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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 2015)
12A • November 6, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com Fundraiser planned for publishing second edition of local storybook Comin’ in OVER THE ROCK SUBMITTED PHOTO/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Les Ordway and a buddy stand next to Ordway’s dory boat Bad Boy. Ordway, a local me- chanic, used to take the 12-foot-long boat to the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, three miles off shore. By Nancy McCarthy For the Cannon Beach Gazette Peter Lindsey is a story- teller with a lifetime of stories to tell about Cannon Beach. Whether it’s about his teen- age days roaming through the ORFDOZRRGVVXU¿QJDQGOLIH guarding on the beach; tow- ing vehicles sink- ing in the sand; or interacting with the numerous characters that gathered at the gas stations, in the bars or on the sidewalks of Cannon Beach before it became a tourist desti- nation, Lindsey has many stories to tell. So many, in fact, that he wrote a book full of stories in 2004. Titled “Comin’ in Over the Rock: A Storyteller’s His- tory of Cannon Beach,” the book traces the village’s his- tory from the early days when settlers traveled a forest road with 111 curves from Sea- side, to the 1980s, when the logging community had ma- tured into a picturesque town of shingled stores and homes where visitors arrived via a sleek highway. But, although Lindsey taught English at Seaside High School and Clatsop Community College, his history doesn’t read like a text- ERRN,WLV¿OOHG with anecdotes, and in a few months, a sec- ond edition will EH ¿OOHG ZLWK even more. Lindsey will read some of those stories during a fund- raiser at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in the Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce’s community hall. Food, beer and wine will be served. The fundraiser is being or- ganized by a group of Lind- sey’s friends who believe it’s time to offer the book to an- other generation interested in the village’s early days. Do- nations will go to the estimat- ed $4,000 cost to publish the book through Portland State University. “I have this notion about characters,” Lindsey writes in his book. “When this country was young, the spaces were vast. The northern Oregon coast had scant population and limitless nature. Large spaces require powerful spirit and character. “The shriveled pissant ex- istence suburban dwellers ac- cept today would have dumb- founded the people I knew as a boy. Their personalities col- ored the community canvas with broad brush strokes and a steady hand. “A person might well be a rascal, but he had...better be a bull-goose rascal, a rascal of proportion and spirit, a rascal among rascals casting a wide shadow.” Lindsey’s family moved to Cannon Beach when Lindsey was a teenager in 1954, but his parents were summer vis- itors long before Lindsey was born and through Lindsey’s early childhood. “We were a jog away from Seaside, which was a resort community,” Lindsey said in an interview. “My family came here in the summers be- cause that’s what people did. “It didn’t swell up a great deal in the summer. There were about 20 families, 30 families. The same families would ap- pear summer after summer. And there were crowds on the beach on major holidays, driv- ing on the beach.” Lindsey’s fath said his father was a City Councilor when the village became an incorporated city in 1957. In those days, Cannon Beach had two drug stores, a bowling alley and, apparent- ly, several gas stations, where all the characters hung out. The drug stores and bowl- ing alley are gone now, and there’s only one gas station in town. The characters — “Old Peach,” who cohabitated with recent widows; “Beargrease,” an ex-convict who attempt- ed to elope with the Baptist preacher’s daughter; Dog Lady, a spinster who took in stray animals and crumpled birds; and “Honey Pot,” who would get drunk every night at Bill’s Tavern and “lose” his car — parked only 50 feet from the tavern door — also are long gone. “A good number of the stories, or anecdotes, are sto- ries that were either told to me, I overheard or I experi- enced directly,” said Lindsey, who insists they all are true. “You don’t have to fabricate interesting stories, believe me. We have plenty of them.” Because his “history” is based on his and others’ memories, however, Lindsey admits it may not always be factually correct. The new edition, however, will be somewhat more historically accurate, thanks to the efforts of Rainmar Bartl, the city’s former planning director, who tends to pay more attention to details. Bartl is among Lindsey’s friends who are shepherding the book – which will have more stories, photos and a map – toward a second pub- lication. Lindsey captured the at- mosphere of the town as it matured from a working class town to a tourist destination, Bartl said. “To me, it’s a true history of Cannon Beach of a time that Peter captured so well,” he added. The fundraiser Nov. 10 will offer gifts to donors, in- cluding a signed copy of the new book and an acknowl- edgment in the book for those contributing $100 and read- ers’ copies of the book for contributors of $25 to $50, Bartl said. The Cannon Beach Book Company is offering GROODU JLIW FHUWL¿FDWHV WR WKH¿UVWGRQRUVRI The winner of the auction at the fundraiser will be treat- ed to a dinner for six prepared by Hank Johnson at the Wave Crest Inn. Bids will begin at $300. Music will be provided by the local group, Floating Glass Balls. Those who cannot attend the event but want to contrib- ute can make out a check to Lindsey and drop it off at the Cannon Beach Book Co., 130 N. Hemlock St. “I loved it. It was a won- 18TH ANNUAL Providence Seaside Hospital Foundation invites you to be GD]]OHGDQGGHOLJKWHGWKLVKROLGD\VHDVRQ SATURDAY, DEC. 5 COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSE FEATURING SANTA CLAUS 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free admission G Beautiful Christmas trees G Kids’crafts G Cookie decorating GALA DINNER AND AUCTION Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets: $100 per guest; $1,000 for table of 10 Entertainment by Acústica World Music SEASIDE CIVIC AND CONVENTION CENTER 415 FIRST AVE., SEASIDE, OR 97138 For reservations or more information, please call 503-717-7601 or visit www.ProvidenceFestivalOfTrees.org/Seaside. 4VSGIIHWFIRI½X TVSKVEQWERHWIVZMGIW WYTTSVXIHF] derful place for a young person,” said Lindsey who moved to Cannon Beach from Millbrae, Calif., where housing developments had sprung up to serve returning Korean War vets. In Cannon Beach, the woods and the ocean lured young explorers, who came up with all sorts of adventures in an era that was less threat- ening to children and their parents. In his book, Lindsey has a photo of himself and best friend, Gerald Sroufe, on their bikes, with sleeping bags strapped to them. They’re about to ride to Arch Cape and camp overnight, with supper coming from cans of Dinty Moore stew. Lindsey estimated they were 12 years old at the time. “My family would let us roam free. We would head to WKH ZRRGV DQG JR ¿VKLQJ RU camping, shoot things with our guns or walk around the EHDFK RU ¿VK RII WKH URFNV´ Lindsey said. “We would come home at dark. No one worried whether we had run afoul of something. It was a delightful feeling. “There was an awful lot of freedom. It was pretty nice to have.” J. Harley and Margaret Sroufe stand in front of Sroufe’s Market in 1953. Peter Lindsey’s fi rst job was as a stock boy at the store, which is now the site of Osburn’s Ice Creamery. REX AMOS/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE