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West Lane Community Emergency Preparedness and Public Information Assessment

Posted on by kward2

The City of Florence and the West Lane Emergency Operations Group (WLEOG) are working to improve public outreach to provide west Lane County with relevant, timely, and accessible information about emergency preparedness and potential emergencies our community may experience. As part of these efforts, we are asking for your participation in the West Lane County Community Emergency Preparedness and Public Information Assessment.

Your participation in this survey will provide WLEOG members and partners with a better understanding of the community’s level of preparedness, access to information, and informational gaps so that we can, in turn, provide you with the resources you want and need. Your responses will also inform the direction of future public outreach, preparedness campaigns, training opportunities, and preparation events in the Florence area.

The survey should take roughly 15 minutes to complete and your participation is voluntary. Your answers will remain anonymous and confidential and will only be used by local emergency management officials to inform and direct our public service.

The survey can be accessed at https://bit.ly/WLEOG_survey or by visiting the City of Florence website. The survey is available through January 8, 2024. Questions about the survey can be directed to Emily Embleton, Emergency Management and Communications Analyst, by email at emily.embleton@ci.florence.or.us.

This article first appeared on The Siuslaw News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Cultural Center Plaza Celebration

Posted on by kward2

Lincoln City Cultural Center’s RARE Member Zoe Vincent (left) poses with other RARE Members as they feel the weight of one of the exhibits.

For the past eight months, drivers on Highway 101 in central Lincoln City have been the curious audience for a creative work in progress, a steadily progressing construction site that wrapped around the historic Delake School at 540 NE Highway 101.

The project is the long-awaited Lincoln City Cultural Plaza, an exterior improvement designed to provide accessibility and safety along with public art, lovely landscaping and inviting gathering spaces, according to Lincoln City Cultural center Director Niki Price.

The non-profit Lincoln City Cultural Center administrators and board members held a community celebration Nov. 18.

Ribbon Cutting
Jeremy C. Ruark / Country Media, Inc.
Community Celebration
Jeremy C. Ruark / Country Media, Inc.

The Activation Party schedule featured two ribbon cuttings, live music and dance, scavenger hunt, a community art project and a barbecue lunch, courtesy of event sponsor NW Natural.

Three of the Plaza’s new permanent installations were dedicated, the Lincoln City Rotary’s “Music in the Parks” instruments were played for the first time, and the sponsored pavers and Audubon “Bird Bricks” were dedicated.

Society members sponsored 47 pavers in order to dedicate them to native bird species. The Society has created an official “Bird Bricks” brochure that features thumbnail photos of all the species listed on the club’s sponsored pavers.

Those who gathered at the Nov. 18 celebration also listened to the first reading of “Why They Came,” the original poem that will be engraved into the new Poetry Path.

“We’re so thankful for the members, volunteers, donors and supporters who made the Cultural Plaza possible for our nonprofit organization,” Cultural Center board president Dorcas Holzapfel said. “The Plaza is about expanding our city’s capacity for arts, culture, fun and education.”

While the project has reached an important stage of “substantial completion,” several elements are still in progress, according to Price.

The Kiwanis Outdoor Art Classroom and the Land Acknowledgement Wind Wall, are scheduled for completion by the end of the year.

“We’re looking forward to dedicating those spaces as well. Stay tuned, Lincoln City. This Plaza will always be a work in progress, I think. Changing and growing along with the people who use it,” Price said.

The Cultural Center’s entry on the east side of the building is described as he broad and inviting and handicapped accessible.

Viewing the Personalized Bricks
Jeremy C. Ruark / Country Media, Inc.
The Bricks
Jeremy C. Ruark / Country Media, Inc.

“This welcoming pedestrian area is built upon community support, quite literally, because it’s the home of more than 450 personalized pavers and three sponsored benches,” Price said. “Here you’ll find the names of loved ones, special experiences, birthdays and plenty of inside jokes, through a project that raised more than $75,000 from 2019 to 2023.”

At the northwest corner of the Plaza visitors will find a circular seat wall surrounding three large musical instruments that will be open every day of the year, fully accessible and free to the public.

Plaza Music
At the northwest corner of the Plaza visitors will find a circular seat wall surrounding three large musical instruments that will be open every day of the year, fully accessible and free to the public.

Jeremy C. Ruark / Country Media, Inc.

