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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (March 10, 2017)
March 10, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 9A Author studies why Oregonians don’t eat local seafood By Rebecca Herren EO Media Group There is more to fishing than simply choosing the right bait and reeling in the fish. The purest attribute of a true fisherman is the ability to stretch the truth, from increas- ing the size and weight of the fish to delivering a lengthy monologue at the local brew- ery about the giant fish that got away; envisioning the pro- tagonist of the 1954 science fiction film “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” Telling a tall fishing tale cer- tainly follows a time-honored tradition, but this fish tale is of a different Jennifer sort. It’s the Burns one in pursuit Bright of answering the question, “Why Orego- nians don’t eat enough locally caught seafood?” This question and others prompted a conversation with Jennifer Burns Bright during a Feb. 16 Oregon Humanities Conversation Project program at the Seaside Public Library. Bright is an agriculture and travel writer. After moving to Port Orford, she wanted to do something different. She want- ed to write about seafood. “It’s been an aspect of our food sys- tem that I didn’t know much about and so little is known about our local seafood.” The presentation “Fish Tales: Traditions and Chal- lenges of Seafood in Oregon” brought to light the relation- ship consumers have with the variety of products provided by the sea that some people may be unaware, cultural tradi- tions related to fishing and un- derstanding the ocean’s bounty and challenges. One attendee shared her experience on the difficulty of buying fish directly from the docks. Bright explained how regulations have changed from years past; meaning in present day, the daily catch mostly goes to one buyer or compa- ny. “To sell directly, fishermen need to have a resell license or they can buy their fish back from the folks who are buying the fish off the boats and sell that to local consumers.” Most fishermen, she said, “don’t want to bother because of too much red tape.” A slide presentation bal- anced the conversations with graphs and figures. According to one, Oregonians eat about 15 pounds of seafood a year compared to 53 pounds of beef, 58 pounds of chicken and 175 pounds of grain. A 2014 study indicated that in Amer- ica, people eat 15 pounds of seafood per person: 4 pounds of shrimp, 2.5 pounds salmon, 2.5 pounds of mostly canned tuna, over 1.5 pounds of tila- pia, followed by pollock, basa, cod, catfish, crab and clams. “Seafood consumption in the United States totals 90 per- cent imported,” said Bright. “Ten percent is domestic or both because there is no way to classify fish that’s caught lo- cally to the fish that’s shipped out to Canada or China then bought back as ready-made cod fillets or fish sticks,” add- ing that the percentage could be higher and is impossible to track. PoetryFest 2017 coming to Manzanita PoetryFest 2017 takes place at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita from March 31 to April 2, featuring Carl Adamshick and Emily Ken- dal Frey. Adamshick is the author of “Curses and Wishes,” winner of the Walt Whit- man award from the Acad- emy of American Poets and Saint Friend, published with McSweeney’s. Both titles received an Oregon Book Award. He has taught at Catlin Gabel and lectured at Stanford University and the American International School in Vienna, as well as being a writer in-resi- dence at the William Staf- ford Archive at Lewis and Clark College. His work has been published in Harvard Review, American Poetry Review, The Missouri Re- view and Narrative. He is a founder and editor at Tav- ern Books, a nonprofit press dedicated to poetry and the preservation of books. Frey is the author of sev- eral poetry collections, in- cluding “The Grief Perfor- mance,” winner of the 2012 Norma Farber First Book SUBMITTED PHOTO Carl Adamshick Award from the Poetry Soci- ety of America, and “Sorrow Arrow,” winner of the 2015 Oregon Book Award. She teaches at the Independent Publishing Resource Center, Marylhurst University, Port- land Community College and Portland State Univer- sity. PoetryFest is a program of the Hoffman Center for the Arts and will be held at the Hoffman Center, 594 Laneda Avenue, Manzanita. Further information is avail- able at hoffmanblog.org. Speaker expounds on ways to boost tourism Tourism from Page 1A Miller praised the Can- non Beach chamber’s web- site, which he called “out- standing.” “It made me want to come to Cannon Beach,” said Miller, who owns a home in Gearhart. He not- ed that the Travel Portland website has been translated into eight languages. Travel Portland also focuses strong- ly on social media; the orga- nization has 133,000 Twitter followers. In addition to the names of member businesses, the chamber’s website “cannot ignore businesses doing real- ly, really interesting things.” ”Some people don’t trust websites because they think it’s all paid,” he said. “In- clude businesses whether they are paid or not.” In addition, the cham- ber’s websites and those of individual businesses need new content constantly, so potential visitors always have new ”stories” to in- trigue them. Tourism creates jobs, Miller noted, and if more emphasis can be placed on winter travel, more residents could count on winter in- come as well. “Create a lot of connec- tions,” he added. “You’ve got everything you could