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Cottage Grove Sentinel
Above: A formation of Swift airplanes took to the skies over BMD Saturday — More on page 3A
WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2016
SOUTH LANE AND NORTH DOUGLAS COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
VOLUME 129 • NUMBER 4
Slabtown prevails in close BMD feud contest
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
S
unny skies, comfortable
temperatures and sizable
crowds set the stage for what or-
ganizers are calling a successful
Bohemia Mining Days festival,
the 57th annual celebration of
the Cottage Grove area’s min-
ing heritage.
First-year coordinator Cindy
Weeldreyer said that many of
the vendors who ply their wares
at BMD each year compliment-
ed what they saw as the best fes-
tival in a decade.
“The weather was a real bless-
photo by Greg Lee
Grand Marshals for Saturday's Grand Miners Parade and
the festival's fi rst queens, Amelia Dunnavin Blowers and
Carolyn Cutts Rippy, share a moment with coordinator
Cindy Weeldreyer and escorts Jack and Joyce Gates.
to the BMD schedule following
a hiatus, were well supported.
Themed “All that Glitters is not
Gold,” the festival highlighted
Cottage Grove’s early forays
into electricity.
But there was more history on
hand as well, as the southwest
corner of Coiner Park played
host to the festival’s heritage
stage, in addition to blackpow-
der rifl e demonstrations from
the Fort Umpqua Muzzleload-
ers and the blacksmith work of
Gene Bland. Antique engines
kept the park humming and
popping, and a nonstop enter-
tainment schedule meant music
Slabtown 118
Lemati 117
More results on page 9A
ing,” Weeldreyer said. “Last
year, we were in the triple dig-
its on Saturday, and the cooler
weather seemed to bring out
more people.”
Crowds appeared larger
from the get-go, as Coiner
Park teemed with activity from
Thursday evening on. New and
returning events such as the
Bloomer Parade, which returned
from start to fi nish.
Weeldreyer highlighted the
brand-new Historical Treasure
Hunt, which used the BMD Ex-
press Train to ferry players to
local historical landmarks. She
said that 42 completed entries
were turned in by participants
who visited 11 local landmarks.
The train itself was also a popu-
lar attraction.
“We pulled it off,” Weeldrey-
er said of the hunt. “Downtown
businesses were really great
about staying open a little later
on Saturday and Sunday.”
Please see BMD, Page 9A
Symphony's
second showing
successful
Also inside:
Instrument petting zoo,
#instaballet and community band
augment outdoor concert
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
M
Kids can cook
Local farm's classes
aim to show them how,
page 8A
idway through the performance, a low
rumble could be heard in the distance, a
sound too mechanical, too metallic to be part of the
show on stage.
“Ah, that’s what it was — a train,” exclaimed
Conductor Danail Rachev. “I was wondering.”
Rachev chit-chatted with the audience for an-
photo by Jon Stinnett
other minute, as is his wont, but eventually he’d Danail Rachev conducts the Eugene Symphony's performance of Tchaikovsky's "1812
call the orchestra to attention once again, and the Overture" during Monday's concert at Bohemia Park.
bombast of John Williams’ score from “Star Wars”
the evening began well before the Symphony took
“As a bass player, I always feel like we’re kind of
drowned out the noise of the passing train.
off in right fi eld,” Pardi said. “I remember when the
Such was the scene for the Eugene Symphony’s its seats.
At 5:30, representatives of the Eugene Sympho- local symphony hosted something like this when I
second stop in Cottage Grove in as many years
Monday evening, an event that was by turns both ny Association assembled under the park’s pavil- was little, and the chance to play one of these was
highbrow and down home, with a sunset as spec- ion with an array of instruments. Children young thrilling.”
Cottage Grove’s Community Band took the
tacular as any this area offers setting the sky ablaze and older got to try their hand (or lips) at playing a
trumpet, violin and various percussion instruments, stage at 6:30 p.m. with four musical numbers. Next
behind the park to help close the show.
By show time at 7:30 p.m., the crowd fi lled the and Evan Pardi, bassist with the Symphony and a came an audience-aided performance from #insta-
grass seating of the Bohemia Park amphitheater recent graduate of the University of Oregon School ballet, whose Antonio Anacan implored the crowd
and much of two sets of bleachers erected behind of Music, even stopped by with his own outsize in-
Please see SYMPHONY, Page 10A
the regular seating just for this performance. But strument to display.
No moorage at Baker Bay after Dorena Reservoir drawdown
BY JON STINNETT
the Cottage Grove Sentinel
B
oat owners accustomed
to mooring their crafts at
Baker Bay on Dorena Reservoir
have had to explore other options
after the Army Corps of Engi-
neers lowered the water level at
the lake in response to dry condi-
tions.
The Lane County Parks De-
partment, which manages Baker
Bay, recently informed those
who hold moorage rights there
that the County would no longer
be renting boat slips this year.
Moorage holders were told that
they had to remove their boats by
July 11, according to an employ-
ee of the Parks Department who
asked that she not be identifi ed
by name.
R
“We weren’t aware of the draw-
down until right when it was
happening,” she said. “They’ve
been moving their boats out for
the last couple weeks.”
A steady group of boat own-
ers has moored boats at Baker
Bay for over 15 years, when the
County accepted the last new
boat owner at the dock there, the
woman said. Moorage costs $519
per year, plus a $38 reservation
fee, an amount that should typi-
cally have reserved a spot until
the Corps’ annual drawdown of
Dorena Reservoir in October.
But the drawdown came much
earlier than usual with the ab-
sence of late-spring rains to
fi ll the lake, according to Park
Ranger Christie Johnson.
“Dorena is not the only lake
that’s low right now,” Johnson
said. “It’s been another tough
year that’s certainly drier than
average, though we don’t know
if they’re calling it a drought just
yet.”
Johnson recalled periods of
heavy rainfall last winter but a
slow drying-out that started in
April. A dry May kept water lev-
els lower than expected.
“We really depend on those
spring rains to fi ll the reservoirs,
and we just didn’t get it,” John-
son said.
The Corps is mandated to
maintain certain levels of wa-
ter fl ow in the Willamette sys-
tem for water quality and fi sh
protection, and Johnson said
larger reservoirs such as Look-
out Point were drawn down to
improve water fl ow downstream
in May. Smaller reservoirs such
C
as Dorena were then subject to
drawdown in June, when Dorena
lost fi ve feet from its water level
in a hurry.
Johnson pointed out that the
boat ramp at Baker Bay is still
open year-round even in times
of low water, and she added that
levels at Cottage Grove Lake are
not as low as they were during an
extremely dry 2015.
“Last year, Cottage Grove was
drawn on quite a bit and was
quite a bit lower,” she said. “I’m
not sure why it fl ipped. The wa-
ter managers look for water, and
they take it from where they can
get it.”
Meanwhile, the County is of-
photo by Jon Stinnett
fering Baker Bay moorage hold-
A
dock
that
typically
hosts
moorage
holders
at Baker
ers a spot at Orchard Point facili-
Bay
is
empty
after
an
early
drawdown
of
water
at
ty or the option to take a voucher
Dorena Reservoir.
good for moorage next season.
R
.
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Calendar....................................... 11B
Channel Guide ............................... 8B
Classified ads.................................1C
Obituaries....................................... 2A
Opinion .......................................... 4A
Public Safety .................................. 5A
Sports ............................................ 1B
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