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.”