Music Instrument
Jeremy C. Ruark / Country Media, Inc.

This installation was conceived and funded by the members of the Rotary Club of Lincoln City as its second “Music in the Parks” donation to the community. Made by Freenotes Harmony Park of Telluride, Colo., the instruments are made of anodized aluminum and have been mounted in-ground. They are:

Swirl – A pentatonic instrument that delivers resonating sounds, with a bright tonal quality. Its range is alto/soprano, with C Major on the left and A Minor on the right.

Contrabass Chimes – Seven vertical chimes, 4 inches wide and 7 to 9 feet tall, to be played with one of two mallets. Its range is bass/tenor tuned to the key of C Major.

Imbarimba – Combining elements of two classic African instruments, the marimba (a resonated xylophone) and the kalimba (thumb piano), with fiberglass elements that mimic the marimba’s wood tones. Its range is alto/soprano, with C Major on the left and A Minor on the right.

The official “first play” activation was provided by students from the Taft 7-12 band program, with remarks by Rotary president Nick Lupo, Rotarian Estle Harlan and state Sen. Dick Anderson, and a ribbon cutting hosted by the Lincoln City Chamber of Commerce.

The Poetry Path

One of the most visible elements of the Cultural Plaza, the Poetry Path is a unifying public art installation that combines form and function as it traverses the west and north sides of the Plaza design.

Poetry Path
Jeremy C. Ruark / Country Media, Inc.
The Path
Jeremy C. Ruark / Country Media, Inc.
Walking the Path
Jeremy C. Ruark / Country Media, Inc.

The path is embedded with swaths of colorful aggregate that embrace the words of an original community poem, “Why They Came.”

This meandering path was designed by the landscape architects at Shapiro Didway, led by Cultural Plaza design project manager Jessel Champoux. A central element of the design from the beginning, the path is a drive-able walkway that provides ADA-compliant access for people as well as convenient loading for outdoor event vendors. The addition of aggregate, including a central band of chips that will glow in the dark, was a collaboration between Shapiro Didway and the concrete specialists at Cascade Civil Corp.

“Why They Came” was the product of a collaborative process led by John Fiedler, a local poet and a teacher at St. James Santiago School. Fiedler and 25 community members gathered at the Driftwood Public Library in July 2023, exploring the history, culture, languages and shared experiences of the people who live in what is now Lincoln City. Workshop participants generated ideas and phrases that were recorded by Fiedler and incorporated into the final poem.

Sandblasted in letters that are 2 inches tall, the poem begins at the south end of the Plaza and can be read (from left to right) as the viewer is facing west.

The Poetry Path was funded by The Roundhouse Foundation, The Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation, the Estate of Lloyd and Marlene Ankeny, Explore Lincoln City Community Partnership Fund, and the members of the Lincoln City Cultural Center. The writing process was supported by a public program grant from Oregon Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This article first appeared on The Lincoln City News Guard and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

ODOE Welcomes New RARE Member to Serve as Liaison to Central/Southern Oregon

Posted on by kward2

In Fall 2022, the Oregon Department of Energy welcomed our first member of the Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) Program, Angela Singleton. Angela’s work was invaluable in the year she spent at ODOE, and we are thrilled to welcome a new RARE member, Alice Weston. Alice will be serving as a liaison between ODOE and central and south-central Oregon communities to help better connect Oregonians with ODOE programs and opportunities.

MEET ALICE IN HER OWN WORDS:

Six weeks ago, I received my ODOE laptop and set up my desk at home in Bend. Bend had only been my home for about a week and I had arrived in Oregon only a month earlier. I traveled to Oregon across the country from Baltimore, MD where, just a month prior, I received my master’s in social design from the Maryland Institute College of Art. In the classroom I spent my time researching social power structures, equity, and the roles that race and privilege play in shaping and creating the problems around us. Now, I find myself at my desk in my new home, thinking about energy equity in Oregon and specifically central and south-central Oregon. So, not only am I new to Oregon, but I am also new to the challenges and vocabulary of the energy sector. Prior to starting this new role, I had only entered the energy conversation as a consumer wanting to know more about my own carbon footprint. So, how did I end up working in energy in Oregon?

