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About North Douglas herald. (Drain Or) 2023-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2024)
North Douglas Herald Community Pages Yoncalla Flower Baskets, Flags and Clean-up by Mary Ellen Lasswell The Yoncalla Beautification Project met on Thursday evening, May 23, at 6:00 at the Yoncalla Community Center. We are an organization that is dedicated to making Yoncalla a more attractive community. We invite anyone to join us who is interested in any aspect of beautifying Yoncalla, or perhaps fixing what is broken, or maybe cleaning up our town, or helping us to raise money. We are especially grateful to Bob and Lois Campbell for a very generous donation to Yoncalla Beautification. Watch for the American flags flying on Flag Day, June 12th, and Teenth Day, June 19 th , and, of course, on the Fourth of July. Our mayor, Kat Wertz, is in charge of our parade and if you would like to enter a float or an entry, or receive any information concerning the parade, the contact person is Doris Bartlett at 541-315-0608. One last word. Yoncalla nearly did not have a Fourth of July parade because the Yoncalla Chamber of Commerce, who plans civic activities, has very few members. They really need you to help further their efforts in making our town a thriving, robust community that enjoys active, worth-while events. The Yoncalla Chamber of Commerce meets on the second Thursday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at the Yoncalla Community Center. The contact person is Doris Bartlett at 541-315-0608. In the meantime,, enjoy the gorgeous hanging flower bakets that are faithfully watered every morning by Dorane Slocum, and enjoy our American flags flying over our town on holidays. We hope you appreciate the work of Yoncalla Beautification as we hold two city wide clean-up days on June 1 st and June 29 th in preparation for the Fourth of July. We wish you a safe and enjoyable summer. Anna Drain Park Upgrade Follow-Up Grant Funding, Donations & Costs Story by Rusty Savage Last month we brought you the plans and developement details for the city of Drain’s ambitious Anna Drain Park upgrade and additions. To bring our readers up to date on the financial details of this project, the Herald has the following costs, donations and grant funding making the upgrade possible. The city has not yet been awarded grant funding from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department but remains very optimistic about the project. The pre-planning for the Anna Drain Park Upgrade project began in 2018, when the city received a $32,000 grant from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department to complete the City of Drain Parks and Open Space Master Plan. The city hired Cameron McCarthy Landscape Architecture & Planning as a consultant and collaborated with their consultant team to host a Parks Master Plan Open House, at the Civic Center on October 29th, 2019. During this event, residents saw presentations of the concept boards and gave detailed feedback. The finalized version of the Parks Master Plan identified the Anna Drain Park Upgrade project as a high priority development project and estimated the cost of it to be $1.665 million in 2019. The actual estimated cost of the Anna Drain Park Upgrade project is $1.245 million. Staff began planning the park in September 2023, using all the surveying and pre-planning from the Parks Master Plan to guide the design for the current park project. During the planning process, staff included as many amenities identified in the Parks Master Plan as we could. One amenity staff couldn’t include is an amphitheater. Though some residents expressed interest in an amphitheater, it became clear during planning that there is not quite enough room on the property for this. The decision to not move forward with this lowered the cost of the Editorial Continued from Page 2 candidates doing for you and your neighbors? What are the issues that are important to you and who is advocating those issues for you. See what positions are open and if you want to support someone for that then advocate for them. If you want to step up for a position, talk to your supporters and file for election. Democracy - it’s an active participation concept. There are still a lot of stories and information the Herald has to tell. Sometimes, like now, we have some limitations in the space we have for each issue. Costs are high, printing, mailing and distribution, and after 10 issues being subsidized by the Publisher’s pocket book, I find myself having to stay within the budget that our advertisers provide and that means limiting pages - never the quality. I strive to bring you a publication that is high quality, both in content and appearance. To provide it to the readers for free, I look to advertisers and donations to make it possible. Please suport our advertisers and if you can make a donation, it is sincerely appreciated. Use the QR code or go to our website and click the donate icon. www.ndherald.com. project, making it more feasible for the city. If the city is awarded grant funding from Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, the project will be funded through grants, donations, and city funds. The city applied for $996,415 in grant funding from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Staff will be notified around November of this year if grant funds are going to be awarded. Staff also applied for $25,000 from The Ford Family Foundation and are thrilled to announce that they’ve doubled our funding request and awarded the city $50,000 for the Anna Drain Park Upgrade project. This project would not have been possible without a generous donation of $30,658 from the Drain Church of Christ. This donation was received before any project planning