August 25, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 11A
Eclipse weekend mostly quiet for fire, law agencies
“I think this is a reaction
to over-advertising,” Cannon
Beach Police Chief Jason
Schermerhorn said.
Eclipse from Page 1A
the state’s population by near-
ly 25 percent. Officials from
around the state were expect-
ing massive traffic delays, in-
cluding in some areas outside
the path of totality like the
North Coast. But compared
to initial worries, it was sunny
skies for the state Department
of Transportation.
“It’s like a busy weekend,”
ODOT spokesman Lou Torres
said. “We didn’t encounter
anything we couldn’t handle.”
The Department of Trans-
portation’s
maintenance
crews and communications
teams will take the next few
days to discuss what worked
and didn’t work in preparation
for future large events.
“This was a great experi-
ence,” Torres said. “We’ve
never had anything like this in
terms of a mass traffic event.”
Though some agencies in-
creased patrols and even sent
some officers south to aid oth-
er departments near the path of
totality, law enforcement offi-
cials did not report any unusu-
al traffic or criminal activity.
‘Eerily quiet’
Local wildland firefighters
were prepared for a number of
emergency scenarios that, by
the time the eclipse actually
arrived, had yet to happen. In-
stead, they saw the last thing
they had expected: Nothing.
In fact, said Neal Bond,
Astoria protection unit for-
ester with the Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry, the eclipse
weekend was quieter than is
typical for the summer. There
was even a “vacancy” sign out
for Fort Stevens State Park
before the eclipse, he said,
“which is fairly unheard of in
August.”
“It’s eerily quiet,” said
David Horning, wildland fire
supervisor at the state Depart-
ment of Forestry’s Astoria of-
fice, on Sunday.
Fire was a major concern
leading up to the eclipse —
and, with the mass of people
traveling to Oregon, emergen-
cy responders worried about
COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP
Porsche Brunzell, left, and
Juliette Moore, right, pre-
pare for the solar eclipse at
the Astoria Column. The
two had a spot staked out
early in the morning and
were soon joined by many
others who chose the loca-
tion to witness the event.
traffic gridlock that would not
only increase fire danger but
also make it almost impos-
sible to move crews, fire en-
gines and equipment to where
they were needed.
In Clatsop County, out of
the path of totality, state and
local officials mostly worried
about fire and emergency sit-
uations that could occur in
the days before and after the
eclipse when people were
pened right near the end of a
busy month, beginning with a
beach volleyball tournament
in Seaside the week before
and Hood to Coast this com-
ing this weekend. The popular
recreational Buoy 10 fishery
has drawn hundreds of anglers
to the area all month long.
traveling to and from their
viewing locations. Local for-
estland and campground man-
agers prohibited all campfires,
and the Astoria Department of
Forestry Office began staging
crews and equipment at key
spots across the county last
week.
One firefighter stationed
near the county’s southern
border was prepared to camp
for several days in case traffic
was so bad that it didn’t make
sense for him to return to the
office each day.
By Sunday, the whole thing
felt more like a test run for this
weekend’s Hood to Coast relay
than a response to the eclipse.
When fire crews near Forest
Grove asked for assistance
with a wildland fire there, the
Astoria Department of For-
estry office was easily able to
send a few people down.
In Astoria, businesses
downtown were no busier than
they normally would be during
a summer weekend. Area
campgrounds were full or near
capacity — as they are every
August, eclipse or no eclipse.
The celestial event hap-
On a whim
People who wanted to
experience the full eclipse
had already traveled south to
watch it glide along the path of
totality. Those who remained
to watch it at North Coast
landmarks — the Astoria Col-
umn, Peter Iredale shipwreck
and Haystack Rock — were
largely a mixture of locals and
vacationers who happened to
be passing through the area.
Libbie Stobely and Jeff
Skinner of Seattle made res-
ervations at the Hallmark Re-
sort and Spa in Cannon Beach
a year in advance. Regulars at
the hotel, the two did not con-
sider booking a room in the
path of totality.
When pondering whether
they should have made plans
inside the path or away from
possible cloud cover, both
had the same response: “Who
cares?”
Others, like Tom Ch-
mielewski and Sharon Rus-
sel, of Madeira Beach, Flor-
ida, ended up making their
eclipse plans on a whim.
They were visiting Astoria
as part of a two-week West
Coast trip celebrating their
upcoming 30th anniversa-
ry. Though they knew of the
eclipse, it didn’t factor much
into the plans they made
Monday morning.
“We stumbled upon this
and we said, ‘Let’s go see the
totem!’” Chmielewski said.
Later that day, they witnessed
the eclipse from the Astoria
Column.
Tom Barnum of Astoria
had already witnessed the
1979 eclipse, and he consid-
ered traveling south. Instead,
he and his wife parked their
camping chairs and took pho-
tos from the Column.
Maybe they will some-
day witness the total eclipse
as part of a foreign vacation,
Barnum said. “I’d rather go to
Australia than Albany.”
Arts Association
Pot shop building ‘needs more work’
gets ‘a bigger vision’
Pot from Page 1A
CBAA from Page 1A
concerts in the park, arts in
education, individual artist
grants and more.