I landed in Oregon and at ODOE through the Resources Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) program. RARE is an AmeriCorps program administered through the University of Oregon’s Institute for Policy Research and Engagement. The RARE program aims to increase the capacity of rural communities to improve their economic, social, and environmental conditions across Oregon — and they have been doing just that for 30 years. I decided to join RARE to expand my knowledge and skills around rural issues, specifically the unique challenges related to climate change, sustainability, and the types of community engagement particularly suited to rural environments. ODOE is lucky to have an intergovernmental agreement with the University of Oregon, which allows me to serve with a state agency. So far, working within the Community Navigation program and with Sarah Moerhke (ODOE’s Community Navigator) has been incredible, I have been able to dive headfirst into the world of energy in rural Oregon.

I have already been able to travel around the region and meet incredible energy advocates, collaborators, and experts who are passionately working for a clean and equitable energy future for all of Oregon. I have been warmly welcomed and supported as I navigate the often complex and nuanced conversations around Oregon’s energy ecosystem. I have been relieved and excited to find there are so many incredible organizations and individuals across the state working hard to make sure Oregonians have equitable access to resilient, clean, and affordable energy. As I begin the next phase of my work, I will be focused on attending more community events, conducting outreach, and developing deeper relationships to fill a geographic gap for ODOE’s programs and services in order to equitably reach Central Oregonians and the two federally recognized Tribes in Central Oregon: Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs and Klamath Tribes. I am also ODOE’s link to other RARE Members that are working in local governments or other organizations in rural parts of the state over the next year.  I will be doing all of this work in support of ODOE’s Community Navigator program.

I am excited to use my community engagement and social design experience to help think about how ODOE’s programs and information might reach others, who like me, might be new to the energy conversation. All Central Oregonians deserve access to information and knowledge in order to make informed decisions around their energy needs and consumption. Central Oregonians are living experts on their communities’ energy needs and concerns and their voices will help shape the energy ecosystem of Oregon’s future. I hope to connect with many more ODOE and community experts through this role.

This article first appeared on Oregon Energy Info via the Oregon Department of Energy and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Cisco: Empowering Youth To Combat Climate Change Through Service Years

Posted on by kward2

By Peter Tavernise

What if young people concerned about the effects of climate change had the opportunity to perform hands-on service to mitigate its effects on vulnerable communities? As Service Year Alliance sees it, every youth in America should have that chance, and every community deserves youth service as a resource for combating climate challenges. Since its launch in 2016, Service Year Alliance has embarked on a mission “to make a year of paid, full-time service – a service year – a common expectation and opportunity for all young Americans” to serve communities across the nation.

Key to realizing the organization’s mission is ServiceYear.org, an online platform where individuals looking for service year opportunities can connect with organizations and programs offering them. Since 2013, Cisco has provided the organization vital technical and financial support, starting with the platform. Later, when events triggered by climate change became more frequent and severe, Service Year Alliance expanded its focus to include climate-related service, which qualified it to receive additional funding from the Cisco Foundation‘s $100 million USD portfolio, earmarked for supporting non-profit organizations working towards a more regenerative and resilient future climate.

In the following Q&A, Kristen Bennett, Service Year Alliance’s Chief Executive Officer, discusses its unique mission and how it’s changing the landscape of service years.

Q: What drew you to the national service space, and how did you become CEO?

A: I graduated from college in 2008, as the recession hit. I was already considering a mission-oriented career and found a service year opportunity through AmeriCorps VISTA with the WE Connect initiative, spearheaded by First Lady of California, Maria Shriver. During my service year, I built critical community partnerships and helped to connect low-income families to programs and resources to become more financially stable. I received a modest stipend and health care benefits while other recent graduates around me competed for a few unpaid internships and hourly service-industry jobs. The experience was transformational, placing me on a career path in service that I might not have otherwise reached on my own.

I wanted to make an impact beyond my service year, so after it was over, I accepted a position as a program officer at California Volunteers, California’s state service commission overseeing service and volunteerism in California. While working there, I learned the ins and outs of the service sector while building my professional network, which included Shirley Sagawa, one of AmeriCorps‘ founders. I eventually joined her at the National Conference on Citizenship in Washington, D.C. to lead the development of ServiceYear.org, the first technology platform dedicated to connecting the next generation of youth to service years. Over the next nine years, my role evolved into Service Year Alliance’s Chief Strategy Officer, Interim Co-Chief Executive Officer, and finally Chief Executive Officer, my current position.

