S ERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF C OTTAGE G ROVE , C RESWELL , D ORENA , D RAIN , E LKTON , L ORANE AND Y ONCALLA
C ottage G rove
THURSDAY EDITION | MAY 6, 2021 | $1.00
S entinel
VOL. 132, NO. 18 •
Est. 1889
Sunday, May 9th
Your Local News Delivered Your Way: In Print. Online. On the Go!
Restaurant
Revitalization
Fund opens to
public
Get an insurance plan
—not just a policy.
(541) 942-0555
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.
com
WEATHER
Chance of showers
with a high of 63 and
a low tonight of 45.
Full forecast on A5
COLUMNIST
PHOTO BY DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
The Cottage Grove Garden Club hosted a clean-up and plant care work event downtown at All-America
Square on Saturday, May 1. City Councilor Kenneth Michael Roberts helped organize the session as volun-
teers representing Cub Scout Pack 140 and the Cottage Grove Chamber of Commerce joined to weed beds,
scrape between cracks and plant new flowers during the three-hour event.
Betty Kaiser
A5
SPORTS
Farmers Market makes Saturday switch
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.
com
Settelmeyer hangs
up coach’s whistle
B1
• RECORDS
Obituaries
Official releases
A2
• LORANE NEWS
It’s that time of year
again as the South Val-
ley Farmers Market 2021
season kicked off on Sat-
urday, May 1 at its usual
Seventh Street location
between Main and Wash-
ington streets.
The market has made
the move to Saturdays
this season, operating be-
tween 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Market Manager Abbi
Aldrich said the switch to
the weekend will open up
more opportunities.
“[We’re] hoping that
we’re able to be more ac-
cessible to more of the
Cottage Grove commu-
PHOTO BY DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
The South Valley Farmers Market opened May 1, with a move to Saturdays this
See FARMERS on A10 season at its location on Seventh Street.
A5
• CLASSIFIEDS
Listings and public
notices
B5-B10
City chooses ‘If I Were Mayor’ winners
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.
com
follow us for the
latest news:
/CGSentinel
@CGSentinel
541- 942-3325 ph • 541-942-3328 fax
P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424
Four Cottage Grove
students are moving on to
compete in the statewide
“If I Were Mayor” contest,
a youth-oriented competi-
tion sponsored by the Or-
egon Mayors Association
(OMA).
The competition en-
courages youths to share
their creative ideas about
what they would do as
mayor in the form of post-
ers (elementary school),
essays (middle school) or
See
MAYOR on A11
COURTESY PHOTO
Cottage Grove High School students MJ Raade (left) and Kourtney Owens shared
first place for their video submissions to the city.
FORD • GM • DODGE
5 41-942-2521
Matt Bjornn ChFC RICP, Agent
Bus: 541-942-2623
www.bjornninsurance.com
80408 Delight Valley School Road
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
www.huddleaut omotive.com
See
FUND on A8
Hello, neighbor!
Performing All Phases of Automotive Repair
Specializing in Gas & Diesel Engines Most Makes and Models
On Monday, May 3, the
Small Business Adminis-
tration (SBA) began ac-
cepting grant applications
from restaurants suffer-
ing revenue loss due to
COVID-19 through the
newly established Restau-
rant Revitalization Fund
(RRF).
The funding has been
made available to restau-
rants and other eligible
businesses to help keep
their doors open.
The Sentinel caught up
with Community System
Navigator Misty Burris
last Saturday as she hit the
pavement on Main Street,
stopping by each restau-
rant to see if they had reg-
istered for the program.
“I really gained a deeper
insight to the current state
of our restaurant owners’
stresses about labor and
unpredictable reopening,
among other major con-
cerns,” she said.
Burris also visited Cre-
swell, Springfield and
South Eugene restaurants
in an effort to get busi-
nesses connected to the
program.
“Entering Eugene to
motivate restaurant own-
ers was a true reality
check,” she said. “I needed
a team to even scratch the
surface of everyone most
impacted.”
Burris reported that
only four restaurants had
registered as most own-
ers assumed the RRF was
a program they did not
qualify for. Nearly every
business, too, was seeking
labor as only two restau-
rants said they did not
need it, she said.
The SBA currently has
$28.6 billion in grant
funds to boost the restau-
rant industry. The funds
were allocated from the
$1.9 trillion pandemic aid
package, the American
Rescue Plan, Congress re-
cently passed in March.
According to the Na-
tional Restaurant Associ-
ation, there are more than
110,000 bars and restau-
rants closed — at least
temporarily — during the
pandemic that could po-
tentially qualify for this
funding.
The RRF was estab-
lished to provide restau-
rants with funding equal
to their pandemic-relat-
ed revenue loss up to $10
million per business and
no more than $5 million
per physical location.
Minimum funding is set
1801132
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