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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 2016)
Enjoy a night of jazz with John Stowell Astoria Bridge celebrates 50 years in 2016 Guitarist performs at Cannon Beach History Center & Museum CANNON BEACH — World-re- nowned jazz guitarist John Stowell returns to the Cannon Beach History Center & Muse- um for a performance at 7 p.m. Friday, March 25. Stowell began his career in the early 1970s with guitarist Linc Chamberland and pianist John Mehegan. He is an inter- nationally renowned performer who has been welcomed to Aus- tralia and all over Europe. He was the ¿rst American jazz per- former to appear in Russia after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Stowell continues to tour, record and teach international- ly. He has been an artist-in-res- idence at schools in Germany, Indonesia, Argentina, the United States and Canada. He served as assistant director and performer at Oregon Public Broadcasting’s PDX Jazz Summit in 1991, and since 1995 he has been a con- tributing columnist for a number of magazines, including Down Submitted photo John Stowell will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, March 25 at the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum. Beat, Guitar Player, Canadian Musician, Soundcheck (Germa- ny), and Guitar Club (Italy). Stowell’s “Through the Listening Glass” with David Friesen was designated one of the “10 Best Jazz Albums of the Decade” by the Los Angeles Ex- aminer, and he was chosen as a “Talent Deserving Wider Recog- nition” by Downbeat’s Interna- tional Critic’s Poll in 1978 and 1979. He has appeared on BET’s “Jazz Discovery” and “Guitar Series” television shows. Stowell is one of the muse- um’s most popular performers. The event space creates an in- timate setting that produces a sound warm enough to wrap up in. Seating for this concert is limited. Tickets are available through http://cbhistory.org, by calling 503-436-9301, or in person at the museum, located on the corner of Sunset and Spruce streets. Tickets are $12 for adults and $2 for children. Complimentary refreshments will be provided. All proceeds will help fund upcoming events at the museum, including future concerts, lec- tures, exhibits and ¿eld trips. Join Deb Vanasse for Lunch in the Lot Beach Books hosts new North Coast author for book reading SEASIDE — Beach Books will host author and new North Coast resident Deb Vanasse for Lunch in the Loft at noon Monday, March 28. Vanasse is the author 16 books, the newest of which is “Wealth Woman: Kate Car- mack and the Klondike Rush for Gold,” a deeply researched biog- raphy of one of the most elusive but essential characters in the Klondike history. At Lunch in the Loft, she will discuss her writing life and her many works of non-¿ction, and she will read from “Cold Spell,” her latest novel that tells the parallel stories of a mother who risks everything to start over and a daughter whose longings threaten to undo them. At age 21, Vanasse was dropped by a bush pilot on a gravel runway in middle of the Alaska wilderness. No roads, no houses, no cars, no people Submitted photo Submitted photo “Cold Spell” by Deb Vanasse. Deb Vanasse is the author of 16 books. — only a winding brown slough and tundra spread Àat as prairie. She had come not for adventure but to live, an isolating but evoc- ative experience that inspires much of her work. Vanasse earned a Master of Arts in hu- manities from California State University at Dominguez Hills and is an alumnus of the Squaw Valley Writers Workshops. She is also co-founder of the 49 Alas- ka Writing Center and founder of the author collective Running Fox Books Lunch in the Loft costs $25 and includes a signed copy of “Cold Spell” and a catered lunch. RSVP by Saturday, March 26 to insure a copy of the book and lunch. 10 | March 24, 2016 | coastweekend.com The 50-year milestone of the completion and open- ing of the Astoria Bridge is being commemorated this year in Washington and Or- egon. Communities north and south of the bridge will celebrate the anniversary throughout 2016 with spe- cial exhibits, talks and a re- dedication. “The opening of the bridge was a big deal for coastal communities at the mouth of the Columbia River,” said Betsy Millard, executive di- rector of the Columbia Pacif- ic Heritage Museum. “Easier auto access opened up both sides of the river to more travelers and made Astoria much more accessible to lo- cal residents.” The impressive structure links Astoria to Point Ellice at Megler in Pacific County, Washington, 14 miles from the mouth of the Columbia River and 11 miles from the Long Beach Peninsula. Approximately 6,000 cars cross the two-lane (plus bike lanes) bridge daily. As part of the celebra- tion, the Columbia Paci¿c Heritage Museum will open a special 50th Anniversary Astoria/Megler Bridge exhi- bition on July 29. The exhibi- tion will focus on the history of Megler and its transition from the era of steamboats and ferries to that of the modern bridge. For more information, visitcolum- biapacificheritagemuseum. org or call 360-642-3446. The Clatsop County His- torical Society is present- ing a free, monthly “Bridge Talk” at Fort George Brew- ery at 7 p.m. the second Wednesday of the month. For more information, email cchs@cumtux.org or call 503-325-2203. Other events in the plan- ning stages include a rededi- cation on Aug. 13 with tie-ins to the Astoria Regatta (taking place Aug. 10 to 14) and a bridge workers reunion. Spe- ci¿cs will be announced. In addition to the 50th Photo by Joshua Bessex Runners make their way across the Astoria Bridge during The Great Columbia Crossing. anniversary events, the pop- ular Great Columbia Cross- ing, a timed 10K walk or run, is held annually in Oc- tober; this is the only set day each year when foot traffic is allowed on the bridge. The 35th annual crossing is slat- ed for Oct. 16, and registra- tion opens on May 1 atgreat- columbiacrossing.com History of the bridge Construction began Nov. 5, 1962 at a cost of $24 mil- lion. The longest continuous, three-truss, through-span bridge in North America, the Astoria-Megler Bridge opened on July 29, 1966 and was dedicated by Wash- ington Gov. Dan Evans and Oregon Gov. Mark Hat¿eld, along with a crowd of 30,000 people, on Aug. 27, 1966. The engineering feat was designed by William Adair Bugge, with the Oregon and Washington Departments of Transportation overseeing the project. Bonds were paid off and tolls were removed on Dec. 24, 1993. At one time nicknamed the “Bridge to Nowhere,” the 4.1-mile-long Astoria Bridge is signi¿cant as the last-to- be-completed link in the Trans American Highway: a continuous, uninterrupted motor route between the Ca- nadian and Mexican borders. Upon its completion, the bridge replaced the Asto- ria-Megler Ferry, a commer- cial ferry service established by Capt. Fritz Elfying in 1921 and sold to the state of Ore- gon, with operations assigned to the State Highway Depart- ment (now the Oregon De- partment of Transportation) in 1946. In good weather, the crossing could take half an hour. The ferry’s limited car capacity and cancelled ser- vice most always meant long waits. The nearest non-ferry crossing was at the Lewis and Clark Bridge, crossing from Rainier to Longview, Wash- ington, approximately 48 miles upstream. “The opening of the bridge marked a change of life for all of us on the Long Beach Peninsula,” recalls David Campiche, native of Seaview, Wash- ington, and owner/oper- ator with his wife Laurie Anderson of the historic Shelburne Inn. “It marked the end of a slower-paced, in retrospect, more-roman- tic-though-less-predictable means of crossing. “I remember taking the ferry to The Y swimming pool in Astoria. Sometimes the ferry would stop running or get caught on a sand bar. We’d have to overnight at the John Jacob Astor Hotel, quite the adventure for us as young people.”
