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About Coast river business journal. (Astoria, OR) 2006-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 2021)
BUSINESS NEWS COAST RIVER BUSINESS JOURNAL NOVEmBER 2021 • 3 CRBJ STAFF Publisher Matt Winters mwinters@crbizjournal.com Editor Jonathan Williams editor@crbizjournal.com Office Coordinator Sarah Smith ssmith@eomediagroup.com Group Publisher Kari Borgen kborgen@dailyastorian.com Advertising Director Sarah Silver ssilver@dailyastorian.com Layout/Design Emily Lindblom | Matthew Vann ABBEY McDONALD NEXT ISSUE Publication Date: Dec. 15, 2021 Advertising Deadline: Dec. 6, 2021 Visitors at the Columbia River Maritime Museum use phones to listen to an interactive exhibit about barges. museums see an uptick in visitor numbers By Abbey mcDonald CONTACT CRBJ Submit news: editor@crbizjournal.com Website: CoastRiverBusinessJournal.com Coast River Business Journal 205 Bolstad Ave. E. Suite 2, P.O. Box 427 Long Beach, WA 98631 Phone 800-643-3703 Coast River Business Journal is published monthly by EO Media Group. Opinions expressed by contributing writers and guest columnists do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. © Copyright 2021 Coast River Business Journal Coast River Business Journal Sheryl Olson studied the map under her feet, taking in the trade routes between Japan and the Pacific Northwest as if preparing for a test. She took in each nearby display at the Columbia River Maritime Museum with similar interest. “It’s just living and breathing to see it in person,” she said, standing in front of a small, weathered Japanese boat that landed on the Oregon Coast after the tsunami in 2011. Olson has been reading up on the his- tory of Astoria, and said she’s a fan of Lewis and Clark. She and a friend took the week off from work and drove from Stevensville, Montana, to see that history in person. After over a year of closures, cancella- tions and cuts, museums on the North Coast are returning to near-normal attendance numbers, despite abnormal pandemic oper- ations and a dip in tourists and those coming off visiting cruise ships. For Olson, the pandemic was part of the reason she chose to visit Astoria. “I’m delighted to be here because Oregon has the mask mandate,” Olson said. In September, the museum had around 85% of its 2019 attendance numbers. “We’re closer to normal than I thought we were going to be,” said Caroline Wueb- ben, the museum’s marketing and member- ship manager. With membership and donor funding, she said the museum was able to retain staff despite closing for three months in 2020. Now that it’s back open, the lack of ocean- going cruise ships is a continued impact on visitor numbers. She also misses the busloads of school- children exploring the interactive exhibits. “We’re missing that element of sharing the museum with our community,” she said. “COVID has been — and still is — tough on museums, but we’ve been extremely for- tunate,” Wuebben said. “Some museums may never open again, and that’s really sad.” ‘We’ve had to adjust’ Further down the coast, the Cannon Beach History Center & Museum opened its doors to one group at a time, by appointment only, last month. Andrea Suarez, the single staff mem- ber, books the appointments, runs the build- ing and handles the museum’s social media. She was chipper a few weeks into reopening when the time came to take down Halloween decorations. “It’s been pretty great,” Suarez said. “We’ve had to adjust, obviously, but I’m happy that we got to reopen. And even though it is by appointment right now, it is a slower season so the appointments haven’t been a problem.” The museum’s president, Kimberley Speer-Miller, said that they closed in part to protect volunteers, many who are 65 and older. “Before COVID, we would get lots of people all at the same time, and you could barely move. People would just congregate in the museum,” Speer-Miller said. “So we tried to hone it down to what was probably best for our situation.” The free museum is a nonprofit, and relied on donations and grants to get through the closure. In September, it held its popular cottage See Page 16
