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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 2021)
B5 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021 Tiny Micro-Chip Now In The Ear: Available! Now You See It... Now You Don’t! ou ou Alan Berner/Seattle Times Visiting football fans Hugh Roberts, left, Eric Paris, his brother Kevin Paris and Tony Laughton get a kick out of the fl ying fi sh at the famous Pike Place Market stand earlier this month. Pike Place Market navigates path back amid pandemic By PAUL ROBERTS Seattle Times SEATTLE — Like many vendors at Pike Place Market, Scott Chang isn’t sure when business will resume its pre-COVID normal. True, this summer brought welcome crowds of tourists and locals to the open- air Seattle landmark. Sales at See Lee Gar- dens, the fl ower business owned by Chang’s family, are nearly back to where they were before the pandemic shuttered the market’s picturesque warren of stalls and shops. But there’s another, more somber rea- son for See Lee’s rebound: Several com- peting fl ower vendors haven’t come back to the market, or are only here a few days a week. They now sell at other outlets that don’t require the long commute into down- town Seattle. Even Chang, for the fi rst time, is sell- ing some of his fl owers elsewhere, partly as a hedge against future COVID-related disruptions. “We’re never going to quit Pike Place,” says Chang, 36, of the place that has hosted his family business since the 1980s. But the pandemic “was a big eye-opener that we have to look for other venues.” Fifty years after Pike Place Market was nearly razed in the name of progress, the sprawling institution faces another, even more complex nemesis. Although many of the market’s more than 500 businesses saw solid sales this sum- mer, visitor numbers are still below their 2019 levels. Many vendors and farmers are still on reduced hours, and dozens haven’t returned or are squarely on the fence about coming back. “It truly is up in the air right now,” says Jim Johnson, owner of Olympia-based John- son Berry Farm, a 22-year market stalwart that hasn’t been back since last fall. Even many of those vendors who have made it back did so by shifting how — and sometimes where — they do business as they prepare for their second pandemic winter. Collectively, it points to changes for an iconic, eclectic retail community that was facing challenges before COVID, includ- ing labor shortages and competition from online retailers and from a proliferation of farmers markets in virtually every town and neighborhood. Although Pike Place Market remains the region’s go-to source for a fully immersive “meet the producer” experience, “we can’t live on it alone,” says Mary Bacarella, exec- utive director of the Pike Place Market Pres- ervation and Development Authority, which owns and manages the 9-acre, 14-building complex. The market, Bacarella, “has to adapt.” That face-to-face quality is, of course, precisely why Pike Place Market suff ered so deeply from COVID. Even after the state reopened nonessen- tial businesses in June 2020, the tourists who historically provide around half the market’s sales were all but absent. Although loyal locals came out in droves, over- all visitor numbers stayed at less than half their pre-pandemic levels into early 2021, according to data from the Downtown Seat- tle Association. Fewer tourists meant fewer vendors, which in turn left the market even less attractive to visitors. “One summer to another, it went from making hundreds of dollars a day to mak- ing dozens of dollars a day,” says Daniel Fleming, 48, a photographer and digital art- ist who has rented a daystall in the market since 2007. The entire market organization shrank. Revenues for the market’s Preservation and Development Authority , which charges some tenants a percentage of retail sales, fell from a record $22.6 million in 2019 to $13.2 million in 2020, leading to cost cutting and layoff s of 15% of its staff . “They took a hit,” says Bacarella. Dean: Working on second suspense novel ing the time to work on his dream before he retired. story about this guy,” Dean said. “It’s a sus- Dean worked his way up to a job at pense-thriller, and there’s a lot of action.” Newsday in Long Island, New York, where he retired about two years ago. The true story “There was no way I could fi nd enough “Dangerous Freedom” is inspired by a time to write novels during my career,” he true story. said. “All of these great ideas are pouring In his early newsroom days, Dean was out of me now.” a reporter covering courts and crime for Dean moved from New York to Astoria the Idaho Statesman in Boise from 1988 to about a year ago during the pandemic. 1992. “ There was something about that winter In Boise, Dean interviewed Walter “Bud” and the pandemic that forced me to concen- Balla, who was an inmate at the state pen- trate,” Dean said. “It was a bizarre silver lin- itentiary and became the ing and I took full advan- foundation for “Dangerous of it. I had a really ‘I DON’T KNOW tage Freedom.” good draft of the novel Balla was bringing a done in six months.” HOW OTHER class-action lawsuit against Throughout his career, NOVELISTS the Idaho prison system Dean ran into a host of alleging a variety of things, interesting characters, COME UP including poor living con- which now has proven to WITH THESE ditions and overcrowding, be boon for him in the nov- Dean said. el-writing process. CHARACTERS “This guy had a high “I don’t know how other school education and he’s novelists come up with IF THEY DIDN’T brought this lawsuit and these characters if they EXPERIENCE won it in federal court,” didn’t experience them. I Dean said, adding that feel like I have an advan- THEM. I FEEL Balla’s action resulted in tage that I actually ran into major prison reform. Dean LIKE I HAVE AN these people,” he said. profi led Balla and covered With “Dangerous Free- ADVANTAGE the federal case. dom” completed , Dean is “I was so struck by him now working on his sec- THAT I that I always thought he’s ond suspense book, “The going to be a character ACTUALLY RAN Ghosts We Know.” The in a novel I write,” Dean novel is also a suspense INTO THESE said. “And I fi nally did it, I story. The plot follows two wrote this book where he’s aging war veterans who PEOPLE.’ the protagonist.” teamed up to hunt a child Baker is named Bud William Dean | author predator. after Balla’s nickname as “It’s gritty but it’s also a tribute to the real-life compassionate. I’m taking inspiration, Dean said. some bold steps in my writing development and I’m very excited about it,” Dean said. A second novel While it’s less journalistically inspired, the “I’ve always had a lifelong dream of two characters also stem from real fi gures in wanting to write books,” Dean said, adding Dean’s life. that the busy and unpredictable schedules he He anticipates “The Ghosts We Know” kept as a journalist precluded him from hav- will launch in early December. Continued from Page B1 • One of the smallest custom hearing aids ever made • 48 channel digital signal processing • Digital engineering allows 1,000’s of custom settings • Controlled by state-of-the-art software Spaces are Limited Call Today for your FREE* Hearing Evaluation! 5 Days Only! Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues, and Wed Tillamook Warrenton 2505 Main Ave N Ste. C Tillamook, OR 97141 503-836-7926 173 S. Hwy. 101 Warrenton, OR 97146 503-836-7921 One More Thing Some parts of the evaluation include the use of a familiar voice, so please bring a spouse or family member with you. Call us today to confirm your appointment time! 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