Q: How has collaboration with Cisco and the Cisco Foundation been instrumental in advancing and expanding national service programs?

A: Cisco’s been with us since the beginning – first, in the early days before our organization even existed, offering $2.1M in philanthropic support through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to launch Service Year Alliance and to create ServiceYear.org, the first technology platform to act as a marketplace matching young people and service year positions. We built the platform from scratch, and we couldn’t have done it without a philanthropic partner who had both technology expertise and resources to help us get the work started.

Over the years, Cisco has supported everything from our efforts to reach young people, to pandemic and public health response, and now the Climate Project. Our long partnership around helping young people become aware of, learn about, and find the right opportunity for themselves has allowed us to optimize very effectively for specific needs – like how to help young people find the right climate-related service year position.

As a result, throughout 2023 our conversion rate from registering on the site to actually submitting an application increased from 23 percent to 36 percent. Climate organizations saw even bigger shifts – Grid Alternatives, which advances resiliency programming, saw a dramatic 360 percent increase in enrollments and a 165 percent rise in applications this past year, reflecting the growing interest young people have in doing climate-focused service years.

Q: What does a typical service year look like?

A: There is no “typical” service year since opportunities can vary widely. They range from delivering high-dosage literacy tutoring to bring students up to grade level, helping rural non-profit organizations develop strategies for recruiting volunteers, giving tax preparation assistance to low-income families, assisting individuals at a community health center, or installing solar panels in under-resourced neighborhoods.

Q: What is the Climate Project, and how does a partnership between Service Year Alliance and the Cisco Foundation power the initiative?

A: A poll led by Data for Progress, an American think tank, shows climate change is a major concern for 91 percent of youth, but two-thirds of them aren’t sure how to make a tangible difference. In 2022, Service Year Alliance kicked off the Climate Project in a multi-year partnership supported by the Cisco Foundation to specifically address climate-related issues by recruiting the next generation’s youth into climate-related service to assist communities in becoming more resilient to climate change and empower them with opportunities to help tackle this daunting crisis.

To develop the project, we first hosted targeted conversations with national service programs, green sector employer associations, workforce development partners, and other organizations and agencies working to address problems brought on by climate change. We also formed a cohort made up of eight standout service year programs to take a deeper dive into effective strategies for leveraging service to both further address the impacts of climate change, as well as equip young people with the skills, certifications, and experience they will need to enter into green sector careers.

Taking what we learned, we published a suite of three guides for partners to use as “roadmaps” to best leverage human capital in three distinct areas related to climate and environmental resilience: community capacity building, rural resilience, and energy efficiency. They spotlight a diverse assortment of program models throughout the U.S., offering organizations guidance for choosing the best model for developing their own programs and pathways.

Q: What are your most valuable partnerships, and how do they further your mission?

A: Besides Cisco, the Cisco Foundation, and AmeriCorps, as part of the Climate Project we have worked with a broad spectrum of organizations committed to solving climate issues in under-resourced communities. In January 2023, we launched The Partnership for the Civilian Climate Corps (PCCC), a non-partisan partnership of over 100 national, state, and local cross-sector organizations representing service, workforce, labor, environmental justice, conservation, and youth – all organizations aligned behind shared principles for engaging youth in climate-focused service and workforce development opportunities. The PCCC includes The Corps �Network, American Clean Power, Jobs for the Future, Evergreen Action, and Americas Service Commissions, among many others.

Additionally, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council was an important link to additional networks such as the National Community Action Partnership, the National Association for State Community Service Programs, and the Building Performance Association. Our relationships with these organizations allow us greater access to national conversations and information essential to promoting national service as a talent pipeline to meet our nation’s ambitious climate goals.

Q: What are some of the benefits for corps members, including post service?

A: At a basic level, service corps members receive a living stipend, health care coverage, and skills training. After completing a service year, corps members are eligible for a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award, which they can use to pay for higher education or pay off student loans. Additionally, those who participate in service year programs without a bachelor’s degree are over twice as likely to go on to earn their degree compared to their peers.

Following service, we support service year alums by keeping them connected to one another and informed about a variety of career pathways available to them. Among those with bachelor’s degrees, 38 percent enter into service-oriented career areas – education, community and social services, and health care – compared to 13 percent of their peers. For climate-focused alums, we are committed to ensuring they are connected to green sector career opportunities and informed about their post-service options during and after their term of service.