possibly need.” Following Miller’s pre- sentation, Court Carrier, di- rector of the Cannon Beach chamber, said the chamber is putting many of his sugges- tions into place, including reaching out to businesses that aren’t chamber mem- bers. “Our goal is to reach out and make sure everyone is represented,” Carrier said. KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Clockwise, from top left: Buddie Anderson Deni, of the Cannon Beach Library, accepts the award for Volunteer of the Year; Sheri Russell, Columbia Bank branch manager, accepts the Excellence in Leadership award; Brian Olson (from left), Barbara Cool-Olson and Sally Wies accept the Member of the Year award for Beachcomber Vacation Homes; John Nelson accepts the Supporter of the Year award for Coaster Construction. Chamber boasts ‘huge growth in business’ Chamber from Page 1A Tourism growth Carrier shared a report on the state of the tourism indus- try. Lodging tax collections have been “on a constant climb,” he said. While the summer quar- ter in 2016 was only about 8 percent higher than the same quarter of 2015, the 2016 fall, winter and spring quarters were up 17 percent, 25 per- cent and 23 percent, respec- tively. “That is a huge growth in business,” Carrier said. Speak- ing to the chamber members, he added, “You guys put that together. It’s everyone in town that made that happen, and it made the success of what Cannon Beach is today. So thank you all for the great job you have been doing. We have grown dramatically as a result of all of your efforts.” Last year, the tourism industry in Cannon Beach brought in more than $3.8 million in total lodging taxes. The estimated direct econom- ic impact of the industry was 2017 Winners: MEMBER OF THE YEAR: Beachcomber Vacation Homes VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR: Buddie Anderson Deni SUPPORTER OF THE YEAR: Coaster Construction EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE: Maggie & Henry almost $123 million. Using “a conservative multiplier,” Carrier said, the estimated in- direct impact was about $368 million. What’s happening at the chamber? Board member Kevin Ridgway, the chairman of the marketing committee, shared an update on the chamber’s goal to increase tourism, par- ticularly during the winter, fall and spring. “That’s the need times in Cannon Beach when we want to fill more of our emp- ty rooms, generate more hotel taxes so the city can do more work for us as residents,” he said, adding, “that’s the focus of what we’re looking at.” The marketing commit- tee’s strategies for achieving that goal include expanding media awareness in the Port- land and Seattle markets, making social media channels more robust and expanding digital marketing, to name a few. In addition to bringing visitors to town, the chamber also aims to highlight the best of what Cannon Beach has to offer. One way it does so is through the annual Sandcastle Contest. Debbie Nelson, who heads a committee of more than a dozen members and staff, said it is important for her “to car- ry on this hometown tradition that is very near and dear to my heart.” On average, the contest OF PLACES YOU CAN PICK UP A COMPLIMENTARY COPY OF THE LOTS G ST. PATRICK’S DAY Treats for the Little (or Big) Leprechauns in your life! CANNON BEACH AZETTE CANNON BEACH Cannon Beach Bakery Cannon Beach Book Company Cannon Beach Beach Store Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce Cannon Beach City Hall Cannon Beach Conference Center Cannon Beach Family Market Cannon Beach Historical Center Cannon Beach Hotel Cannon Beach Liquor Store Cannon Beach Property Management Cannon Beach RV Resort Cannon Beach Vacation Rentals Cascade Sotheby’s Realty Duane Johnson Real Estate Ecola Creek Lodge EVOO Hallmark Inns & Resorts Inn at Cannon Beach Inn at Haystack Rock Mariner Market Martin Hospitality Mo’s Restaurant Picnic Basket Pig ‘N Pancake Purple Moon/Morris’ Fireside Restaurant RE/MAX Coastal Advantage Sea Ranch RV Park Sea Sprite at Haystack RockSea Sprite on the Estuary Surfcrest Market Sweet Basil’s Cafe & The Wine Bar The Land’s End Motel The Ocean Lodge The Stephanie Inn The Waves Motel Tolovana Inn US Bank/La Luna Loca Windermere Stellar Real Estate SEASIDE Providence Seaside Hospital Rite Aid Safeway Seaside Outlet Center Seaside Signal/Cannon Beach Gazette Office GEARHART Windermere Stellar Real Estate 4,000 COPIES DISTRIBUTED EACH MONTH brings about 30,000 visitors to Cannon Beach, requiring a large force of volunteers and sponsors. “It’s great for advertising, maybe not just for that week- end, but for all year long, be- cause a lot of people connect Cannon Beach with the Sand- castle Contest,” Nelson said. ‘I’m really glad we’re still do- ing Sandcastle all of these 53 years later. Nelson unveiled the post- er for this year’s competition and announced the date, June 17, although a parade will be held the day before and a 5K fun run and walk the day after. Other important chamber events include the Stormy Weather Arts Festival in No- vember and Haystack Hol- idays from mid-November through most of December. Although January and February have been slow — “Mother Nature has not blessed us with the last two months,” Carrier said — chamber staff is optimistic about the potential of 2017. “I saw the sun today and it was marvelous, and I’m really excited,” Carrier added. • 2 LOCATIONS • (Easy & Convenient) Downtown Cannon Beach 256 N. Hemlock St & Seaside Outlet Mall WE CAN SHIP CANDY DIRECTLY TO YOU! CB: 503-436-2641 Seaside: 503-738-7828 www.brucescandy.com
