club's paid membership was 98, some part-time.
Still, at that time, there were seven charter members.
The above description of the Cannon Beach
Garden Club's 1956 meeting was taken from the
scrapbooks the club kept through the years.
Among these papers is an outline of the
club's history written by Ella Rummelin, May 16,
1951. She told of the club's origin at Mrs. Zeigler's
home on Adams Street, of a meeting that was to
organize some kind of a club to improve certain
things in the town. The library needed more books
and the sidewalk through town was in poor
condition. Pauline, Rummelin's sister, was chairman
of the first meeting and an improvement club was
discussed. Rummelin felt she wasn't too interested
in improvement alone, and suggested that she would
be interested also in a garden club; thus, August 14,
1928, the Cannon Beach Garden Club was
organized. Mrs. Powell was elected President, Mrs.
Will Warren, Vice-President; Pauline Rummelin,
Treasurer; Mrs. MacKay, Secretary. An executive
board met and drafted the constitution and by-laws.
They also discussed membership dues would be fifty
cents a year. At the next meeting Rummelin wrote,
"We planned to add 100 members and we did. Most
were only summer people." A discussion was held
about the sidewalk that was needed from Mr.
Moxon's corner on Second Street to the corner of the
service station. Mrs. Banks and Mrs. Nickelsen were
appointed sidewalk chairmen.
Recorded in the club history papers, by 1942
they had raised enough funds by contacting owners
of property along Hemlock Street and contributing
their own funds from dues, bake sales, etc., to
complete the wooden sidewalks from Greer's
Service Station south to the Log Cabin Restaurant
and further on to Elk Creek Bridge. Seventeen
blocks in all. Total cost was $1,900. Mr. Lauscher
(called Uncle Fritz) had stated to Pauline when she
asked him for a donation, "You'll never raise enough
money!" Pauline and he had a wager on. He lost,
and Rummelin's recollection was that he paid with a
bunch of choice vegetables from his garden.
From 1928 to the late 1950's, the Club's
meetings were held in various places: a few homes,
Mrs. Walker's picture building, the library, and later
the church. Nearly every year the club had some kind
of sale, cut flowers, roots or bulbs, baked food and
vegetables. Mrs. Tucker and Mrs. Will Warren were
the first to sponsor these sales. The sales and dues
made it possible for the club to donate the proceeds,
always with the thought of the betterment of the
town. Rummelin was chairman of the first flower
show in 1931. The themes for the flower shows
were to educate the public about the pleasures of
gardening. The flower shows continued on into the
1960's. February 19, 1947 the club became a
member of the Oregon State Federation of Garden
Clubs and for years they sent delegates to State
Conventions. Members continued to study and share
their knowledge and experience with others.
Now, 70 years later (August 1928-August
1998), the Garden Club is still in existence, meeting
every third Wednesday from September to May
(excluding summer months June, July and August).
They no longer elect officers, nor do they belong to
the Oregon State Federation of Garden Clubs. The
town now is self-sufficient. The last volunteer work
the members helped the city with was keeping the
city parking lots weeded. In 1991 the city hired full­
time landscape personnel.
Each month two members are chosen to plan
a program related to gardening. Meetings are
informal. The garden club would welcome new
members: bring a sack lunch, share your gardening
experiences.
Yearly events include a plant exchange every
spring, and tours to gardens. Last spring the
members visited Connie Hansen's garden in Lincoln
City, Oregon.
Next meeting: 12:00 noon, September 16th,
1998, at the Tolovana Clubhouse across from the
Cannon Beach Day Care Center.
If you are interested in learning more about
the history of one of the oldest garden clubs in
Oregon and its accomplishments, contact the Cannon
Beach Historical Society, where all the scrapbooks
and records are safely stored.
Village o f Flowers (continued)
The lilting sound of soprano voices singing,
"Oh Beautiful for Gardens Green," to the tune of
"America the Beautiful," accompanied by Mrs.
Audrey Spencer, followed by salute to the flag led by
Mrs. Leonard Mason, opened the Cannon Beach
Garden Club's June 1956 monthly meeting.
Mrs. C. R. Pennock, President of the Club,
tapped her gavel to call the meeting to order and
asked the officers to give their reports. The secretary
taking roll call reported 27 members out of 98 paid
members were present. She then read a letter from
Mrs. David Logan that Mrs. Uncer and helpers had
grown 150 fiats of annuals in Logan's Cannon
Beach greenhouse and that the annuals would be
planted around Logan's beach front home by May.
The letter said that Mrs. Uncer had wintered over 50
begonias and fuchsias which would be displayed in
the large lath structure that had been added to the
garden last year. She had planted sweet peas that
would cover the 55' fence on the south side. The
Logans were looking forward to decorating their
home for the Garden Club's annual Silver Tea and
tour o f the gardens to be held after the flower show.
The secretary reported that Mrs. Adamson
had hand painted place cards for the judges'
luncheon table. The invited ladies that would act as
judges for the flower show were from Portland and
they would be paid eight cents a mile for their trip to
the coast. Each judge would be presented with a gift
of glass floats that had been found on the beach by
one of the members.
Discussion continued that Seaside, Gearhart
and Astoria garden clubs would bring flower
arrangements for the show to be held in the school
house gym. Further business was about Mrs. John
Huntley's leadership in interesting the state to locate
the original cannon on the site in Arch Cape. The site
property in Arch Cape was donated to the state by
George Van Vleet of Van Vleet Logging Company.
The cannon was donated by Mel Goodin; and Dr.
Burt Brown Barker, Portland past president of the
Oregon Historical Society, would give the history of
the 300-ton U. S. Naval survey schooner "Shark,"
which was wrecked in the attempt to leave the
Columbia River on July 18, 1846, just 110 years to
the day before this dedication July 18, 1956.
Members gave Mrs. John Huntley a standing ovation
for her leadership in placing the cannon in a
permanent place with help from Mrs. C. R. Pennock
and other members in landscaping the area.
The treasurer's report stated all the yearly
$1.00 dues had been paid and that donations from
events, plant and bake sales, hot cake breakfasts and
card parties that had been held in various members'
homes and last year's Christmas Bazaar would be
applied to projects and the costs of the August flower
show.
Proceeds from the pancake breakfasts would
be given next month to the "Women's Club" to apply
on the purchase of Mr. Moxon's house on Second
Street. (Note: The Women's Club had rented Mr.
Moxon's house for the library for years. At the time
of his death they purchased the house for $2,500,
giving the library its first permanent home.) Other
contributions would to be made to the library,
Willamette National Cemetery, Christmas Seals, the
life saving program, the Commercial Club, the
National Wildlife Federation and the P.T.A.
Mrs. Pennock asked the members how many
"Honey-do"s (husbands) would be available to help
set up the flower show and said that Emmett and
Mike of Cannon Beach Lumber Yard, along with
Erickson Construction Company, would lend some
lumber for shelving. She added there was enough
black satin material to cover the shelving, and asked
for a volunteer to have the silver tea set polished to
gleam for the Silver Tea at Logans'.
Mrs. Lyle Murren and Mrs. Edith M.
Dickover were appointed co-chairmen. The staging
would be the duty of Mrs. Dudley Uncer; entries:
Mrs. H. Lensrud; and, as usual, the standards for
set-ups, judging and entries would be taken from the
suggestions of the Oregon Federation of Garden
Clubs. The flower show would be held the 10th and
11th of August, 1956. The theme this year was
"Nature's Harmonies," this would be the 25th
organized flower show, and on August 24th they
would have their annual picnic at Ecola State Park.
Before the close of the meeting a door prize
of a beautiful pot of marigolds Mrs. Uncer had
donated was given, then the ladies gathered around
the tea table, which was decorated with lace
tablecloth, a bowl of pink rhododendrons, the silver
tea service, and dishes of mints, nuts and cookies,
for refreshments.
Closing the meeting, Mrs. Mason led the
members with a prayer for a successful flower show
and many thanks for the contributions given by the
businesses in the community.
