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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2021)
4A | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2021 | APPEAL TRIBUNE Enchanted Forest Continued from Page 1A Du Bois poses for a portrait inside of the gallery of Du Drops. WESLEY LAPOINTE/ STATESMAN JOURNAL Keepsake Continued from Page 1A in droplets enchanted Du Bois. He went home and immediately tried to recreate the spectacle within a light- bulb he’d thrown away that morning. After scooping it from the garbage, Du Bois popped off the base and melted its jagged edge over the stove. He filled the bulb with tap water and dropped in a small plant clipping. His original idea to grow plants in the bulbs never quite worked out. The blooming roots tarnished the crystal lens of a wa- ter-filled bulb. In his 20s, while working in sales and struggling with alcoholism, Du Bois oc- casionally returned to playing with wa- ter-filled orbs. He gave up the plant idea at 28, and hardly returned to the con- cept at all in his 30s. It wasn’t until he was nearly 50 that, at the behest of his friends, he finally decided to try selling the bulbs. Just a little drop of rainwater – a Du Drop, he called them. His first season of selling rainwater was in 1999 at the Saturday Market in Eugene, just months before the drought arrived. Market-goers were eager to learn about the ornaments, but Du Bois be- came used to earning little to no sales. One early admirer asked if he had rain from a specific date that she could buy; he didn’t. But since he was already bot- tling daily collections, the idea worked its way into his model. Du Bois left Eugene for Yachats in April of 2000, and soon found several coastal markets and events nearby. As one June evening concluded at a wine and cheese festival in Rockaway Beach, his stand caught the eye of the musician who’d been performing at the festival. “I wanted one but I didn’t have the money,” remembers Cathleen Emily Freshwater. She asked Du Bois to put one of the big bulbs on layaway. When Du Bois agreed, Freshwater leaned over and kissed him. “Right there at the fair. Right on the lips,” she recalls with a youthful grin. Exactly one year after she first asked to finance a Du Drop, they were married. Today, Freshwater Du Bois answers calls, etches dates on Du Drops and postmarks orders, a stone’s throw from where they first met. Visitors are sure to hear her folk mu- sic when stopping into Oregon Du Drops, whether from one of her records or- if they’re lucky- through one of about 100 personal concerts she performs in the gallery each year. A gallery unlike any other Oregon Du Drops sits between a dis- pensary and a liquor store in the center of Rockaway Beach. Hundreds of Du Drops can be seen through the gallery’s front window, with at least 50 more spilling into the garden on a giant metal mobile. Most people pass by without a sec- ond thought. Each day though, a few newcomers step into the gallery to ask about the raindrops. “The people that these are made for are drawn to them,” said Du Bois. “They find their way to us whether it’s on the Internet or on the highway.” “So many of them come in after they’ve gone by 100 times,” said Fresh- water. Process of making a Du Drop The rain-bottling process begins in an unassuming emerald bowl in the couple’s garden. After each rainfall, Du Bois pours the small pool from the glass bowl into a gi- ant measuring cup, before transferring it into a distiller in the cellar. Once the entire month’s collection has been puri- fied, Du Bois divides it between four sterilized one-liter bottles, dates them with a sharpie, and stashes them on the shelf beside their predecessors. On days it doesn’t rain, a dehumidi- fier at the store pulls moisture – or “dew” – from the air. Du Bois distin- guishes whether each day’s collection Du Drops hang in the gallery. The co-owners love to watch newcomers' eyes widen when they first step inside and look around the store. WESLEY LAPOINTE/ STATESMAN JOURNAL called after asking a question during one of the Q&A sessions. On Sunday, three generations of his family came to the park, including his two grandsons — Malachi, 5, and Ira, 2 — for their first visits. “I remember running down the rab- bit hole. That was my favorite thing,” Brumbaugh said. “I noticed running down the rabbit hole was the first thing he did, too.” Ira agreed. Brumbaugh was one of many Ore- gonians who donated to the Go- FundMe account when they reached out to the community for help. The pandemic forced the park to close for the better part of 2020, and even when it reopened midway through the year it was kept at only 5 percent capacity. They were forced to take loans to survive, turning to a Go- FundMe in October which raised $450,000 before they stopped it. They entered 2020 with no out- standing debt, but “by the time we ended our season, it was financial dev- astation,” Vaslev said. The Toftes lost two members of their family in the Beachie Creek Fire in September, adding personal tragedy to their uncertain business outlook. In February, the ice storm toppled trees and felled branches damaged build- ings and rides across the park. Then in May, when the park was set to fully