Q: What are some ways climate-related service benefits communities?

A: Corps members dedicated to tackling climate hurdles in local communities have a direct and tangible impact. We selected the focus areas for our roadmaps based in part on a landscape assessment of the impacts of programs.

For example, one of the programs we worked with on our Energy Efficiency roadmap, the Mile High Youth Corps’ Energy & Water Conservation Program, saved over 101,500 low-income families 620,799 kilowatt hours of energy across Colorado in 2021 – a total savings of $160,000 USD. We are excited to continue to work with service year programs and employer partners advancing energy efficiency to help expand programming and create additional pathways for service year alumni to enter into weatherization and clean energy careers.

And in developing the Rural Resilience roadmap, we saw how AmeriCorps programs like Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) are not only demonstrating how service year corps members can infuse the additional capacity that is needed for more rural communities to participate in the growing green economy, but are also equipping these young adults to serve as the next generation of climate leaders in the communities in which they serve – with multiple corps members from the 2022/23 graduating class obtaining staff positions at the local nonprofits that hosted them during their service years. To help expand these types of results, Service Year Alliance is directly supporting several organizations as they seek to create and expand service year programming in rural communities throughout the Southeast.

Finally, we can already see how our Community Capacity Building roadmap is helping to fuel the development of state-based climate corps programming. In North Carolina and elsewhere, we are very pleased to see state-based initiatives really leaning into the belonging and inclusion elements of our resources and placing equity at the center of their program development efforts. By adopting practices that not only support diverse corps members, but also bring corps member host sites and supervisors along on the journey, new opportunities are being created for underrepresented populations to become involved in climate action. 2024 is going to be a big year for expansion of state-based climate corps programming, and Service Year Alliance is ready to help those initiatives grow in a way that will create opportunity for all.

Q: Can you share a story about a corps member whose life changed dramatically after a service year?

A: While in her early twenties, Geri Lopez, a member of the White Earth Tribe in central Minnesota, was working to bring solar and wind power to her community when governmental funding for it dried up. However, she wanted to continue working in the renewable energy sector.

That’s when she applied for a service year with Ampact AmeriCorps under the Climate Impact Corps Home Energy Initiative. Geri served alongside an energy-efficiency professional to make homes in low-income communities safer and more energy efficient. She learned how to test and analyze building envelopes, and just about everything else related to home weatherization. Equally important, Geri developed new problem-solving and communication skills, which, along with her training and experience, helped her land a job as a weatherization auditor and inspector at MAHUBE-OTWA Community Action Partnership, hence enabling her to join the green economy.

This article first appeared on StreetInsider.com and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

New Funding: $41.4M for Oregon Mass Timber modular housing

Posted on by kward2
New Wood Products
Research and prototyping in this new category of wood products will demonstrate that a system of modular mass timber housing can be not only aesthetically pleasing but can also potentially outperform light wood framing in energy efficiency, speed of construction, and fire resistance, according to the Oregon Mass Timber Coalition.

Courtesy from the Oregon Mass Timber Coalition

U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) has awarded the Oregon Mass Timber Coalition (OMTC) $41.4 million to develop and expand Oregon’s emerging Mass Timber industry.

This grant through the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, is specifically focused on utilizing mass timber products in prefabricated, modular home construction.

The Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) is utilizing a portion of the funding through this grant to help cities update and modernize local development codes to encourage the use of mass timber modular housing through the Code-UP project.

Working with a consulting team and the Department of Consumer and Business Services in 2022, DLCD staff and a consulting team audited the development codes of five cities to identify local regulatory barriers to developing mass timber and modular housing. Starting this fall, the Code-UP project team will continue this work by providing additional jurisdictions with code audits, amendment recommendations, and community engagement services.

Ten jurisdictions that have been selected to receive technical assistance this year: Chiloquin, Clatsop County, Creswell, Gates, Lincoln City, Mt. Vernon, Phoenix, Rufus, Sandy, and Talent. Consistent with the federal grant award, staff prioritized assistance to wildfire-affected and rural communities.

DLCD is committed to assisting a total of thirty jurisdictions over the next five years through a model code funded by the grant and encourages communities to reach out with interest.

