A6
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, MARCH 13, 2021
Businesses: ‘You live and die by relationships’
Continued from Page A1
Rights of way: Large part of
move comes down to liability
Continued from Page A1
Around
Thanksgiv-
ing, Short Wave partnered
with Shift + Wheeler, Gath-
ered Bakeshop & Market
and Cambium Gallery to put
together a package to raffl e
off. Customers could make
donations to indigenous or
Black-led businesses and
enter into the raffl e.
“I moved here about two
years ago from Portland and
I’ve just been continuously
blown away by how support-
ive people are and how much
we help each other succeed,”
Freitag said. “I love that I
can turn to other established
businesses for guidance and
support.”
Since Short Wave car-
ries a range of locally-made
products, Freitag said visitors
from out of town often come
in to buy several gifts to give
to people as an example of
what the North Coast is like.
Freitag also prioritizes eth-
ical and sustainable practices
when choosing products.
She follows a strict set
of guidelines for clothing to
ensure the brands use ecolog-
ically sustainable methods,
the garment makers are paid
fair wages and the items are
made with recyclable materi-
als or are biodegradable.
“I put a lot of thought into
how they’re made and what’s
in them,” Freitag said.
EVOO
EVOO in Cannon Beach
has prioritized organic, local
and sustainable food since
it opened 17 years ago.
Co-owners Lenore Emery
and her husband, c hef Bob
Neroni, work with a coopera-
tive of organic farmers along
the West Coast and Mexico.
“For us, local is important
and fair trade is paramount
important,” Neroni said. “We
want to make sure produc-
ers walk the walk and talk the
talk.”
Neroni and Emery talk
with farmers and their staff
and ask them if they’re
receiving health care, a living
wage and good working con-
ditions. When buying from a
larger company, like Ocean
Beauty Seafoods, they ver-
ify what they’re getting is
sustainable by checking with
Monterey Bay Aquarium’s
Seafood Watch.
Neroni said he builds rela-
tionships with the small farm-
ers he works with.
“In our world, you live and
die by relationships,” he said.
“In lean times, if I have an
order of just $25 they’ll still
deliver with no minimum.”
On the weekends, EVOO
hosts a chef’s table where
people come to dine around
the bar to enjoy three entrees,
conversation and community.
“We have a pulpit to really
promote individuals,” Neroni
said. “When I’m using ingre-
dients, I talk about them.”
He gets tomatoes from
Moon River Farm in
Nehalem, olive oil from
Durant Olive Mill in Dayton,
grains from Bob’s Red Mill
in Milwaukie, dairy products
from Bennett Family Farm in
Tillamook and so on.
North Coast
Food Web
North Coast Food Web
has aimed to help farms and
food businesses get started
and become profi table for the
p ast 10 years .
Caitlin Seyfried, the pro-
grams manager, said the f ood
w eb had to pivot during the
coronavirus pandemic from
its previous model of a cash
farm stand inside its offi ce to
an online platform.
“It has skyrocketed and
grown,” she said. “We started
our online market in June
2020 and we’ve been able to
quadruple our weekly sales
since this time last year and
at least double the number of
vendors who can participate.”
Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
TOP: Ari Freitag sells consignment goods from local makers
at her store, Short Wave, in Astoria. ABOVE: North Coast Food
Web volunteers Merianne Myers, left, and Julie Dorland organize
bread, pastries and pizza dough from the Blue Scorcher Bakery &
Cafe. Customers can order Blue Scorcher bread with other local
goods through the food web’s online market.
Part of the nonprofi t’s
mission is to lower the bar-
riers of entry for small food
businesses to sell their goods.
The online market provides
a smaller marketplace where
they can start with selling a
few products per week. Cus-
tomers order online and the
businesses drop off the orders
at the food web’s offi ce for
pickup.
Seyfried said the food
web has worked with many
farms in the past that have
now joined the online market,
including Spring Up Farm
in Astoria, K Jewels Farm
in Jeffers Garden and Glory
B Farms in Grays River,
Washington.
“The most important piece
is remembering the jobs we
keep here in Clatsop County
are important to the health of
our region,” she said. “For
people who have the time
and resources to shop locally,
it really helps lift everyone
up. When you spend a dol-
lar here, it stays here and it’s
really impactful.”
Seyfried said there isn’t a
sense of competition between
businesses, but rather a coop-
erative effort to work together
to make the North Coast a
better place to live.
“When you go to a farm-
ers market and shop directly
from the farmer, you’re build-
ing a deep connection,” she
said. “There’s a lot of power
in building those commu-
nity relationships that goes
beyond what you’re eating
for dinner.”
The f ood w eb will con-
tinue the online market year-
round, even when the in-per-
son component restarts, and
it plans to start a delivery
program so customers can
receive their orders at home.
Gimre building: Has played host to many restaurants
Continued from Page A1
several rooms in the back
they’ve contemplated leasing
out to other makers.
Kathy Gimre Wolfard
owns the building with her
brother, Jon Gimre, who runs
Gimre’s Shoes in Hillsboro.
Their brother, Pete Gimre,
runs the original location
of Gimre’s Shoes next door
on 14th Street. Gimre Wol-
fard said she’d taken about
30 inquiries since the depar-
ture of Albatross, all but one
of them from people driving
by on 14th Street.
‘WE WANTED TO
DOWNSIZE AND
FIT WITH THE
NEW NORMAL
STYLE.’
Nalinrat ‘Lily’ Sahunalu |
runs Yellow Curry Cozy
Thai in Seaside and opened
Curry & CoCo in Astoria
“I was surprised about
that,” she said. “I had adver-
tised on Facebook Market-
place and Craigslist and a
place called CoStar (Group).
I had a lot of restaurants look
at it, but they were so nervous
about COVID.”
