Cottage Grove sentinel., February 21, 2018, Page 3A, Image 3

COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL FEBRUARY 21, 2018 3A
Cottage Grove yurts travel worldwide
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Like many kids, Alan Bair
loved building forts. The joy
of creating a unique space and
having his own area was some-
thing he valued above all else.
“Since I was a child I always
enjoyed building things,” says
present-day Bair as he sits in
his offi ce adorned with pictures
of the adult version of a child-
hood fort: yurts. “But when
I was a kid I would build tree
houses and underground forts
and all kinds of different shacks
and things and played with the
neighborhood kids. You know
at one point I thought at one
point I would enjoy being an
architect.”
Now a businessman in Cot-
tage Grove, Bair is the founder,
owner and president of Pacifi c
Yurts. While the company is in
its 40th year didn’t invent yurts,
they at least gave them quite the
upgrade as some now include
kitchenettes, bathrooms and air
conditioning.
By some reports, the fi rst
versions of these circular tents
that feature a wooden circular
frame fi rst originated in Cen-
tral Asia up to three thousand
years ago. But it was in the 70s
when Bair stumbled across the
Mongolian version of the yurt
as he was looking through Na-
tional Geographic. Inspired by
the structure and its simplici-
ty, Bair made his own yurt and
began living in it with his wife
and his child as they built their
home. The yurt garnered atten-
tion from a local publication
and soon people wanted one of
Bair’s yurts. The former English
major realized he had a business
opportunity on his hands and
decided to make the most of it.
“Without knowing what it
was I became an entrepreneur
and then… I took the small
business management three
years and various night classes
through the community col-
lege,” said Bair.
“The business after several
years started to really grow and
the product and the information
about it spread through word of
mouth through the United States
and then subsequently through-
out the world. People traveled
and talked about it and Pacifi c
Yurts was born.”
As the son of two park rang-
ers, Bair was often outdoors. He
grew up in Northern California
but when he visited Cottage
Grove with his wife, they found
that this is where they belonged.
“We felt like there were op-
portunities here but it was still
open and it was a place where
you could almost create things
and where it wasn’t all signed,
sealed and delivered,” said Bair.
“Obviously, it’s not the big
city but there were opportuni-
Cottage Grove's Beds for Freezing Nights
is open to adults and accompanied minors
when the weather drops below freezing. The
warming center, located at First Presbyterian
Church at 216 South 3rd St. in Cottage Grove,
opens at 7 p.m. Visitors must check-in by 10
p.m. and check out by 7 a.m. the next day.
Dogs and cats are allowed at this location. No
unaccompanied minors. The shelter activates
when the temperature averages 29 degrees and
enough volunteers are on staff. To stay up-to-
date on when the center is open, follow The
Sentinel on Twitter @cgsentinel or visit
freezingnights.com. Hotline: (458) 209-9744
How to encourage kids to take
care of their teeth
Parents of young children know that getting
kids to brush their teeth can sometimes feel
like pulling teeth. Kids have a long history
of disliking dental care, which can frustrate
parents who know the importance and long-
lasting benefi ts of proper dental hygiene.
While many youngsters may never excitedly
run to the bathroom to brush their teeth,
parents can try various approaches to get kids
to embrace proper dental care.
• Start early. Parents should not hesitate to
begin cleaning kids’ teeth once the fi rst tooth
appears. Th e earlier dental care is part of
a child’s routine, the more likely he or she
is to accept it as part of everyday life. Th e
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
recommends using a soft -bristled brush
with a small head. Ideally, use a toothbrush
designed for infants, brushing teeth once per
day at bedtime. Th e AAPD advises taking
kids to visit a pediatric dentist when the fi rst
tooth appears, or no later than the child’s fi rst
birthday.
ties where you could pursue a
dream or do something and so
it seemed like fertile ground to
create a business and a good fi t
for Oregon.”
But it wasn’t just what he saw
in one place, it was the entire
state that stood out to Bair.
“Just the natural beauty of
it, the coast, the mountains, the
rivers you know all of that made
me feel like I was at home,” he
said.
As he had found his home,
he was then working to fi nd a
home for his business. The ini-
tial start in 1978 led him to an
old dairy barn.
“Starting out we didn’t have a
lot of resources. I didn’t have a
Harvard MBA in business and a
lot of venture capital behind me.
We started out as you said, very
organically and just developing
the company as we went along
and then needing to take those
classes and keep learning,” said
Bair. “And it’s an ongoing pro-
cess of course but now with the
great staff we have and 40 years
of experience we defi nitely have
a lot of knowledge base in our,
on our team.”
Spending time with Bair, he
is deeply aware of the details of
the company. The specifi cs of
the fabric, the quality of wood
and the delivery of the yurt. All
of this matters but what makes it
work for him are the employees
behind these jobs.
“It’s the people here who care
about the quality and the busi-
ness and care about our custom-
ers and shipping on time and
the rest of it… It’s exciting to
continue to develop and inno-
vate and to listen not just to the
customers but our employees
as they have good ideas and we
continue to move forward with
the products,” he said.
