ENTERPRISE – Making their third appearance in Wallowa County as a three-sister singing group, this time in early February, will be Portland-based Joseph Band. On Tuesday night, Feb. 3, the granddaughters of former Wallowa County resident Jo Hallam will stage a benefit concert to raise additional funds for the construction of a longhouse at the Tamkaliks grounds, in Wallowa.

Hallam, who attended the initial Tamkaliks celebration at the Wallowa school in 1990, currently sits on the Tamkaliks Board of Directors.

When Hallam lived locally, the sisters paid visits to their grandfather and, when they formed a singing group that specializes on harmonies and folk music, decided to name their group after their grandfather, whose given name is Joseph.

The concert will come at a good time for the Wallowa Band Nez Perce Trail Interpretive Center, which is in the stretch run of raising funds to finance the longhouse. According to Interpretive Center office manager Mary Hawkins, grants in the amounts of $150,000 and $40,000 have been secured from the Meyer Memorial Trust and Collins Fund, respectively, but an additional grant in the amount of $125,000 from the Ford Family Foundation remains contingent on Hawkins and her organization raising about $15,000 in community funds by March 15.

Of the local community’s matching total, Hawkins says, about $10,500 already is in the bank. Most of that money has come through individual donations, adds Hawkins. “Individual donations are our strong suit,” she says. She adds that additional fund-raising events could be scheduled if proceeds appear short as March 15 nears.

Native hand drummer Fred Hill, better known as the recent emcee of the Tamkaliks celebration, will provide music prior to Joseph Band Feb. 3 in the OK Theatre. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the concert will start at 7 p.m.