began and the city is grateful for their commitment to bettering the community. The city has also received a handful of donations from private residents and business owners, totaling $7,000. With all donations, grant funding, and in-kind labor, staff estimate this $1.245-million-dollar project will cost the city under $100,000. An update from Kaity Harwick, Community Development Coordinator for the city of Drain, “I just wanted to pass along a very exciting update about the park grant. We’ve been invited to present our project to the Advisory Committee for the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) Local Government Grant Program. This means OPRD has completed their technical review of our application, it has been deemed eligible, and it has been forwarded to the Advisory Committee for further review. The Advisory Committee evaluates and scores all large grant applications to establish a priority ranking for grant funding. We will be presenting the project in the end of July, but we do not have a date set yet.” Drain Golf Tourney Continued from Front Page Donations can be mailed to PO Box 5, Drain OR 97435 or arrangements can be made for them to be picked. The Drain Open Golf Tournament is a registered 501(c)3 non profit and your donation is tax deductable. June 2024 Page 5 ELKTON COMMUNITY EDUCATION CENTER Blooms & Butterflies Festival in Elkton ELKTON, OREGON, May 24, 2024— Kick-off your summer by welcoming the butterflies back to Elkton at ECEC’s annual Blooms & Butterflies celebration on Saturday, June 15, 2024. The event begins with a 5K Butterfly Run/Walk along the panoramic Umpqua River at 9 am, and continues throughout the day with kids’ activities, live music and a wide range of artisan vendors and information booths. “Blooms & Butterflies is a great way for families to celebrate the end of the school year and check out all the fun, free activities ECEC has during the summer,” said Executive Director Marjory Hamann. “It’s also the beginning of our butterfly season, and people really get into it by dressing like a butterfly when they come to the event.” Run registration opens at 8:00 am. Early Bird registration for adults is $25 and includes a Butterfly Run t-shirt. Kids ages 12 and under can run or walk for free. Registration increases to $30 on May 31st, and walk-in registrations are welcome. Jen Champion from VISTA Wellness Center in Eugene will offer a drop-in yoga session so runners and walkers can stretch and cool down when they return to the festival. Musician Katie Sontag will lead a family singalong at 10:45, followed by a butterfly costume contest. The music continues at 11:45 with KT and the Love Notes. ECEC’s Butterfly Steward, Barbara Slott will give a short talk at 1:15, and the popular local duo Decor’mm takes the stage at 1:30. Guests can explore local history at Fort Umpqua, a life- size replica of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s southernmost fur-trading outpost from the mid-1800s, and observe native butterflies in the ECEC Flight Room throughout the day. The Elkton High School FFA will host a BBQ fundraiser at lunchtime, and ECEC’s student-run cafe will be serving deli sandwiches, espresso, smoothies, and homemade baked goods all day. Youth ages 1-18 can get a free meal between 11:30-1:30 during the event, and throughout the summer. 15850 Highway 38 West ☼ PO Box 684 ☼ Elkton, OR 97436 ☼ 541-584-2692 ☼ info@elktonbutterflies.com ☼ www.elktonbutterfl ies.com ☼ Beaver Creek Unique Continued from Front Page the place in their spare time. It was a time consuming “Hobby” that they enjoyed and worked It was several years into working the store part time and on weekends that Russ found himself in a dilemma. A workaholic all of his life, Russ found himself more engaged and truly with purpose when he was puttering around at the “Hobby”, than he was at work. He was at a point where retirement was an option and he realized he was ready to make a leap of faith. “All in or all out, that’s me,” says Russ, “and that was it, here I am.” Russ and Charlottes journey to their unique establishment was quite circuitous. Russ was a hometown boy from Drain, graduating Drain High School in 1973. Starting in High School he first worked at the old Keith Roberts Ford dealership. His love of cars brought him to purchase his cherished 67 Mustang in 1977. In 1980 he began working for the city of Cottage Grove. His position with the city grew and evolved over the years, finding him involved with many of the civic projects that transpired over his years there. Russ and Charlotte met at the Drain skating rink while still in school. Charlotte remembers, “He thought I was cute so he knocked me down while we were skating.“ Married in 1976, they raised their 2 kids, Clint and Corrine. Living on their property outside of Drain, the Kaleese’s worked and built their property while Charlottes Mom ran her store there in Drain. It was 2019, after 39 years, when Russ oficially retired and they started seriously managing the store in their spare time and by 2021 they opened full time. Finding it a labor of love, it wasn’t long before the prolific and eclectic collections and displays began to set them apart from the run of the mill antique and second hand stores you normally run in to. Not to mention the friendly and affable atmosphere Russ and Charlotte bring to the arena of americana and collectable treasures. A Pickers paradise. Along with their excellent location it wasn’t long before they began to attract a steady stream of excited shoppers and collectors and touristy visitors. June 14th, 15th and 16th is the 5 year anniversary celebration for Beaver Creek Unique, you dont want to miss it. Plenty of parking and refreshments and a celebration for the family. Find some coupons here in the paper and come on down.
