Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2016)
10 Winter 2016 Applegater Applegate resident wins Third Annual Southern Oregon Smoked Salmon Festival BY PAUL TIPTON Cantrall Buckley Park campground update BY JEREMY CRISWELL It was a busy fall as the stage was set for some major upgrades at Cantrall Buckley Park campground. Using the last of our 2016 Title II Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) grant, we were able to run water and power to our camp host site and provide our camp host with all of the modern comforts he deserves! We recently applied for a new round of Title II grant funding from the Bureau of Land Management Southwest Oregon Resource Advisory Council (RAC) in the amount of $21,620. This would fund the creation of two group-site RV facility hookups, a wastewater dumping station, and sewer connection to three individual RV sites. By installing the wastewater dumping station, we will be able to take full advantage of our state-of-the-art water treatment system that was installed at the beginning of this project. While these upgrades may seem less than glamorous, they will provide the infrastructure to allow vacationers and visitors traveling with self-contained campers to spend several nights at our park and maintain safe and sanitary conditions. RV and motorhome use of the campground is our number-one unfulfilled request at the park; with this project we will finally be able to honor those requests. RAC has helped fund our upgrades in the past, so we are hopeful it will again this time. Fingers crossed! In early 2017, the Cantrall Buckley Park Committee and the Greater Applegate Community Development Corporation (GACDC) will be ramping up for a major round of fundraising to complete the campground upgrade project. Included in this phase will be water and power hookups for existing campsites and completion of the wastewater treatment system. We will apply to several foundations and other grant sources to help fund the The community-funded, firefighter-installed barbecues have been a wonderful addition to the park. They were well used this summer and fall! completion of the campground project; however, we need the enthusiasm and financial support of the community to qualify for grants. You will be hearing from us in 2017! In other news, the playground bathroom renovations are slated to begin shortly and will include not only a complete overhaul of the restroom interior, but also a tear-off of the damaged flat roof, which will be replaced with a beautiful gable roof. Along with this much-needed transformation will come a new ADA-accessible pathway leading from the parking lot up through the playground to the restroom area. The community mosaic mural is coming along nicely and will be installed after the renovation is completed. Thank you again to all who participated with hands- on and financial support of this project! Contributions for the campground improvement project can be made online at gacdc.org/contribution or a check can be mailed to GACDC, PO Box 335, Jacksonville, OR 97530. Please write “campground” on the check. All contributions are fully tax-deductible. Thank you! Jeremy Criswell jeremy@jeremycriswell.com Check out the park’s new maps, informational signs, and kiosks! On October 1, the Maslow Project hosted this year’s fundraising event at The Commons in downtown Medford, and it could hardly have been more successful. Despite morning rain, the afternoon event featured beautiful weather for the 600 or more attendees to taste the offerings of 13 unique entries into the smoked salmon competition. Beer, wine, and other drinks were available, as well as food from several booths. If you haven’t checked out this lip-smacking event, you’re missing something good. This year’s contest, organized by Jorge Zamarripa of the Maslow Project, was judged solely by People’s Choice, featuring a one-hour blind tasting followed by open voting on the many delicious entries, which were served by the contestants. Winners were announced in ascending order, with Stalo, a 13-year-old young man (his parents asked that we use only his first name) from Puyallup, Washington, winning the $250 third- place prize on the heels of a second-place win in a Westport, Washington, contest in 2015! Quite impressive for a guy his age. Stalo plans to return next year. Second-place winner, Craig Maynard, found out about the competition in a conversation with another fisherman while salmon fishing on a party boat out of San Francisco. Now living in Menlo Park, California, Craig grew up in Crescent City, regularly visits the Medford area, and really enjoys smoking salmon. That made it an easy decision for him to drive up with some of his smoked salmon to help benefit “such a worthy cause,” the Maslow Project. When presented with his huge faux check for $500, Craig very generously donated his winnings back to Maslow. For the second year, first place was won by a Jacksonville-area resident, this time a recent addition to the community, Michael Gervais. (The author won last year’s contest.) Mike happened to be the other fisherman on the salmon boat with Craig. Mike and his wife still have a residence in California, but also have a home in the Upper Applegate that they hope to move to soon, putting him closer to the steelhead rivers that he enjoys. You might even find him guiding local steelhead trips in the future. When Mike was awarded the first-place check for $1,000, he continued the benevolence and donated his winnings back to the Maslow Project. When it was all over, Maslow announced that it raised $28,000 to benefit homeless youth and families in southern Oregon. Nothing quite like mixing the smell of smoked salmon with the smell of success. Don’t miss it next year. Paul Tipton ptipton@frontier.com Michael Gervais won this year’s Smoked Salmon Festival and donated his winnings back to the Maslow Project.
