Leonard and Joyce Bruns are the owners and operators of this catering business which is centered around their famous BBQ cooker.
The cooker shown above was constructed in 1998.
(cooker found above as the website logo was constructed in 1993)
The making of the cooker.
The creation of the Oregon PowerHouse BBQ Cooker.
Oregon residents first had electricity on a dusk-to-midnight basis on July 23, 1890 with 24-hour service offered in 1909. The name was given as Oregon Electric Light and Power Co. in 1901 and in 1912 after being purchased by Norther Illinois Utilities who began operation on May 1. The building with its "stack" was located on the Conover Square side of the Oregon Dam. In the 1970's the steam holding tank was taken down. They used the pipe in construction as a water diverter to assist in bridge building. One area locally where it was used, was in Honeycreek when a bridge was constructed there. The pipe was secured by Leonard Bruns and eventually turned into the BBQ cooker in 1993 with the help of Jim Arnold. In 1998 Leonard and Jim again took another section and created a 34 ft long cooker which has 24ft of cooking space. This cooker is currently used for large corporation outings and can be seen at the Autumn on Parade festivities.