The 1956 flower show, "Nature's
Harmonies," had 200 entries from 44 gardens. The
club received a purple ribbon for the flower show
achievement from the Slate National Awards
chairman, Mrs. Rud H. Stone. In the 1950's the
population of permanent residents was only 530. The
It was this group of ladies 70 years ago that
cared enough to volunteer their efforts to improve the
quality of Cannon Beach. This type of caring
remains today. For years active volunteers have
committed thousands of hours on city and county
boards, including the mayor, recycling, the Haystack
Awareness program, the Day Care Center, Fire and
Rescue, Ecola Creek Awareness Project, the
Historical Society, American Legion and Auxiliary,
Kiwanis, and many other volunteer service clubs,
always with the intent of upgrading the quality of our
small town.
As a garden club member wrote in July of
1953, "All so little of so much that has been done in
the p a st... much will be done in the future and will
be added to 'Our History,' as time passes."
1 am contemplating building a house and want to
make it as energy efficient as possible. Therefore, I
have been gathering information about residential
energy use. I thought others may find it interesting to
take a look at how much electricity is used to operate
household appliances and what it costs The
following information has been prov ided by PP & L.
the Oregon Department of Energy and the
Residential Efficiency Database. For those o f y ou
that use the internet you can find the database at
http://wwwits-canada com/reed/savings/intro.htm.
A commonly asked question is how to translate an
electrical bill. Customers receive bills for kilowatt
hours (kwh) but many light bulbs and appliances
refer to the watts used A kilowatt hour equals KXX)
watts of electricity used in an hour. To calculate the
energy used you divide the wattage by KXX) then
multiply it by the cost. This will give you the cost per
hour to operate an electrical item Following are
averages based on the rate we pay in Cannon Beach
for residential use.
Refrigerator
$7-l()/month
Freezer
$5-7/monlh
Electric Stove
used twice /day $1.20/month
used 4 x/week
$0.55/month
Oven
13 cents/2 hours
Microwave
3 cents/20 mins.
Coffee maker 1 pot/day
$2.00/month
Toaster 4mins./day
12 cents/month
Blender
30mins/l cent
Dish Washer
automatic
2Ocents/load
hand wash/air dry 10 cents/Ioad
Washing Machine: settings for wash/rinse
hot/warm
34 cents/Ioad
hot/cold
28 cents/Ioad
warm/warm
29 cents/Ioad
warm/cold
15 cents/Ioad
cold/cold
2 cents/Ioad
Dryer
15 cents per 35 mins.
Waterbed uncovered
$8/month
covered
$6/month
Electric Blanket
$1/month
Tub Bath 12" water
21 cents/bath
Shower old showerhead 35 ccnts/showcr
Shower low flow head
18 cents/shower
Blow Dryer
1 cent per 15 mins.
Air Conditioner
Room Type
$13.50/month
Central? Standard $134. It »/month
Central Efficient $90.00/month
Fans
window
60 ccnts/month
furnace autocycle 6.25/month
circulating
66 cents/month
Sewing Machine
7 cents/10 hours
Iron
13 cents/5 hours
Lighting is difficult to average due to the vast
variety o f lighting fixtures and bulbs. Here are a few
estimates to help you:
Most people use incandescent bulbs o f varying
wattage
100 watt bulb used 8 hours/dav = $1.20/month
60 watt bulb used 8 hours/dav = 72 cents/month
40 watt bulb used 8 hours/day = 48 cents/month
Compact fluorescent bulbs use less wattage for the
same amount of light:
18 watt bulb used 8 hours/day = 30 cents/month
9 watt bulb used 8 hours/day = 13 cents/month
Order Now! W ildlife on the Edge by Sally
I^ackaff will be shipping in 4 to 6 weeks. Send $20
check or money order to Left Coast Group Box 1222
Cannon Beach, OR 97110 for your copy!
Ben & Sunny Hunt
436-9215
C o tta g e
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F lo w e r s
& G arden
Mope L . Morris
Licensed ‘Massage Therapist
503/325-2523
toti free 1 888 491-8267
e-mail hunts@scasurf.ncr
PO Box 735
263 N. Hemlock
Camion Beach, Or 97110
Visit us for all w a r flower and garden needs
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