reopen, they were deluged by angry threats and comments after an- nouncing they would comply with the state’s public health mask guidelines. To this day, debt is still piled up and the park is only operating five days per week because of a lack of employees. But Vaslev says the park has turned a corner “We can see we will make it through this,” she said. Vaslev said her dad is an eternal op- timist and did not believe the park was ever in actual danger of shutting down. Roger Tofte takes a picture of a cake during Enchanted Forest's 50th anniversary celebration at Enchanted Forest. CONNOR RADNOVICH / STATESMAN JOURNAL Roger Tofte speaks to guests beside his daughters during a Q&A session for Enchanted Forest's 50th anniversary celebration at Enchanted Forest . But he tends to stay focused on the cre- ative side of things, while she has an eye on the financial. He is still involved in the day-to-day of the park, riding around on a scooter, performing upkeep in different areas, trimming trees and patching paths, just as he has done for decades. “I don’t consider it really work,” Tofte said. “It’s more of a hobby.” Reporter Connor Radnovich covers the Oregon Legislature and state gov- ernment. Contact him at cradnovich@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6864, or follow him on Twitter at @CDRadnovich. Support local journalism by sub- scribing to the Statesman Journal. Du Drops hang in the gallery. The co-owners love to watch newcomers’ eyes widen when they first step inside and look around the store. was of rain or dew in their public rec- ord. For the first 15 years he collected rain, Du Bois stored each day’s rainfall in separate bottles. But after amassing close to 1,000 bottles he started to con- solidate into monthly gallon jugs. Also collected in the cellar are thou- sands of light bulbs which Du Bois col- lected from the Kart-M recycling plant in Manzanita before they closed. When an order comes in, Du Bois takes the customer’s requested combi- nation of rainwater and bulb design to the kitchen sink. He pops off the bulb’s metal base and filaments with pliers, and torches the broken edge into a smooth lip. After sterilizing the thin glass with rubbing alcohol Du Bois fills it with the purified water, and fastens a brass bell on top to seal in the rain. Then, Freshwater etches the rain’s date on the bottom of the bulb and ei- ther hangs it above her desk for pick- up orders, or packages and postmarks them in balloon-filled boxes to be shipped around the world. Over the years, the gallery began of- fering Du Drops with different birth- stones and Oregon agates sealed in- side. Some customers even request to include the ashes of a cremated rela- tive or pet. “You’d be surprised how beautiful ashes are,” said Du Bois. Roger Tofte waves to guests applauding him as he arrives for a Q&A session for the park's 50th anniversary celebration in Enchanted Forest outside Salem, Oregon. Winds of change Oregonians spend the majority of the year wishing for either sun or for rain. But regardless of seasonal prefer- ences, the universal relationship with rainwater west of the Cascades trans- lates to job security for this pair of rain-catchers. Even when visitors don’t buy any- thing – which is often – Cat and Ste- phen love watching guests’ eyes widen when they enter the gallery and look around. That common mysticism- first discovered in a spider web of dew in 1972- both affirms their path and moti- vates them to keep reintroducing Ore- gonians to the liquid they know so well. “There will come a time when I write my great American novel or something,” said Du Bois. “But for now, it’s all about the Du Drops.” Wesley Lapointe is a summer Out- door Reporting Intern for the States- man Journal, as well as a freelance photographer and a journalism stu- dent at the University of Oregon. La- pointe can be reached at wla- pointe@gannett.com or (503)586- 8813. The 1972 Ford Bronco owned by Mike and Steffani Klein will be auctioned off at the Heart of the Canyon Auction and Benefit on Aug. 28, 2021. COURTESY THE KLEIN FAMILY Auction Continued from Page 1A known the others for several years. She and Freres both were effusive about Klein’s efforts to birth the auction. “Mike and Steffani brought this whole idea forward, pulled in the Stay- ton Rotary (the event host) and orga- nized this whole thing since last No- vember,” Freres said. “This is a thank-you to the Klein fam- ily for coming up with this,” Page said of the steady progress of the auction activ- ities, “and for so graciously donating their prized-possession Bronco. It is a huge gift to the canyon that is above and beyond.” Page said she hopes the auction will bring "a glimpse of happiness" for the hard-hit community. “We get to see each other and spend time with each other to help the can- yon," she said. Klein expects the night will be emo- tional. “We’re bringing our community to- gether,” she said. “Santiam Canyon is home, and all we really want is for ev- erybody here to have a home that lost their home. That’s the whole reason we did it — to help people.” Freelance writer/photographer Geoff Parks is based in Salem. Do you have Silverton story ideas? Email him at geoffparks@ gmail.com.
