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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 24, 2019)
»INSIDE DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2019 147TH YEAR, NO. 76 $1.50 Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian A younger class performs a snazzy jazz routine to the Christmas classic ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ in the Encore Dance Studio Holiday Spectacular at the Liberty Theatre on Friday evening. A Christmas spectacular Dancers fi ll the stage at the Liberty Theatre. ABOVE: The kindergarten jazz class spins around the stage to ‘Let it Snow.’ LEFT: The advanced acro class bends backward, up and down across the stage to the tune of ‘Boogie Woogie Santa Claus.’ SEE MORE PHOTOS ONLINE AT DAILYASTORIAN.COM Webers leave mark on Astoria Restoring the old YMCA building downtown By EDWARD STRATTON The Astorian The Weber family has become well-known in Boise for their cus- tom signs downtown and the Clas- sic Design Studio, a central hub of spaces for their sign company and artists working in typesetting, murals, sculpture, photography and enamel. Over the past several years, the Webers have left a similar mark on Astoria, fi lling windows with their custom signs and restoring the for- mer YMCA at 12th and Exchange streets. See Webers, Page A6 Katie Frankowicz/The Astorian Ari Freitag took ownership of Lodestar Goods this month. New retailer has keen eye Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian The freshly-painted exterior of the old YMCA building features designs and work from Anna Weber, of Astoria Design Studio, who is working with her brother Noel Weber Jr. and Wytske van Keulen to renovate space off 12th and Exchange streets. Freitag was a fi eld ecologist By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Astorian Astoria family loses home, pets in fi re W Fast-moving blaze on Nowlans Drive By NICOLE BALES The Astorian An Astoria family’s home was destroyed by fi re on Thursday . The fi re started just after 5 p.m. while the Kurrus family was home on Nowl- ans Drive off of Young s River Road. Stephanie Kurrus said she was preparing dinner and her husband, Alex Kur- rus, had just woken up from a nap. Stephanie Kurrus, a clerk at the Clatsop County Circuit Court, isn’t usu- ally home at that time, but was taking time off work to recover from surgery. While waiting for the kitchen oven to heat up, she went and sat with her Nicole Bales/The Astorian See Fire, Page A6 An Astoria family lost their home to a fi re Thursday. hen Ari Freitag was working seasonally as a fi eld ecologist, she learned to notice every lit- tle thing. “There’s no real sepa- ration between the natural world and the built world,” she said. Natural is not “out there,” somewhere else, untethered. On the Long Beach Peninsula, where she lives, this is obvious: Black bears roam through backyards, deer stroll across roads. But it can be even more subtle: the moss that grows in a crack in a sidewalk in downtown Astoria, a microcosm all to itself. For certain types of research, Freitag would put down a meter by meter frame and have to identify every species inside the square. This type of notic- ing has been a hard habit to shake. “Before I would have walked in the woods and See Freitag, Page A6