As the business took off, the
company grew and yurts from
Cottage Grove started spread-
ing across the globe. When the
company fi led for the domain
yurts.com, there were no other
references to yurts online and
now a simple search on Goo-
gle and you are presented with
“about 15,200,000” results.
There are now yurts across
the nation. From national parks
to beaches in Hawaii. But it
doesn’t stop in the United
States. There are yurts placed
along a river in Patagonia, Chile
where they are used for fl y-fi sh-
ing. And then there is one at the
US Embassy in Mongolia and
seemingly everywhere in be-
tween. What started as Bair’s
temporary home in Cottage
Grove, has turned into an inter-
national success.
“Maybe we’ll see a yurt on
the moon someday,” said Bair.
Local family in
need of help
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Layla Munk and her husband
Bret found Cottage Grove by
accident. Within a week they
had bought a house in the
community Munk says has
defi ed her expectations after
Bret unexpectedly passed away
earlier this month.
“The community has done
more than I would have ever
imagined,” she said. “We
haven’t even been here two
Bret Munk
years and the support I have received is why we chose this place.”
A meal train was set up for Munk and her daughter hours after
news of her husband’s death had been made public.
“I’m a vegetarian,” she said. “Everyone just stepped up but not
just with, ‘here’s a casserole,’ they have happily done it with our
dietary beliefs.”
June will mark the second anniversary of the Munks’ move to
Cottage Grove and after her husband’s death, Munk said she wasn’t
sure if she would stay.
“I wasn’t sure what I was going to do but this community, it makes
me cry as much as losing my husband with the way they have stepped
up to help,” she said.
Now, Munk is dealing with the every-day details of a household.
“Life goes on, you know. I’m going to try and get to the store
soon,” she said. Until she can, however, the family is need of help.
Dog food, toilet paper and other daily necessities have fallen off the
radar amid the tragedy but are still needed and the family has set
up an online donation site for community members who have asked
how they can help.
“It hasn’t just been friends of ours helping,” Munk said. “It’s been
strangers. Bret wanted to live here for the rest of his life and he did.”
Residents can donate at gofundme.com/layla-and-cheville-
recovery.
Scholarship application deadline looming
Each year, Oregon Communi-
ty Foundation offers opportunity
to Oregon students by awarding
nearly $10 million in scholar-
ships for higher education and
training. With more than 500
funds that make a bright future
more accessible, OCF has one of
the largest scholarship programs
of its kind in the U. S.
The deadline for students to
apply for funding for their high-
er education and training in the
2018-19 school year is March 1.
OCF has partnered with the
Offi ce of Student Access and
Completion for nearly 30 years.
This state agency makes the
scholarship process especially
simple for students, who can com-
plete a single application form to
be eligible for scholarships from
OCF, as well as from many other
public and private sources.
The challenges that Oregon
students face include the high
cost of post-secondary education,
OCF found in a 2015 research
paper. Oregon is the seventh
least-affordable state for low-in-
come families attending four-
year institutions. Our community
• Make it a group eff ort. Young children
love to imitate their parents’ actions and
behaviors, and moms and dads can use
that adoration to their advantage when
trying to get kids to brush their teeth. Brush
teeth together as a family, making it seem
like an enjoyable twice-daily activity. Get
down on kids’ level and show them how to
brush. If kids are resistant, engage them in
conversation while brushing so they don’t
even realize they’re cleaning away.
• Involve kids in choosing their dental care
products. While parents should be mindful
of the type of toothbrush their children use,
always sticking with products recommended
by their child’s pediatric dentist, let
youngsters choose their toothbrush and
toothpaste. Kids might prefer a particular
fl avor of toothpaste, and a colorful
toothbrush with a favorite fi lm or television
character might make kids more enthusiastic
and less fussy about brushing.
• Compliment kids aft er positive dental
appointments. When pediatric dentist
appointments go well, compliment children
and express your pride in them for taking
dental hygiene as seriously as they do.
colleges are third least-affordable
in 15 western states. Even modest
awards infl uence enrollment and
completion, and larger awards
have even greater impact, the re-
search showed.
“We know for many students
cost is a major road block to
achieving post-secondary educa-
tion,” said Max Williams, OCF
President and CEO. “At Oregon
Community Foundation, we
want to break down the barriers
that keep students from achiev-
ing their dreams. Scholarships
provide opportunity for students
who are proving themselves with
hard work.”
OCF awards about 3,200
scholarships to a wide range of
students each year. Available
scholarships include those for
people interested in varying sub-
jects, from a variety of schools
and with an extensive range of
backgrounds.
See the complete list of avail-
able scholarships at http://ore-
gonstudentaid.gov. An electronic
application form and instruc-
tions on how to apply are also
available there.
Brent Bitner, DDS
Dentistry with Family in Mind
C ALL U S T ODAY !
541.942.7934
350 E. W ASHINGTON A VENUE • C OTTAGE G ROVE
WWW.CGSMILES.COM
Douglas G. Maddess, DMD
Brightening Lives
One Smile at a Time
914 South 4th St. • CG • 541-942-1559
douglasgmaddessdmd.com