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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 2011)
community october11 Vernonia Grange Gets a Facelift Members of the Vernonia tivities happening at the Grange building Grange and other community members on North Street in Vernonia. are excited by the some of the new ac- A group of dedicated volun- teers spent the weekend of September 23-25 prepping and painting the main hall, constructing new covers for stage front, cleaning out closets and generally sprucing things up. Prior to that work weekend, one of the restrooms got a makeover with new paint, new trim and handrail, and new sink skirt and curtain. Next up is another workday scheduled for October 22 which will fo- cus on the kitchen. Volunteers are work- ing to get the gas stove in working order, clean up a newly donated refrigerator, clean out the cabinets and generally or- ganize the kitchen so it is available for use by the membership and for commu- nity events and for rental. Several new community ac- tivities have been taking place over the last few months in the old hall, includ- ing yoga classes taught by Britt Bensen Steele, who has helped organize much Vernonia Grange member Carol McIntyre of the clean-up effort. Three community helped paint the interior of the Contra Dances have also taken place; a Grange Hall 9 2011 Grange and community members celebrated the spruced up interior of the Vernonia Grange Hall with a potluck and Contra Dance on October 7th. pot luck dinner was held before the dance on October 7 th to help celebrate the harvest season and the new look of the Grange. Grange members are hoping to host more community activities and put the building to good use. “We look forward to the Grange being an even more beautiful place for us to meet as a community, as fami- lies, and as a dedicated support system for agriculture, community and the rich and vital history the National and local Grange can offer,” said Steele. “I am so honored to have the expertise, dedica- tion, and experience of all who have kept this beautiful organization and building in Vernonia alive.” For more information about get- ting involved with the Vernonia Grange contact Britt Bensen Steele at bbensen- steele@gmail.com. ed building but Five Star Builders came up with the idea of buying a portable saw mill and milling their own lumber—sav- ing the project about $44,000, and giv- ing it a beautiful look. The timber used in the project came from the property of a local members and member, Clint Jackson, did the mill work. Farmer is also proud of the fact that much of the interior furnishings and fixtures have been reused from the pre- vious building, including doors, toilets, desks, chairs, filing cabinets and more. Counter tops in one work area were fash- ioned from solid wood doors that didn’t fit in the new building. According to Farmer the new building was designed to provide a better work flow for employees and contains several amenities that had been missing from the old facility. The new facility provides locker rooms and showers for workers, a separate lunch room, two conference rooms and two futons for overnight stays in the lineman’s lounge. Farmer says the large confer- ence room adjacent to the lobby will be available to the community for meetings. The truck bays were designed and built with the idea that they could be used as emergency shelter for the community in case of a natural disaster. The facility also contains an extra-large emergency generator. “The whole idea of this facility is that it is not just for West Oregon Elec- tric’s purposes—it is going to be for the community,” said Farmer. WOEC Hosts Open House heritage. But it didn’t cost a lot of mon- ey.” Staff spent the first weeks of September moving into the new facility. WOEC currently employs twenty-four people. Five Star Builders, Inc. from Banks, OR was the General Contractor on the construction project. The building sits out of the flood plain and has been built to new seismic code standards and is designed to with- stand a category 4 seismic event. The old headquarters fa- cility was flooded in both 1996 and 2007 suffering over one million dollars in damages. Farmer ex- plained that much of the labor and work on the new facility came from The Lineman’s Lounge in the new WOEC headquarters local workers and provides a place for employees to take a break and even spend Co-op members and the night during long power outages notes one example- “People think this looks like an -Vernonia resident Alan McComb and expensive building, and it does—abso- sons built all the cabinets and coun- lutely!,” says Farmer. “We designed it ters. One of the highlights of the new to look beautiful. We wanted something that the community, the Co-op and its building is the cedar siding on the exteri- members can all be proud of. This is or of the building. Farmer explained that a beautiful building and represents our the original plans called for a metal sid- West Oregon Electric Coopera- tive held an Open House on September 30, 2011, giving their members and community a chance to see the interior of their new headquarters. WOEC General Manager Marc Farmer proudly led tours of the facil- ity, which was only recently completed. According to Farmer the project was finished on time and on budget,--at just under $3 million. We have ice cream! Na s Owned and Operated by Don & Kim Wallace Open for breakfast, lunch & dinner ce Mariolino’s Pizza & Grill ath Health Se rv al P r i tu Dr. Carol McIntyre Naturopathic & Chinese Medicine 503.481.4096 cccmnd@yahoo.com naturalpathhealthservices.com Serving Vernonia since 1970 721 Madison Avenue, Vernonia (503) 429-5018 786 Bridge Street Vernonia, OR, 97064