Nalinrat “Lily” Sahunalu,
who runs Yellow Curry Cozy
Thai in Seaside, opened Curry
& CoCo with partner Brian
Fernandez on Ninth Street
near the Astoria Transfer Sta-
tion in 2019. Business was
good until the coronavirus
pandemic made the restau-
rant to-go only. The couple
closed up around Christmas
for a trip to Sahunalu’s home
in Thailand and contemplated
not reopening once their lease
was up in March.
A friend told the couple
about the building on 14th
Street. They agreed to take
over a tiny slot of a storefront
about 9 feet wide and a third
of the size of their old space.
“We wanted to downsize
and fi t with the new normal
style,” Sahunalu said. “That
place (on Ninth Street) was
nice, but it’s too big for us in
this situation. It’s better for
us to be smaller and have one
server and one chef, to cover
the expenses we have.”
Curry & CoCo continues
the culinary traditions of the
building, which has played
host to Albatross, Sea Breeze
Fish and Chips, Rumba
Grilled Sandwiches, Baked
Alaska and Tokyo Teriyaki.
“My dad used to manage it
before,” Gimre Wolfard said. “I
remember Baked Alaska, and
there was a Vietnamese place,
and it was a Coffee Cup once. ”
Curry & CoCo will open in
April as to-go only during pan-
demic-related dining restric-
tions. Sahunalu and Fernandez,
a Cuban immigrant, are still
deciding whether to bring back
Havana nights on Thursdays.
“I shrink a lot, but I still
think that if we do good food,
people will come,” Sahunalu
said. “We already have peo-
ple, all the customers, (check-
ing) us on Facebook and mes-
sage us about when we’ll
open and come back.”
WANTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
The city and county
received complaints from
neighbors about excessive
noise from chainsaws and
traffi c .
Berry claimed he was
being personally targeted by
the county, and that county
offi cials close to the issue
made the neighborhood dis-
pute a county issue.
During a work session
on the ordinance earlier this
month, Commissioner Court-
ney Bangs expressed some
disappointment that the ordi-
nance would cover all com-
mercial activity, even if the
purpose is more of a hobby .
“Those fl ower stands
that are on the side of the
road, though they don’t cre-
ate an income per se, it’s
something that is part of our
community out here,” said
Bangs, who represents east-
ern Astoria to Westport.
“It’s causing a little bit
of concern because then
I’m also thinking about our
book share bins that we have
and other things that could
potentially be present in a
county right of way . And so
I was hoping for a little bit
of delineation between com-
mercial and hobby-type sit-
uations because there’s just
things out here in our unin-
corporated area, mine spe-
cifi cally, that I would be dis-
appointed to see missing.
“And so I guess I was
just hoping for a little bit
more wiggle room for folks
that are just wanting to put
their tulips out. They’re not
looking for a profi t, they’re
just gardeners.”
Ted McLean, the coun-
ty’s public works direc-
tor, said a large part of the
move to prohibit commer-
cial activity comes down to
liability.
“There’s always a term
that I’ve heard from attor-
neys, ‘no good deed goes
unpunished,’” he said. “So
if we try to do something
like that in the county right
of way, it could be very
damaging to the county.”
Commissioner Pamela
Wev said she thinks it is a
combination of safety and
liability.
“And I just fear that in
some of these cases when
someone stops along the
roadway and causes some
kind of a major crash, then
looking at all the people
involved in ownership in
that radius, the county has
the deepest pockets,” Wev
said. “And so we are the
ones who they would prob-
ably come after. And I think
that’s our responsibility to
protect our citizens from
that kind of liability issue.”
Commissioner Lianne
Thompson said, “It’s kind
of like accusing the hunters
of killing Bambi.
“It’s like, ‘A h, the county
commissioners are going
to do away with Girl Scout
cookies and fl ower stands.
What’s wrong with those
bozos?’ So the way I look at
it is if we can fi nd a way to
safely, prudently continue
the activity — because you
know, I like the fl ower stands,
I just want to have it be safe.
I like the Girl Scout cookies.
I just want to have it be safe.
“So if we can help people
get creative about how they
can continue to do it, but do
it in a way that it doesn’t
endanger them and others.”
County: ‘Has the benefi t of a team
with varied expertise on issues’
Continued from Page A1
Lobbyists from Pac/West
have been attending county
commission work sessions
to discuss bills, answer
questions and strategize.
“While the county’s
membership with AOC
(Association of Oregon
Counties) allows the c ounty
to benefi t from the reputa-
ble and effective work they
do at the legislative level,
it is with the understand-
ing that this is being done
for all 36 counties within
the state,” Assistant County
Manger Monica Steele said
in an email. “Pac/West fi lls
in to assist with niche needs
and specifi c issues that are
unique to individual coun-
ties, for example with Clat-
sop County this might mean
issues regarding gillnet fi sh-
ing, since we are the only
county within the state that
has a fi sheries program.
“Additionally, while Clat-
sop County could not ask for
better elected legislators,
especially with Sen. (Betsy)
Johnson’s work on Ways
and Means, Pac/West gives
the county added capacity to
review the thousands of bills
and amendments introduced
and to effectively prioritize
and focus on the key issues.
This work allows the county
and legislators to focus on
the most important and rele-
vant legislation.
“Having Pac/West, who
also has the experience from
fi lling this role for other
counties and entities, means
Clatsop County has the ben-
efi t of a team with varied
expertise on issues, includ-
ing natural resources, agri-
culture, budget, local, gov-
ernment and more working
on our behalf with these key
leaders at the Capitol.”
Edward Stratton/The Astorian
Nalinrat ‘Lily’ Sahunalu and partner Brian Fernandez will
reopen Curry & CoCo Thai Eatery in April on 14th Street.
2020
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