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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 6, 2018
Fair: ‘Everybody’s really excited’
Continued from Page 1A
Suddenly, he was making
business decisions as well.
“I’ll literally be in the office
part of the day and then be out-
side on a tractor,” Lewis said.
Combined roles
After some turnover, the fair
is now fully staffed. Instead of
searching for a new fair man-
ager, the board decided to per-
manently hire Lewis, who will
continue filling the combined
roles. The decision was par-
tially a cost-saving move, Autio
said.
“We sort of discovered, you
know, that all the administrative
stuff involves the facilities in
some way,” he said.
The fair’s budget for the new
fiscal year that began in July is
$1.3 million, a slight decrease
from last year. Last year’s bud-
get was a 10 percent drop from
the previous cycle.
“We were pretty aggres-
sive about trying to make sure
our budget was balanced this
year,” Autio said. “I think, bud-
get-wise, we’re pretty good
going ahead.”
Lewis pointed to a number
of decisions made by the fair
last year as examples of poor
fiscal choices. For last year’s
Montgomery Gentry con-
cert, for instance, the fair spent
$3,000 on shuttle buses that
only 16 people used.
“You have to run it like a
business and not like a play-
ground with a big budget
because that’s not what it is,”
Lewis said.
Lewis has searched for new
entertainment options in an
effort to close the gap between
expenses and revenue. In
lieu of a BMX exhibit, which
cost $8,000 last year without
including hotel costs for rid-
ers, this year’s fair will have
a monster truck ride that will
cost $5 per person. As part of
the agreement, the fair will col-
lect a percentage of those pro-
ceeds and not pay anything for
the event.
“We’re still going to have
entertainment, and it’s still
going to cost us, but hopefully
not as much,” Lewis said. “I
had success finding things that
we didn’t even have to pay for.”
Lewis made a priority, start-
ing with this year’s fair that
Photos by Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Students in Brian Vollner’s art course are conceptualiz-
ing how to turn their photos of plants and wildlife from
around the North Coast into a large chalk mural they will
draw later this month outside the Barbey Maritime Center.
Academy: Program
begins recruiting in
the fall at local schools
Continued from Page 1A
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
John Lewis attaches a vehicle to a tractor.
Livestock wait to be shown in the 4-H competition at the
Clatsop County Fair last year.
begins later this month, of hav-
ing more attractions to spread
across the fair. Those will
include fire trucks from differ-
ent departments each day, jeep
races, a pig roast and an addi-
tional free concert.
Located in an unincor-
porated area of the county
off state Highway 202 and
away from view, the fair has
become known primarily for
its abundance of livestock, but
Lewis wants to alter that
perception.
“Here, you walk around
for maybe an hour and you’ve
pretty much seen everything,”
Lewis said. “It’s really a 4-H
fair, but I’m hoping to add
things that will make people in
town want to come out here. I
really think it’s going to be the
best fair we’ve had in years.”
Other events
On top of planning for the
fair, Lewis also reached out
to the organizers of an annual
Civil War re-enactment when
they announced they were leav-
ing Fort Stevens State Park after
27 years. The event will be held
at the fairgrounds in September.
“He just showed a lot of ini-
tiative in trying to bring more
people to the fairgrounds,”
Autio said. “He brought a lot
of momentum that made us feel
like we were headed in the right
direction.”
Since Lewis was pro-
moted, the Fair Board has taken
a more active role in brain-
storming possible entertain-
ment options. Board member
Paul Mitchell spearheaded the
effort to bring Diamond Rio
— this year’s headline concert
— to the fair, and board mem-
ber Kallie Linder increased the
fair’s social media engagement
to elicit additional ideas.
“We have a lot more one
on one now about the differ-
ent entertainment we can get,”
Lewis said. “It’s just tremen-
dous involvement.”
To increase fair attendance
— 12,605 people came out last
year — while still adhering to
budget constraints, the fair will
not perform any major capital
outlay projects this year. It also
has increased its contingency
fund by 62 percent.
“This will give them an
opportunity to evaluate things,
see what their needs are for the
(next) fiscal year,” said county
Budget and Finance Director
Monica Steele, who worked
closely with the Fair Board to
craft this year’s budget.
If more funds are freed for
future budgets, Lewis’ ideas
include a revamp of the horse
barn and a new parking lot on
the north side of the fairgrounds.
Both immediately and in the
future, Lewis hopes the county
fair will feel similar to the one
he experienced in Spokane or
the one in Tillamook that some
county residents have preferred.
“It’s a whole different ball-
game,” Lewis said. “Every-
body’s really excited.”
Study: Pilot program could cost about $2 million
Continued from Page 1A
The study concluded that
about 40 percent of 3- and
4-year-olds within 300 per-
cent of the federal poverty
level in Clatsop and Tilla-
mook counties are not receiv-
ing preschool. The lack of
preschool is particularly high
among low-income students
and English language learners.
The quality of preschool in the
counties also varies widely.
“There’s strong evidence
that says when somebody has
high-quality preschool, they
do well in third grade, which
is the No. 1 predictor of high
school graduation,” Gaffney
said. “But that means that they
go on and they have higher
earning power. They are actu-
ally paying taxes, as opposed
to needing social services,
which are supported by taxes.”
In the Pay for Success
model, also known as social
impact bonds, private inves-
tors pay for social programs
and get repaid with interest if
those programs save the pub-
lic money. If the public savings
are not realized, investors lose
some or all of their money. The
model has been used in sev-
eral places around the country,
including Illinois, Utah and
Colorado.
The ultimate hope locally
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
A study found a significant
number of children on the
North Coast miss out on
preschool.
is that investors will pay for
around 300 preschool slots.