Next Steps

Project consultants MIG and Cascadia Partners, DLCD’s Mass Timber Coordinator, and DLCD specialists and regional staff will support the Code-UP project team to complete the following tasks for each selected community.

Provide Adoption-Ready Code Amendments: Consultants will audit local code to understand potential barriers and opportunities for modular mass timber housing and prepare draft code amendments based off those findings.

Engage Community Members Equitably: Consultants will gather local data and information to assist in engaging traditionally underserved communities. They and DLCD staff will use a range of methods to engage community members.

Provide Additional Capacity: DLCD regional representatives and the AmeriCorps Resource Assistance for Rural Environments Mass Timber Coordinator will assist in local planning commission and city council work sessions and adoption hearings.

Oregon’s statewide land use planning program — originated in 1973 under Senate Bill 100 — protects farm and forest lands, conserves natural resources, promotes livable communities, facilitates orderly and efficient development, helps coordination among local governments, and enables community engagement.

The program affords all Oregonians predictability and sustainability to the development process by ensuring allocation of urban land for industrial, commercial, and housing development.

The Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) administers the program. A seven-member volunteer citizen board known as the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) guides DLCD.

Under the program, all cities and counties have adopted comprehensive plans that meet mandatory state standards. The standards are 19 Statewide Planning Goals that deal with land use, development, housing, transportation, and conservation of natural resources. Technical assistance in the form of grants to local jurisdictions is a key element of the program.

This article first appeared on Cannon Beach Gazette and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

2023-24 RARE members bring clean energy support to rural Oregon

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Group sitting on a bench

Top row from left: Nolan Cochran, Ryan Taylor and Lanier Fussell. Bottom row: Alice Weston, left, and Alex Alonso Gudino. Photo courtesy of Bridget Callahan

A new cohort of Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) members is helping advance clean energy projects in rural Oregon.

The AmeriCorps program through University of Oregon places recent college graduates and graduate level students in rural communities across Oregon to support economic, social and environmental community development.

Members are placed with local agencies, typically nonprofit organizations or local governments, and work on a variety of topics from water quality and food insecurity to disaster recovery.

Five new members are working on energy-related projects throughout the state:

  • Alice Weston is working with Oregon Department of Energy in Bend supporting ODOE programs for Central and Southern Oregon.
  • Alex Alonso Gudino is working with NeighborWorks Umpqua in Roseburg on lower-income residential energy and housing issues.
  • Nolan Cochran is working with Klamath & Lake Community Action Services in Klamath Falls on energy and housing affordability.
  • Ryan Taylor is working with Lake County Resources Initiative in Lake County and Lanier Fussell is working with Wy-East in The Dalles. Both are helping agricultural producers and small businesses secure federal funding through USDA Rural Development programs.

Energy Trust has worked with RARE members for more than a decade, providing mentorship and guidance on ways energy efficiency and renewable energy can support community initiatives.

In some cases, Energy Trust also provides funding to help pay for some of the RARE member’s placement. This partnership builds local capacity to support Energy Trust program participation and, ultimately, customer utility bill savings and other clean energy benefits.

During the RARE orientation in September, Karen Chase, Energy Trust’s senior manager for community strategy, and Sustainable Northwest’s Bridget Callahan gave the new members an overview of Oregon’s energy landscape and issues facing rural communities in particular.

“I’m very excited to be working with and helping guide this new crew of RARE members,” said Chase. “They are going into rural Oregon at such an important time as more and more communities are seeking to invest in clean energy and need the capacity, resources and support to make that a reality.”

This article first appeared on The Energy Trust Blog and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Oregon towns embrace their local haunts with these ghostly events

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Monmouth Historic Commission member Amy Lemco, Community Development Director Suzanne Dufner and Main Street Coordinator Laura Scully are among those organizing this year's History & Mystery event.
Monmouth Historic Commission member Amy Lemco, Community Development Director Suzanne Dufner and Main Street Coordinator Laura Scully are among those organizing this year’s History & Mystery event.

 

By Tom Henderson | for The Oregonian/OregonLive

Jessica Todd retired as the dean of women at Oregon Normal School in 1931 and moved to Philadelphia, but the odd thing about Monmouth is that people who leave the community often return.

In one form or another.

Todd, folks say, returned after her 1944 death. Legend holds she haunts Todd Hall, the building named in her honor at what is now Western Oregon University.

