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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2009)
free july2009 V E R N O N I A’ S reflecting the spirit of our community volume3 issue2 vernonia visitors guide page 16 Far Out! It’s Time for the Columbia County Fair! Loggers Memorial Takes Shape at Camp 18 It’s Going to Be Groovy, Man! By Scott Laird The Loggers Memorial Project at Camp 18, which was announced last summer, is in the home stretch. The Loggers Memorial will be part of the Camp 18 Logging Museum, located on Highway 26 at Milepost 18 in Clatsop County. A dedication is being planned for August 30th at 11:00 AM and the finishing touches are being constructed on the building that will house the memorial. All that’s needed now are a few more donations and a few more loggers’ names. It’s time once again to head over to the Columbia County Event Complex in St. Helens for the Columbia County Fair and Rodeo. Looks like it’s going to be a far-out, groovy and green happenin’! This year, the Fair and Rodeo takes place on July 15-19. The theme for the fair this year (in case you haven’t figured it out) is “Green and G r o o v y Celebration.” “What does that mean?” you might ask. “We’re going to be highlighting environmental issues,” said Columbia County Event Complex Manager R h o n d a C o u r t n e y. That means there will be a special “Green Scene” area on Thursday through Saturday which will feature groups doing green projects. According to Courtney, it will be fun, educational and help raise awareness about environmental issues. The Green Scene will be sponsored by Wauna Federal Credit Union and Solar World. The Fair as a whole is also focusing on reducing its waste output. There will be recycling stations throughout the fairgrounds, with examples of what can and can’t be recycled, and how to sort it. Recycling experts will also talk with vendors and exhibitors to help them reduce waste output. “We’re working to educate everyone about what they inside 4 wgs field day 9 vernonia baseball 11 vhs class of 2009 grad tribute can and can’t recycle and compost,” said Courtney. “We really hope to reduce what goes into the landfill from the fair and reduce our footprint. The recycling stations will be designed to be educational and hopefully raise awareness through an established sorting process.” OK, so that’s the Green part. Where’s the Groovy part? “We’re going to be taking a trip back to the Sixties with ‘Goldy McJohn and Friends’ with a featured concert on Thursday evening” said Courtney. Goldy McJohn was the original keyboard player with the band Steppenwolf, and McJohn’s show features Steppenwolf’s late sixties /early seventies hits like “Born To Be Wild” and “Magic Carpet Ride.” Sounds like it will be way cool! Another new program this year is for all youth animal exhibitors called “Animals for Office.” Youth animal owners will become campaign managers for their animal, continued on page 15 More Names Being Sought to Be Memorialized “We are looking for people who want to recognize their family or friend on this memorial,” said Mark Standley, who is coordinating the project. The memorial will include individual names and information of fallen loggers on cast bronze 3’’ x 8” plaques that can contain up to four lines of text. The plaques cost $150.00, and will be a tribute to the people who have made logging their work, their passion and their life. This could include not just loggers, but others who’ve served the industry like camp cooks, mechanics, parts suppliers, and others-- basically, anyone who had dedicated their life to the logging industry in Oregon. Standley is a familiar name and face to most loggers in this The new Logger Memorial will be housed in this building, currently under construction on the property of the Camp 18 Logging Museum. continued on page 15 Oregon Solutions Takes Next Big Step The Oregon Solutions Team working on the Vernonia Schools Project met in Vernonia on June 24 to celebrate the completion of what is being called Phase I, and kicked off Phase II of the project at the same meeting. Phase I of the project included work to help find an appropriate location for the Vernonia school system and to assist in any land use applications that might need to be made. For over a year, the Oregon Solutions team, representing federal, state and local government, private industry, civic organizations, and philanthropies, has met to support the Vernonia School District and the City of Vernonia in these efforts. The team has leveraged hundreds of thousands of dollars for the project and has engaged the businesses, regulatory agencies, and the public in the process. Phase II of the project will be focused on finding funding for the first time Edgar has created an arrangement for a parade the school project and for supporting the entire community competition. “It was quite an in making connections between the overall Rebuild Vernonia honor to be asked by Mackenzie efforts and the reconstruction of the school system. Mackenzie Carr Wins at Rose Festival Parade Mackenzie Carr, 2009 Miss NPRA (Northwest Professional Rodeo Association), was selected as the winner of the State/Regional Queen for the Portland Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade on Saturday, June 6. to prepare her arrangements and an even bigger honor to win,” said Edgar. The parade is among the festival’s most popular events and is one of the nation’s top two all-floral parades. As the winner, Mackenzie received a large revolving trophy as well as a permanent plaque and blue ribbon. “Winning the parade made all the hard work and preparations worth while,” said Mackenzie. In 2007 Mackenzie won the Rose Parade as part of the Columbia County Fair and Rodeo Court Mackenzie Carr and Lisa Edgar display the in the Courts division. trophy and ribbon they won at the Portland Mackenzie Carr is Rose Festival Parade. Edgar created the flo- a graduate and was the ral display that Carr used to win first place. 2008 class Valedictorian Mackenzie’s floral of Vernonia High School. She arrangements were designed currently attends Oregon State by, and her rodeo partner University, majoring in Civil Pedro decorated by Lisa Edger Engineering. of Vernonia Florist. This was The Oregon Solutions Team display the donation that the Vernonia Sentry made to the new school project that Oregon Solutions is helping develop. Pictured from left to right: Tony Hyde, Gordon Smith, Wendy Willis, Tom Kelly, Sharon Parrow, Randy Parrow, and Ken Cox. The meeting started with Gordon Smith and Randy and Sharon Parrow from the Vernonia Sentry Market presenting the project with a donation of $10,000 to kick off local business support for the project. Co-convener Tony Hyde led the meeting through a review of the work completed so far. The meeting also included a presentation from Project Manager for the School District Steve Effros; an early look at design plans from the Boora Architect Team; and an overview of the fundraising plan by Economic Recovery Manager Bill Haack. The meeting ended with the presentation of a Declaration of Cooperation that project participants have signed or are being asked to sign, signifying their agreement to support the project. Signers already on board include Columbia County, The Ford Family Foundation, the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, Neil Kelly Company, Portland Community College, Vernonia Sentry, and West Oregon Electric Cooperative.