Manzanita Clatskanie Cultural Center holds grand opening
Historic IOOF Hall renovation to enhance civic, cultural opportunities
Tour of Homes
celebrates 20
years Aug. 29
MANZANITA — The Kiwanis
and Women’s Club of North
Tillamook County invite the
public to the 20th annual
Manzanita Tour of Homes.
It will be held from 10
a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday,
Aug. 29.
Tour six charming homes
at your leisure, and enjoy
refreshments. All proceeds
will go toward local children
needs.
Tickets are sold day of
the tour starting at 8:30 a.m.
at the Kiwanis booth located
in Howell’s Square located
on Laneda Avenue. Tickets
cost $10. For more infor-
mation, call Mary Brophy at
503-368-7002.
CLATSKANIE — After a suc-
cessful $3.18 million capital
campaign and 18 months of
interior renovation work, the
new Clatskanie Cultural Cen-
ter is nearing completion. The
Clatskanie Foundation invites
the public to view and cele-
brate the opening of the cul-
tural center at a public open
house, scheduled from 1 to
5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30. The
center is located at 75 S. Ne-
halem St.
For decades, the Indepen-
dent Order of Odd Fellows
Hall was a prominent center of
community life in Clatskanie.
The building, which was add-
ed to the National Registry of
Historic Places in 2012, was
designed by prominent Oregon
architect Ernst Kroner in 1926
and opened in 1927. Nearly
every adult who grew up in
Clatskanie remembers going to
movies, dance classes, public
celebrations and civic meetings
at the I.O.O.F Hall. Watch-
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Avalon Theater was a popular
activity, but by the 1990s the
building became an eyesore.
After it was sold by the dwin-
dling membership of the Odd
Fellows Lodge, it fell into dis-
repair through neglect by a se-
ries of private owners.
Renovating the I.O.O.F.
Hall began to emerge as a
dream of community mem-
bers in the late 1990s. Yet, the
concept did not move forward
until late 2005 when the Clats-
kanie Foundation received a
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estate of C. Keith Birkenfeld,
for whom the building’s new
theater is named.
With the Birkenfeld be-
quest, the foundation was
able to purchase the building,
complete restoration of the
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Clatskanie Foundation then
launched a capital campaign
to raise funds to renovate the
marie POWELL
shoalwater cove gallery
building’s interior. To date, the
project has raised over $3.18
million — enough to cover
the $3.15 million construc-
tion costs and create a needed
longterm maintenance fund.
The successful fundraising
campaign has earned wide-
spread support from regional
foundations, including ma-
jor grants from the C. Keith
Birkenfeld Memorial Trust at
the Seattle Foundation, The
Ford Family Fund of The Or-
egon Community Foundation,
Meyer Memorial Trust, M.J.
Murdock Charitable Trust,
The Collins Foundation, and
The Wollenberg Foundation.
More than 100 other founda-
tions, businesses and individu-
als have donated to the project.
“We are grateful for the
widespread support of this
project. The depth of gener-
osity, locally and regionally,
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mitment to restore this build-
ing and create a new cultural
center in Clatskanie,” says
Clatskanie Foundation board
member and Capital Cam-
paign Chair Deborah Hazen.
“Thanks to our dedicated vol-
unteers and generous donors,
the building will once again
become a center of community
life and culture.”
Transforming the I.O.O.F.
Hall into the Clatskanie Cul-
tural Center has been large-
ly a volunteer effort led by
Clatskanie Foundation board
members and community
volunteers, including: Mike
Engel, a retired general con-
tractor serving as construc-
tion manager; Dave Hicks, a
retired Wauna Mill engineer
serving as project engineer;
Hazen, retired publisher and
editor of The Clatskanie Chief
serving as capital campaign
chair; Elsa and Dee Wooley,
founders and directors of the
Clatskanie Arts Commission,
providing support through-
out the project; Rich Larsen,
foundation president; Teresa
Wemmer, foundation treasur-
er, and Christal Hood, foun-
dation director and marketing
chairperson.
Whenever possible, the
Clatskanie Foundation has
hired local contractors and sup-
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tures both modern and vintage
elements. Highlights include
the original restored maple
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(Here’s a hint)
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theater seats, which are origi-
nally from Portland’s Baghdad
Theater. Local artisan Jeremy
Furnish was commissioned to
design and build 50 lighting
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ter. His creations, which range
from wall sconces to chande-
liers, are designed in the Art
Deco style, paying homage to
the building’s 1926 origin.
Clatskanie Arts Commis-
sion performances and other
events are already scheduled
in the restored building. Com-
bined, the 165-seat Birkenfeld
Theatre and 2,400-square-foot
ballroom will accommodate
a range of programming in-
cluding musical performanc-
es, readings, lectures, recitals,
movies, community theater,
forums, talent shows, dances,
art and dance classes, wed-
dings and more.
In addition to its primary
purpose as a cultural center, the
building includes a suite of of-
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Arts Commission and the
Clatskanie Foundation, and
a retail space occupied by the
Quilted Dandelion quilt shop.
The Clatskanie Foundation
is currently selling theater seat
naming sponsorships. Approx-
imately 50 seats remain avail-
able for sponsorship. Dollars
raised through the remaining
seat sponsorships and other
planned fundraising events
will go toward additional
equipment and furnishings,
and to the longterm mainte-
nance fund.
For information about the
Clatskanie Cultural Center
contact Hazen at 503-338-
8268 or Elsa Wooley at 503-
338-9770.
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