The goal had been 600, Gaff-
ney said, but researchers cut
out 3-year-olds because of the
increased regulations and costs
associated with transporting
the younger children.
The study recommended
a three-year, locally funded
pilot study offering high-qual-
ity preschool for up to 60 addi-
tional 4- and 5-year-olds annu-
ally to establish a successful
track record before seeking
out investors. The pilot pro-
gram would be overseen by
the Northwest Early Learn-
ing Hub. The hub is part of
the Northwest Regional Edu-
cation Service District provid-
ing support services to school
districts.
The pilot program could
cost about $2 million, includ-
ing transporting students and
increasing the professional
development and pay of pre-
school teachers, Gaffney said.
The hope is that much of the
cost can be covered by in-kind
contributions from entities
such as school districts and
state groups involved in early
childhood education.
Gaffney is pursuing a
Meyer Memorial Trust grant
to fine-tune a pilot model and
develop the partnerships to pay
for it.
Astoria, Warrenton and
Jewell have all added in-house
preschools in recent years.
Craig Hoppes, the superin-
tendent in Astoria, said his
school district offers 21 pre-
school slots in-house but
is looking at all options to
expand the opportunity to all
children before they reach
kindergarten.
“We know that kids in our
preschool program perform
very well” in kindergarten, he
said.
Despite the high cost of
implementing
high-qual-
Fireworks: ‘Don’t play with illegal fireworks’
Continued from Page 1A
Eddy said this was the first
Gearhart fire response on the
Fourth of July in “seven or
eight years.” The last time,
a girl near Del Rey Beach
burned her feet after stepping
into a buried fire pit.
The message, Eddy said,
is “don’t play with illegal
fireworks.”
Gearhart Police Chief Jeff
Bowman said no charges
have been issued as a
result of Wednesday’s inci-
dent, but the investigation
remains open.
In Seaside, meanwhile, a
“boy burned his hand pretty
good” using fireworks on the
Prom, Seaside Fire Depart-
ment Division Chief Chris
Dugan said.
The boy, whose name has
not been released, was taken
to Providence Seaside Hospi-
tal with minor injuries, Dugan
said.
In another incident, Seaside
police arrested a man after he
allegedly dropped mortar-style
fireworks into the fire pits of
other people on the beach.
Ruslan Ivanchenko, 18, of
Portland, was charged with
reckless endangering, disor-
derly conduct and possession
of alcohol by a minor.
ity preschool, the study con-
cluded, society would save
more long term by improved
academic performance, higher
lifetime earnings, reduced
chronic health issues, less need
for social services and less
potential involvement in the
criminal justice system.
“Over a child’s lifetime,
there would be savings of
about $14,500,” Gaffney said.
German and Spanish, stu-
dents were asking for Ameri-
can Sign Language. In 2013,
sign language displaced Ger-
man as the third most pop-
ular non-English language
course taken in college after
Spanish and French, accord-
ing to the Modern Language
Association.
“Some students do bet-
ter with visual languages,”
said Patrick McConahay, an
instructor.
McConahay, who has
taught at the college for more
than 20 years, took students
this summer through numbers,
colors, commerce and other
conversational basics of sign-
ing, finishing his class with a
silent game of Go Fish.
Local teachers pitch the
summer academy several
afternoon projects for stu-
dents. This year, students are
preparing a stand-up comedy
routine, a visitor booklet for
the Astoria Riverwalk and a
photography exhibit.
Students in Brian Voll-
ner’s Creatures of the Colum-
bia program have been visit-
ing parks around the county,
compiling photos and sam-
ples of local plants and ani-
mals as source material for a
30-foot-wide mural inspired
by the style of Charley Harper,
an American modernist artist
known for his wildlife prints.
The mural will be drawn in
chalk near the Barbey Mari-
time Center.
Most of the students in Vol-
lner’s project were attracted
by their interest in nature and
art. Students will incorporate
their individual sketches into a
mural of stacked circles, each
a different size and reprinting
a different level of life on the
North Coast.
“We’re taking all the differ-
ent places we’ve been to and
combining it, so it’s not just
defining Cullaby Lake or just
that one park,” Alexis Miller,
of Astoria, said. “It’s bringing
it all together, so it’s unique.”
The mural, comedy rou-
Warrenton high schooler
Marlie Annat’s sketch-
book reflects the style of
Charley Harper, an Ameri-
can modernist famous for
his wildlife prints. Harp-
er’s style will inspire a
large chalk mural Annat
and other students in the
Upward Bound Summer
Academy are designing.
tines, booklets and photos will
all be on display during a pub-
lic finale for the academy from
6 to 7 p.m. July 18 at the mari-
time center.
Each Friday, students
go on field trips to a ropes
course, local state parks and
the Evergreen Aviation &
Space Museum in McMinn-
ville. They will spend the final
week of the academy living in
dorms at Southwest Oregon
Community College, learning
about estuaries and nearshore
environments at the Oregon
Institute of Marine Biology in
Charleston.
“The kids have said for
many years that they want
a residential component, so
we’ll give them a week living
in dorms, eating at the cafete-
ria,” Graves said.
College is a fair bet for
many students involved in
Upward Bound. Students in
the program averaged a 98
percent high school gradua-
tion rate between 2013 and
last year, compared to 75 per-
cent or less overall at Asto-
ria, Warrenton and Seaside.
Nearly 80 percent of high
school graduates in Upward
Bound last year started college
the following fall, compared
to 61 percent of county grad-
uates overall.
The Upward Bound pro-
gram begins recruiting in the
fall at local high schools and
through the college.
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