12 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
A ‘storm’ of new stories is brewing in republished book
Author Peter
Lindsey will
relaunch his
Cannon Beach
history June 22
BOOK LAUNCH
7 p.m. Wednesday, June 22
Cannon Beach Book Co.
130 N. Hemlock St. No. 2,
Cannon Beach
By NANCY McCARTHY
FOR COAST WEEKEND
Back by popular demand,
the storm is comin’ over the
rock.
The “storm” of new
stories and historical photos
of Cannon Beach will be
released this month in the
newly revised book, “Com-
in’ in Over the
Rock: a Story-
teller’s History of
Cannon Beach,”
written by folklor-
ist and former En-
glish teacher Peter
Lindsey of Cannon
Beach.
Lindsey’s book
fi rst was published
in 2004 and went
out of print in 2008.
Last November, the
community collected
$8,000 to revise and
republish the book
containing quintes-
sential stories about
the characters of
Cannon Beach.
“I’m excited about
it,” said Lindsey. “It’s
kind of exciting.”
The new book will
be launched during
a gathering at 7 p.m.
Wednesday, June 22, in
the Cannon Beach Book Co.
Those who contributed $100
or more will receive a signed
copy of the book.
“I’ll scrawl anything they
might choose,” Lindsey said.
The project to republish
the book began with a dis-
cussion of locals attending
a wedding two years ago.
Although Rainmar Bartl,
retired city planner for Can-
non Beach, hadn’t attended
the wedding, he heard about
the idea and pursued it. He
learned that Portland State
PHOTO BY KATHERINE LACAZE
ABOVE: Peter Lindsey, who grew up in Cannon Beach and attended Seaside
High School, was selected as the recipient of the 2015 Oregon Coast Literary
Award, presented by students from Seaside High School.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
LEFT: The cover of Peter Lindsey’s new edition of “Comin’ in Over the Rock: A
Storyteller’s History of Cannon Beach.”
when Can-
non Beach’s
“rascals”
gathered in
local gas
stations,
on the
sidewalks
University had a publish-
ing program called “Write to
Publish.” Instructor Abbey
Gaterud and her students
agreed to copyread and
prepare the new book for
publication.
The book also was
reviewed by several local
residents before it was sent
to a printer in Illinois, which
published 1,900 volumes.
While the new version re-
tains the same stories of the
earlier book, there are new
stories as well. The stories
come from Lindsey’s youth,
and in the bars.
The stories unfolded as “I
and my testosterone-addled
friends were hanging out,”
said Lindsey, whose book
is fi lled with adventures the
teenagers encountered while
roaming freely on the beach
and in the woods behind
the town before it became a
tourist destination.
“I think it should be
required reading for people
in Cannon Beach who have
arrived in the last 20 years,”
Bartl said.
Although the book traces
Cannon Beach’s history, it’s
Seaside High School
more than that, said Lind-
students enjoyed the stories
sey’s childhood friend and
contained in the fi rst edition
fellow author, Karl Marlan-
of “Comin’ in Over the
tes, who wrote the forward
Rock” so much that they be-
to the new book.
stowed their annual Oregon
“Histories
Coast Literary
inform: stories
Award on him
‘I THINK IT
connect,” Mar-
last year.
SHOULD BE
lantes wrote.
His favorite
“If you want
story in the
REQUIRED
to have the es-
new edition
READING
sence of time,
“A Logger
FOR PEOPLE is Talks
stories tell it
IN CANNON which to he God,”
best,” Lindsey
calls
BEACH WHO the “quintes-
added.
“My
HAVE ARRIVED sential” story
juices start to
IN THE LAST 20 of the “heart
quiver when
of Cannon
YEARS.’
I encounter a
Beach and
story. If you
the culture of
don’t collect those stories,
Cannon Beach.” The story
they vanish, just like people
also appeared in a collec-
vanish. So I cherish these
tion of folklore stories to
things.”
which Lindsey contributed
called “The Well-Traveled
Casket.”
Lindsey fi rst heard the
story in the former Dueber’s
variety store, a “hotbed of
local interaction at one time
because there was so little
else going on in Cannon
Beach,” he said.
In addition to a new
forward, Lindsey’s book
also contains two maps
of Cannon Beach and its
surroundings drawn by
Astoria artist Sally Lackaff.
More historical photos —
provided by local residents,
including Jeanette Stevens,
Heather Goodenough and
Marlene Laws — also are
included.
Bartl’s stepson, Peter
Grant, a graphic designer,
was able to scan the historic
photos and increase the
resolution to improve the
images for printing. A new
cover features an illustra-
tion of Haystack Rock in a
rainstorm, and Oregon poet
Kim Stafford summarized
the contents on the back
page.
The book title comes
from something Lindsey
heard while hanging out at
the old Shell gasoline sta-
tion at the corner of Gower
and Hemlock streets north
of Haystack Rock.
“She’s comin’ in over the
rock, today, boys!” station
owner George Malstead
told them, as rain whipped
around the shambling, yel-
low-washed building.
From there, Lindsey
launched the stories that fi ll
the book.
“Everyone should have
a copy,” Bartl said. “This
is the essential history of
Cannon Beach.”