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ROCKIN’ RHODY FESTIVAL REVS UP
Dunes Triathlon and Duathlon
on May 9 and culminate with a
carnival, classic car show, ven-
dor fair and parade the week of
the festival.
The Florence Area Chamber
of Commerce puts on many of
the week’s core events.
Cal Applebee, executive
director of the chamber, said,
“There’s just a ton of things
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
The 108th Rhododendron
Festival will be held in
Florence from May 15 to 17.
The festivities will kick off the
week before on Wednesday,
May 6, with the Rhody Court
Scholarship Showcase, contin-
ue with Dunes City’s Oregon
that go on to make it a huge
festival.”
BeachKombers Car Club
will host its 23rd annual Show
and Shine.
“It’s a huge show,” he said.
“They generate in the neigh-
borhood of 200 to 300 vehi-
cles.”
There will be something for
everyone. Motorcycles will
line Bay Street. Area vendors
will sell food, art and goods at
the vendor fair. Siuslaw
Pioneer Museum will show-
case the history of Rhody Fest.
Local groups will offer lunch-
es, pie sales and helicopter
rides. Davis Shows Northwest
Carnival will fill the Port of
Siuslaw boardwalk with rides,
games and fun.
Applebee said, “People love
coming to the carnival. We sell
hundreds of tickets at the visi-
tor’s center.”
There also will be the 37th
Annual Rhody Run.
See
Local country singer Amy Clawson
named grand marshal
he Florence Area Chamber of
Commerce announced this
week that local recording
artist Amy Clawson has been named
grand marshal for this year’s 108th
Rhododendron Festival.
“With this year’s theme of ‘Let’s
Rock ’n’ Rhody,’ it was only fitting
that our long-standing festival select
T
RHODY 8A
See
FEST 8A
Amy Clawson
Central
Lincoln
plans $6M
upgrade
E GG - CELLENT E ASTER
Infrastructure project
helps PUD keep up with
Florence-area growth
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
MAD
DASH
PHOTOS BY JACK DAVIS/SIUSLAW NEWS
H
undreds of children, between 1 and 10 years old, scrambled to
gather more than 3,000 plastic Easter eggs Saturday during the
annual Rotary Club of Florence Easter Egg Hunt at Miller Park.
Children were divided into six age groups to ensure fairness.
Each egg had a prize inside. Special gold eggs had numbers corresponding with
larger prizes for each group. Rotarians raised the money to purchase prizes and
candy. Abby’s Pizza, Dairy Queen, City Lights Cinemas and McDonalds donated
gift certificates. Grocery Outlet and Wind Drift Gallery provided additional
candy, and Bi-Mart gave Rotary a discount on Easter baskets.
City honors police chief, awaits replacement
Contract with Lane County Sheriff
Tom Turner not yet finalized
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
Although the City of
Florence and Lane County
Sheriff Tom Turner have not
officially signed contracts
instating Turner as Florence
chief of police, interim
police chief Lynn Lamm is
preparing to step down.
Lamm will retire, for the
second time, from the
Florence Police Department
when his replacement begins
on May 1.
“We’re still in talks with
Turner,” City Manager Erin
Reynolds said. “We’re going
through the fine-tuning of
the contract. Everything
looks to still be on track to
have him here on May 1.”
At
Florence
City
Council’s April 6 meeting,
Mayor Joe Henry and the
council honored Lamm.
Henry said, “On behalf of
Your
INSIDE
W E D N E S D AY
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Police
Scoreboard
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Florence Mayor Joe
Henry, City Manager Erin
Reynolds and Lt. John
Pitcher (far right) honor
Interim Police Chief Lynn
Lamm during Monday’s
city council meeting.
PHOTO BY CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS
the City of Florence and
myself, I want to thank you
very much for coming out of
retirement and helping us
when we really needed it.
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We’ll try not to call you out
of retirement again.”
When Lamm got the chance
to speak, he said, “It’s really
been my pleasure to be able to
come back and step into this
position. Not many people get
the opportunity to retire twice
from the same agency.”
“We have really enjoyed
working with you,” Reynolds
said. “There’s many here rec-
ognizing you tonight.”
Central Lincoln People’s Utility
District (CLPUD) has started a $6 mil-
lion project to upgrade electric utilities
in the Florence area.
CLPUD representatives Bruce
Lovelin, chief engineer, and Chris
Chandler, communication and econom-
ic development manager, are excited
about the project that has been in the
works since the mid-1990s.
“There was a plan going on then,
working with the city of Florence, to
build a new substation,” Lovelin said.
“It’s a big project. It’s probably over $6
million in investments that we’re put-
ting into the area.
“I think it’s going to serve the area
well in terms of how the greater area of
Florence grows.”
The substation, called Kingwood
Station, is funded through savings and
reserve funds set aside in the ’90s for
this project.
Chandler said, “We’re building at
Pacific View Industrial Park on proper-
ty we’ve owned for a long time. I’m
pretty excited that our projections told
us back then that the day was going to
come when we were going to need this.
We were right. The only question was
just when.”
“Our board of directors ... places a
real high priority on investing back into
our electricity system and continuing to
improve the reliability and safety of it,”
Lovelin said. “It’s quite an investment,
but it’s also great that the board of
directors and managers of the utility
have allowed us to develop this expert-
ise to build.”
CLPUD crews will do most of the
work themselves.
“We’re pouring all the concrete foot-
ings right now. Over the next three to
four months there will be a lot of activ-
ity going on there. We’ll have a full
electric substation there by October,”
Lovelin said.
According to Lovelin and Chandler,
CLPUD has been monitoring customer
use and area growth to determine when
the project would begin.
Sports—C
See
PUD 8A
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
Festival organizers prepare for city’s
largest event of the year