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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2009)
community july 2009 June Yard of the Month By Janelle Thomas Cedergreen This time of the year landscapes are ever changing in Vernonia, growing more lush and beautiful each day. Thanks for all your helpful nominations. Unfortunately, most yards nominated were outside Vernonia City limits. Vernonia Pride is concentrating on yards within the city limits. This month I am stuck on Bridge Street! Vernonia Pride is happy to announce our winners of the Golden Rose Award for June 2009. Residential – Howard & Barbara Ward at 2048 Bridge Street Yes, they were our Honorable Mention last month. In driving by again, I noticed flowers are in bloom. Their yard art of rusted metal Great Blue Herons shows up better this time. The beautiful Japanese lacey leaf maple, which is the centerpiece to their home’s entrance, was showing off its colors of bronze and red. It is a great visual entrance to their home. Overall, this yard is neat with great design balance! Commercial – Café 47 owned and operated by Bill Long at 854 Bridge Street Café 47’s front edifice is ever changing with a riot of colors from baskets, street art, planters, and bright, whimsical signage. I always look to see what he has added out front. The entrance has great presence and is always neat and well groomed. Fantastic & Funky! Honorable Mention: Allison & Tim McLeod @ 1024 Rose Avenue This tiny, lusciously green front yard is tidy and well groomed with sculptured shrubs and flowers that add splashes of color making the home’s entrance very inviting. Smart! 21 VCLC Courtyard Opens The newly completed courtyard at the Vernonia Community Learning Center (VCLC) is now open and available for use. The Courtyard celebrated a grand opening during the June First Friday Event with a ribbon cutting before the start of the Friday Open Air Market. Construction of the courtyard was completed by volunteer community members from the Ford Institute Leadership Program (FILP) and was funded in part by a grant from the Ford Family Foundation. Please remember ballot boxes are in place at City Hall and Sentry Market. Each month look for new winners to be announced. Mayor Sally Harrison cuts the ribbon, officially opening the new VCLC Courtyard. Pictured left to right are the volunteers who coordinated and help construct the project (behind Harrison) Josette Mitchell, Kate Laird, Janelle Thomas Cedergreen, Tobie Finzel and Carol Davis. Howard and Barbara Ward are proud winners of the June “Yard of the Month”. Cafe 47 was chosen as the best Commercial Property “Yard of the Month” in June. Jr. Salmon to be Auctioned The annual carved Salmon decorating event that helps sup- port the Vernonia Salmon Festival got bigger this year. Ver- nonia High School Art students were invited to decorate some Jr. Salmon, and they took to the task wholeheartedly, personalizing their wood cutouts with paint, jewelry and all kinds of other supplies. The Jr. Salmon were scheduled to be auctioned off during The First Friday Event on July 3 at 7:00 PM at the Vernonia Community Learning Center. Mayor’s Art Contest By Sally Harrison After the “Flood of 07” and the ongoing upset and uproar of discussions concerning what exactly is going to happen to homes, schools, and Vernonia in general, I wanted the younger citizens of our Community to have a voice. Consequently, the “Mayor’s Art Contest” came into being. Vernonia Mayor Sally Harrison visits with WGS kindergarteners and gives them each copies of her postcard book “ ABC To You From Me.” I hope you had the opportunity to see the Art Exhibit at the VCLC on June 5 th during the First Friday Market in the new courtyard. If you did, you saw the wonderful display of posters created by our 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd graders. The theme for the Mayors Art contest was “Home, School and Vernonia.” I was especially taken by how each class approached the project. First Graders expressed, through their art, the things they treasure about their community like swimming, fishing and bike riding. Second Graders did a marvelous job showing “New Schools high above our beautiful river.” Third Graders built three dimensional vignettes of Vernonia. Very creative! I wish to thank all the young artists for participating and a special Thank You to their teachers Ms. Fleenor, Ms. Hansen, and Ms. Gingrich for their direction. The art project was designated a contest, but, after seeing all the entries, I felt they all were winners, so each was awarded a Blue Ribbon of excellence. I also had the pleasure of handing out my “ABC to You from Me” books to the kindergarten classes. At the same time, I was asked to autograph some books and shown a book one class had written and illustrated. Wonderful! It had to do with a giant onion and you’d have to see it to fully appreciate how great it was. Great job, kindergartners! I have an inventory of “ABC to You from Me” which is a book of mailable postcards. If you are interested in purchasing a copy, please call me at 503-429-8425 or e-mail at sallyharrison@verizon.net. They are $20.00, and all proceeds will go to the building of new schools in Vernonia. GREAT FOOD & ESPRESSO! D I N N E R F R I T-TH 5 a.m.-3 p.m. FRI & SAT 7 a.m.-7 p.m. SUN 5 a.m.-3 p.m. Closed MON 854 Bridge Street - Vernonia & S A T “This project shows what a group of individuals can accomplish when they choose to stay committed to a goal,” said Josette Mitchell who was instrumental in helping complete the project. The courtyard, is owned by the city and as part of the VCLC will be open for use by the general public, available for private rental through the VCLC, and will host the Open Air Market throughout the summer months. Mitchell thanked Lonnie Dennis and Steve Wolf for their work on the final construction of the project, and Vernonia Hardware, True Value Hardware, Sentry Market, Pumilite and the Vernonia Public Works Department for their support. The project was constructed as part of the Community Leadership training which recently completed it’s third class in Vernonia. Each class is required to chose and complete a community project as part of their commitment to the program. The Courtyard was the project of the second class. FILP classes spend four weekends learning leadership skills which they then practice through real world learning by completing their project.