Marilyn Morton is glad to have her back.

Morton created the annual Ghost Walk in the neighboring community of Independence in 2002 as an opportunity to tell people local ghost stories and guide them through historic downtown buildings. The concept spread to Monmouth with History & Mystery, an event now in its third year.

The Ghost Walk is held the first Saturday evening in October, with History & Mystery held the night before.

Todd isn’t alone in the other-worldly realm. Independence draws people like Flora Mix, who is just one of the ghosts who haunts the Masonic Lodge on Main Street. Morton said starting October by getting together with the ghosts of Monmouth-Independence is like a family reunion — for both the living and the dead.

“When you go to a family reunion, you hear stories unique to your family,” said Morton. “They are the stories that brand you as a member of that group. They’re stories you can tell your children. To me, stories unite communities. That’s why I want to tell these stories.”

History & Mystery starts at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 at Monmouth Main Street Park. The Independence Ghost Walk starts at 7 p.m. Oct. 7 at Riverview Park on Main Street.

Supplied with maps, visitors can fan out to 21 locations in Independence and 13 in Monmouth, where an appropriately dressed “ghost host” shares strange tales and local history.

Amy Lemco of the Monmouth Historic Commission said researching Monmouth’s past was tricky.

“I thought since this is October, the stories should have a darker element,” Lemco said. “Because it was a dry college town, Monmouth doesn’t seem to have as many scandals and tragedies as some of the other towns around.”

The research eventually became easier. “Once you find one thing, there are other key words in the article that lead you down this rabbit hole,” she said. “The research has a life of its own.”

A book of local stories will be available during the event, Lemco said. Meanwhile, she added … spoilers. “I don’t want to give away any of the juicy stuff.”

Rick Gydesen, the owners of Rick’s Place at 123 Main St., will likely tell the story of the ghostly man in the old-fashioned derby hat who likes to appear — then disappear — at the coffeehouse.

His wife, Mary, has seen the apparition as well, Gydesen said, but it hasn’t fazed her. “She accepts the fact that they’re there,” he said.

Thoughts of a Ghost Walk began haunting Morton when she worked for the Independence Downtown Association. Merchants told her the strangest stories.

“Half of the buildings had some kind of unexplainable happening,” she said.

When she visited San Francisco and saw signs for a Barbary Coast Ghost Walk, she decided to take the idea to Independence. She hoped for 40 people at the first event. More than 300 showed up. In 2021, the event drew more than 2,000.

Ghost Walk organizers commissioned a comic book about Independence’s ghosts from Warrior Innkeeper Comics in 2013. Morton has also written two books about local ghosts: “Haunted Independence” published by Arcadia in 2013 and “Spirits of Independence,” a follow-up Morton published herself last year.

“I think I have a storytelling gene,” Morton said. “I can’t control it.”

Whether people believe the stories or not is as immaterial as ghosts themselves, she added.

“The whole point of the Ghost Walk is to bring some love to our downtowns,” Morton said. “People need to remember what fun it is just to be downtown and get to know folks — dead or alive.”

IF YOU GO: History & Mystery in Monmouth starts at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6, at Monmouth Main Street Park. The Independence Ghost Walk starts at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, at Riverview Park on Main Street. Both events provide visitors with maps so they can visit downtown locations to hear stories and see historic buildings. More information on History & Mystery is available under the calendar at www.ci.monmouth.or.us. More information on the Ghost Walk is available at orheritage.org/ghostwalk.

This article first appeared on The Oregonian and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Tidings From Titus | October 2023

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Tidings from Titus graphic, featuring a head shot of smiling Titus!

Dearest RARE Family,

Sure hope this message finds each and every one of you amazing humans in the best of spirits. It’s been a little while since you have received one of our newsletters and I am personally excited about the opportunity to reconnect, reflect, and share a few of programmatic updates with you folks!

I can’t help but start by looking back to 2022-23 service year, which offered up another impactful experience for all involved. The list of accomplishments from the 32 current members who served throughout our 29th year of service is extensive. Whether it was launching a digital directory and online marketplace, updating an array of long-range planning documents, supporting small businesses and famers looking to increase use of renewable energy technologies… it’s clear that our members continue to “get things done” for rural Oregon, all while growing personally and professionally throughout the service year. I am proud to say that we continue to hit the mark with our dual mission of providing critical capacity to rural Oregon communities, all while building up the next generation of leaders.

