JOHN DAY — Chester’s Market is getting a bold new look with an Old West vibe.

Construction is underway on a new covered entryway for the grocery store at 631 W. Main St. in John Day. 

The project took a big step forward on Saturday, Dec. 7, when a massive truss made of peeled ponderosa pine logs was hoisted into place by a crane and positioned atop two wooden pillars at the store’s main entrance.  

The triangular structure, which will support a high roof jutting out over the entry doors, weighs between 7,000 and 9,000 pounds, with most of the mass in a 58-foot pine log that forms the base.

The truss, along with the rest of the new building facade, was fabricated by Storm and Colt Carpenter of Storm Carpenter Log Homes in John Day.

The project began in early October with construction of the first part of the new entryway, a post-and-beam structure that rises straight up from the shopping center’s flat roof line.

The main portion of the project is nearly complete, Storm Carpenter said at the job site on Friday, Dec. 6, although detail work will continue for several more weeks.

“We’ll try to get the log work done in the next week or so,” he said on Friday. “We’ll probably be working on it for a couple of months, off and on, doing all the finish work.”

The covered entryway is part of a larger project to replace the wooden beams that support the arcade running the length of the shopping center, Chester’s Markets president Bob CowanThompson said.

“I had to replace them all because the beams were all rotten. They’ve been there since this (shopping center) was built in 1972,” he said. 

“We just decided to go one step further with it and create a new entrance.”

CowanThompson leases space in the center for Chester’s Market and the adjoining variety store, which are operated as a single business, as well as Thadd’s Place, a nonprofit grief center named for CowanThompson’s late son. The center also houses Body Fitness and Dance, a gym and dance studio.

As part of Chester’s triple-net lease, CowanThompson is responsible for taxes and maintenance on his part of the building, which he said he’ll have an option to buy in 2026. He isn’t sure yet how much the current remodeling project will cost, but he said it will be a substantial amount.

“Traditionally, I usually put anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000 every year into this building,” he said. “This year I think it will be a little more than that.

“But you’ve got to keep investing in it or it will fall apart,” he added. “It was something that needed to be done.”

Bob CowanThompson’s last name was misspelled in the original version of this story. The error has been corrected.