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CoastRiverBus
Volume 16 •
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Published 2nd
Wednesday
of the month
March 2021
Chronicling
Issue 3
bia-Pacific Region
ss in the Colum
the Joy of Busine
light:
Industry Spot
ge in Astoria joins Tillamook co-op
Free ran
ures dairy farm
Inside:
Page 6
Pacific Past
d
homeporte Point
Cruise ships
Tongue
in the middle at North
WCT Marine finds niche
Page 12
Fair trade
Local businesses source
Page 13
products through fair and
direct trade
CAROLYN HOARD
Boat of the
The Hilton’s Express is
Page 24
Month
About 250 calves
were born at
Pacific Pastures
this winter.
owned by Pacific Seafood
148TH YEAR, NO. 108
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2021
$1.50
CORONAVIRUS
Gearhart
looks at
bond for
resiliency
station
New facility outside
tsunami zone
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
People explore the underground portion of the new Astoria Food Hub building off of Marine Drive.
Food hub takes root at
former Sears location
A nexus for producers
and consumers
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
I
n the 1930s, wholesale grocer
Mason, Ehrman & Co. built a dis-
tribution hub in a concrete build-
ing between Marine Drive and what
was then an active railroad spur run-
ning along the Columbia River water-
front. The building later became a stor-
age center and then a Sears Hometown
franchise until closing a year ago.
Now advocates are laying the roots
of the Astoria Food Hub, a nexus for
producers and consumers they hope to
open in the fall.
Jared Gardner, the owner of Nehalem
River Ranch and a central partner in the
project, provides the grass-fed beef for
Fort George Brewery’s burgers, along
with pastured pork. When the brewery
runs out of meat, Gardner has to drive
to cold storage he rents in Portland to
retrieve more.
“There’s a lack of infrastructure on
the North Coast, which is what I’m try-
ing to solve,” he said.
The hub will include retail space
along Marine Drive for locally grown
and made products, along with edu-
cational and commercial kitchens for
local producers and people learning to
eat local. It will provide cold and dry
storage and a distribution hub along the
Astoria Riverwalk for community sup-
ported agriculture.
“It’s a centrally located site where
multiple producers can bring their
GEARHART — This could be the year
that voters consider a bond to build a new
resiliency station outside of the tsunami
inundation zone on North Marion Avenue
known as High Point.
The building will house the day-to-day
operations of the fi re department and police
department.
At last Wednesday’s City Council meet-
ing, Mayor Paulina Cockrum said she
would like to pursue a November bond
“if all the necessary process steps fall into
place by the fi ling deadline. Bond interest
is quite low right now, and that is a big part
of my reason for wanting to move forward
at this time.”
In 2018, after considering nine loca-
tions, the city’s fi re station committee rec-
ommended three concepts and locations to
the public to help guide the decision-mak-
ing process.
“Evacuation areas toward the ocean in
Gearhart along Marion are relatively safe
and may be good locations for a new sta-
tion,” the committee wrote.
A survey showed that 78% of the almost
1,000 who responded supported a new fi re
station and 75.5% supported a bond to pay
See Gearhart, Page A6
Library of Congress
The partners behind the Astoria Food Hub plan to restore the murals painted by
artist Jo Lumpkin Brown on the back of the former Sears Hometown store.
‘THERE’S A LACK OF
INFRASTRUCTURE ON
THE NORTH COAST,
WHICH IS WHAT I’M
TRYING TO SOLVE.’
Jared Gardner | owner
of Nehalem River Ranch
things, store it, to have it distributed,
have some retail,” Gardner said.
Recruiting
The food hub is recruiting producers
and other partners who support its mis-
sion of enhancing the local food ecosys-
tem to take up residence. One interested
partner is the North Coast Food Web.
For the past decade, the food web has
provided technical assistance to produc-
ers and education to consumers. It runs
a weekly market selling local goods
from around 30 different producers.
Jessika Tantisook, the food web’s
executive director, said the business has
quadrupled during the coronavirus pan-
demic because of the demand for local
food. The group’s board of directors is
contemplating an expansion into the
Sears building.
“We know that we need to expand
our current cold storage, dry storage,
freezer storage,” she said. “… My idea
as a director, would be that we co-locate
with other community organizations
and businesses that have commitments
Foragers
take on
Astoria
Underground
An artisan collective
grows downtown
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
A forest is growing in the Astoria
Underground.
Foragers, an earthy collection of arti-
sans , recently took over the center suite
of the old Astoria-themed underground
village on Marine Drive and 10th Street.
See Food hub, Page A6
See Foragers, Page A6
A young leader in choir and cross-country
Parker to help
lead the Gulls
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
S
EASIDE — If Kimber Parker’s
life was an album, the title track
would be something like “Seeking
Seaside.”
It’s the perfect place, right now,
for Parker and her husband, Jesse.
The Parkers moved to Seaside in
2017, when she landed a job as choir
teacher at the high school.
Music has been a big part of Park-
er’s life, along with running. And it’s
all come together in Seaside, where
Parker is also the new cross-country
coach for the Seagulls.
Running and music, music and
running. Parker grew up with both,
and now — just four years out of col-
lege — she is teaching teenagers both
subjects. Her dream jobs come true.
“I come from a running family,”
she said . “I’ve been running since I
was old enough to walk.”
She ran for coach Billy Snow at
Sweet Home High School, just east
of Corvallis, where the family moved
from Los Angeles when Parker was
12.
As an athlete at Sweet Home,
Parker said, “One of my fondest
memories was running the 3-Course
Challenge,” the annual event at
Camp Rilea, hosted by the Gulls.
“I always associated Seaside with a
really fun race.”
Parker and co-coach Brett Duer
— who built a strong cross-country
program at Neah-Kah-Nie — took
over the coaching duties in Seaside
after Frank Januik stepped down last
spring .
The Gulls have a small team this
season — just seven runners — but
it’s a good year to break in a new
coach and a new school, and possi-
bly a new course.
“We’re working out at the new
campus, which is really awesome,”
Parker said. “There’s some really
nice hills here, so we’re getting a lot
of hill workouts. There’s still a lot of
construction going on, so we hav-
en’t taken full advantage of the trails.
Hopefully, we’ll get to this fall. We’d
like to eventually have a 5K course
up there.”
That’s the outside part of the new
campus.
Inside, for Parker, it’s time for
music — which also runs in the
family .
“My dad is an incredible pianist
— he can pick up any instrument,”
Parker said. “I learned to play the
piano early, and started singing in a
choir. My fi rst year in choir was the
seventh grade. I decided then that I
See Parker, Page A6
Kimber Parker
Kimber Parker, Seaside High
School’s choir teacher, is also their
new co-coach in cross-country.