrated from Ireland in the 1800s—relocating their family to the Mill Creek part of Walla Walla to farm. His grandfather grew wheat and peas. Lou worked on the family farm before getting a job in the canneries and then off to the Air Force.
After his military stint, Lou went to Walla Walla Community College and began working for Lindsay Manufacturing (pivot irrigation) out of Tri-Cities. He was employed as a service manager and salesman for them.
In 1989, he started to work for Elmer’s Irrigation. Lou tells people “yes there was a Elmer,” Elmer Georgeson. Elmer had started the company sometime in in the late 1970s.
In 1993, Elmer decided to move to California to be closer to family, Lou began to buy the company. He officially bought all of Elmer's Irrigation in 2009 and has continued a lot of the support for the community’s events.
If you haven't been to Elmer's, take a moment to pop in, admire their walls of community support and let their service team help you with all your irrigation needs.
Call 541-567-5572 or visit elmersirrigationinc.com for more information
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