For just under 10 years,
all the events were conducted
from a trailer on First Street
before moving to their cur-
rent location at 1064 Hem-
lock St. in 1994.
Paying the bills
Cannon Beach is no
stranger to a number of fine
art galleries, but Cannon
Beach Gallery’s nonprofit
status does set them apart
from the rest in the com-
munity. To operate, the gal-
lery relies on memberships,
grants, voluminous volunteer
help and, of course, gallery
sales to pay the bills, Wick-
ham said.
There are challenges as-
sociated with running a non-
profit gallery. Nonprofits are
particularly susceptible to
downturns in the economy,
and drawing from a volun-
teer pool that is constantly
being tapped can be difficult
with so many of the same
people giving their time to
multiple causes at once, said
Linda Gebhart, board vice
president and volunteer co-
ordinator.
Right now, the associa-
tion is supported by 30 vol-
unteers, who run the front
desk and provide support for
programs like summer art
classes and paint nights.
But having a business
model that doesn’t put prof-
it first can do something in-
credible for the artist com-
munity, Program Director
Cara Mico said.
“In order to make a liv-
ing, most artists have to do
something else to subsidize,”
Mico said. “It’s nice to have
nonprofit support, because
then we can focus on sup-
porting artists. Some are get-
ting to the point where they
can make a living.”
Lack of funding and con-
sistency within the organi-
zation about the program’s
purpose have been points
of contention in the associ-
ation’s history, Mico said,
but having Gebhart lead the
charge to increase volun-
teers and expand programs
has helped make the gallery
more cohesive.
These goals have al-
lowed the program to evolve
from a place to display art to
engaging the community in
art workshops, internships
and artist grants to keep lo-
cal artists active.
“It’s about getting the
processes in place, getting a
bigger vision for the associ-
ation, rather than getting by
show to show,” Mico said.
What that bigger vision
means for now is including
more artists of color, Mico
said, as well as supporting
more pop-up shows that can
engage a larger swath of the
public that rarely find them-
selves in a gallery.
For Wickham, having art
be her full-time job has only
been a reality since she retired
2½ years ago as the health di-
rector of Multnomah Coun-
ty. But she said her passion
comes from her children, who
are artists, and serving on the
board is another way to sup-
port artists the way she tried
to support her own children.
Bell at the meeting and de-
scribed their goal for the busi-
ness as “high end.”
Bell, who has spent the
last couple of years building
out dispensaries for clients, is
expanding his career in can-
nabis on the coast to places
like Rockaway Beach, Pacific
City and, hopefully, Cannon
Beach, Benson said. Bell’s
pitch for a marijuana shop at
a condominium complex near
Pier 39 in Astoria was reject-
ed by the Astoria City Council
last year.
“This is going to be a very
nice place. Our goal as a com-
pany is to make it look nice,”
Benson said of the Cannon
Beach store.
But before moving for-
ward, Bell and his team must
address parking issues iden-
tified by the city. As plans
stands now, parking spaces
are drawn onto the city’s right
of way, City Planner Mark
Barnes said.
“The problem here is these
are private spaces half in the
public sphere,” Barnes said.
Bell will have to work with
public works to find different
solutions before the next De-
sign Review Board meeting
Sept. 21 in order to secure
approval.
More abstractly, board
members took issue with the
lack of detail in the applica-
tion. Bell provided plans to
paint the building and modify
windows, along with gener-
al landscaping ideas, but the
board wasn’t satisfied without
seeing a full mock up. Barnes
also noted the lack of discus-
sion concerning meeting ven-
tilation and signage require-
ments in the proposal.
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BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
A third marijuana retailer, at 3115 S. Hemlock St., has ap-
plied to operate in Cannon Beach.
to the city, he thought more
needed to be done to help re-
habilitate a structure that has
been sitting vacant for years.
Just repainting the build-
ing, Crane wrote, “is like put-
ting lipstick on a pig.”
Escape Lodgings President
Patrick Nofield leases space
from a modular unit connect-
ed to the property, and asked
board members to wait on ap-
“We look at actual samples
of paints and facade,” board
member Sandi Lundy said.
“It’s just a matter of us be-
ing able to physically see the
changes you are suggesting.”
Some neighbors took issue
with the vague nature of the
design plans, including Steve
Crane, the property adviser of
Lodges at Cannon Beach next
door. In written testimony sent
proval before issues like ade-
quate parking and more thor-
ough designs were presented.
One of his concerns was
making sure this property was
“architecturally compatible”
with the rest of Tolovana.
“I’ve leased space for 10
years, and I know that build-
ing needs help,” Nofield said.
“It needs more work than
what this plan is showing.”
Kiki Meletis is a co-trustee
of Demetrios Meletis Living
Trust, which owns the prop-
erty, and said having the new
business move in was a great
way to “revitalize the property
in a timely way.”
Benson said she and Bell
are happy to work with the
city to make sure the business
fits with the community.
“This is a community
thing, so I want community
input,” Benson said.
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