Having been involved with RARE for over 15 years, well, I have watched this program go through a lot of change. Now here we are, having just embarked on our 30th year of service, which we kicked off early September with RARE Orientation. It’s been a wild ride getting to this point, one that has come with many ups and downs, but I truly believe we as a Program are in better place then ever before. We have updated systems, expanded the program, new funding streams in place, developed (and actively apply) an equity lens, work with an array of new statewide partners, and so much more. We have a lot to celebrate and are already looking forward to hosting a 30 Year RARE Reunion in August of 2024… More to come!

Finally, I want to give a massive shout out to my colleague, friend, and all-around amazing human, Victoria Binning, who served as Program Coordinator over the last 3.5 years. It’s all about the people we meet along the way, and I am forever grateful to have gotten to serve rural Oregon alongside that amazing human. You can read more about her next adventure in this month’s newsletter. Wishing Victoria nothing but the best as she opens a new chapter with the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Forever honored to be part of this wonderful network!

In Service,

Titus Tomlinson, Years 13 & 16
RARE Program Director

Meet Your Local Farmer: Sweet Union Farm & Maranatha Farm

Posted on by kward2

Sweet Union booth

By SARAH AKBARI Local Food Resources Coordinator, Klamath Grown

The Sweet Union Farm booth at the Klamath Falls Farmers Market, which is open 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays.

John and MaryAnn Anderson of Sweet Union Farm have a booth at the Klamath Falls Farmers Market.Take a walk through the farmers market this weekend or step onto a local farm and you’ll see an abundance of fresh, beautiful produce. Fall is a special time of year in the Klamath Basin, when the weather is starting to cool and farmers are hard at work harvesting the fruits of their labor. In the summer we enjoyed sweet berries and ripe tomatoes, but now is the time to pick festive pumpkins, eat tasty squash and crisp apples.

At their farmers market booth, Sweet Union Farm always has an array of vegetables to choose from: salad mix, edible flowers, unique potato varieties, garlic, carrots and more. I recently had the pleasure of volunteering at the farm and helping Katie Swanson, owner of Sweet Union Farm, and her crew harvest winter squash and colorful pumpkins, which will be available at the farmers market starting Sept. 30. They will have everything from tiny pumpkins that make festive decorations to large orange pumpkins that are the perfect canvas for carving a jack o’lantern. You’ll also be able to purchase different varieties of winter squash, such as red kuri, candy roaster, winter sweet, delicata and spaghetti. One of Katie’s favorite ways to enjoy winter squash is simply chopping them up and roasting them in the oven, but there are many other fun, delicious ways to eat them!

Katie Swanson is also the co-founder of Klamath Grown, a local nonprofit food hub that operates an online farmers market. Scroll through klamathgrown.org/market to find locally grown produce, meat, raw honey, eggs and more. Sweet Union Farm’s products are available for purchase on the online market, along with Maranatha Farm, another local farm with an abundance of produce available now.

Maranatha Farm is owned and operated by John and MaryAnn Anderson. They have been selling produce to farmers markets for the past 25 years in Northern California and the Southern Oregon Coast, but have recently settled in Klamath Falls and are dedicated sellers at the farmers market. Their booth is always bursting with fresh produce and surrounded by an eager crowd. One of their specialities is melons and if you stop by their booth, you will see why. They grow a wide variety of melons, including Galia, watermelon, musk and crenshaw. John and MaryAnn also grow delicious sweet corn, onions and soon will have plenty of pumpkins available!

I have also had the pleasure of visiting John and MaryAnn’s farm, which is full of rows and rows of produce. They take great pride in growing delicious produce that they know people love to eat and enjoy making meaningful connections with their customers.

The Klamath Falls Farmers market is open 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays, located on 9th Street between Main Streeet and Klamath Avenue downtown. Next time you’re there, be sure to stop by Sweet Union Farm and Maranatha Farm’s booths to connect with the farmers and pick up some delicious seasonal produce, even if it’s something you’ve ever tried before! I also highly recommend getting there early, so you can stock up on what you want before it sells out.

Meet more local farmers and find out where to buy their products on our local food directory: klamathgrown.org/eat-local

This article first appeared on Herald and News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.