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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2017)
4A • August 25, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com Views from the Rock Viewing the world upside down Seaside’s latest innovation goes topsy-turvy Finding family where, when you least expect it Small-town connections prove powerful when tracking kin T KEITH BAKER/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Th e editor takes a ride at the Inverted Experience. I f the world seems to be a little upside down, you’re not alone. Keith Baker fi rst imagined a topsy-turvy outlook as a kid watching TV shows upside down while lying on the living-room couch. During the long months as a commer- cial fi sherman in Alaska, he would let his imagination run as he gazed over the horizon. Back in Seaside, Baker has turned his longtime vision into a reality at the Inverted Experience, appropriately located at the former location of the Ferris wheel on Broadway. Today, the room is decorated like a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers Holly- wood stage set, with fi xtures on the ceiling and upside down on the walls. Barstools are upside down at the “inverted saloon” and on a side wall, a 1950s kitchen scene hangs from above. Reactions are “unbelievable,” Bak- er said. “It’s steamrolling.” He developed the concept about 10 years ago, during those long moments on a fi shing boat in the Bering Sea. “When you are isolated on a boat you have a lot of time to think,” Baker said. “You don’t have a lot of infl uenc- es, TV or i nternet.” The Inverted Experience is the product of Baker’s imagination and his love for Seaside. A $6 admission fee gains entry; a family pass is $20 for four. Visitors CANNON SHOTS R.J. MARX pass their phones to an attendant, who snaps and rotates the shots so people appear to be hanging, fl oating, running or scrambling upside down. The surreal images hang like a Salvador Dali in cyberspace. The em- porium’s Facebook page is fi lled with children “diving” into a toilet bowl, families blown in the wind clinging to bicycle handlebars or holding onto a lamppost in midair. New technology Baker, who lives in Gearhart, is a fi fth-generation North Coast resident. His grandfather was stationed at Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Center, and family members remain. He recalled the memorable up- side-down Astaire dance scenes and the 1980s Lionel Richie video, “Danc- ing on the Ceiling.” A Google search revealed a house in Orlando, Florida, made to look like a mansion uprooted by a tornado. Oth- er than those, he said, he hadn’t seen anything like this before. “It’s only come to light in the last four or fi ve years,” Baker said. “Ev- erybody has a camera. You just invert COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP Roscoe Baker, left , takes photos of Reed and Cooper Helvey of St. Lou- is, Mo., at the Inverted Experience in Seaside. Th e attraction, owned by Keith Baker, features sets that are upside down. that on your phone. That is the nature of the experience.” Baker designed the room at 111 Broadway himself, and called on friends to help install props. Images include the Prom, a side- walk, the “inverted saloon” and a vintage kitchen. Baker plans on changing it up this winter and adding a mural. Decor will be changed at Halloween and Christ- mas time to refl ect holiday themes. He hopes to make it a family-friend- ly destination suitable for birthday parties, receptions and reunions. Next door, the Pacifi c Pearl Coffee Co. sells T-shirts reading “The Inverted Experi- ence” and “Inverted Lives Matter.” September bustles with activity at the library H appy end-of-summer to locals and visitors alike! It’s been maybe a little cooler and foggier than most of our summers, but it’s still been a good one . To kick off September, we will enjoy our fi rst membership meeting and brunch of the autumn at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept . 6 . Our speaker will be Charles Dice, who will talk about estate planning. Our hostesses will organize a delicious brunch. Let’s gather together for good food, an informative talk, and most importantly — renewal of our fellowship s. For September, there will be no Northwest Author Series. We have been talking about a new format for the author series. According to series organizer Jean Furchner sometime this autumn we might be having a speaker on the Mount St. Helens eruption, but she is also looking at May which marks the 37th anniversary of the eruption. More information will Publisher David F. Pero Editor R.J. Marx Circulation Manager Jeremy Feldman Production Manager John D. Bruijn AT THE LIBRARY CARLA O’REILLY follow; we’re in the planning stages right now. Cannon Beach Reads meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept . 20 . This month, members have been reading “Wise Blood,” by Flannery O’Connor. O’Conner was an American writer and essayist. She was an important voice in American literature who often wrote in a southern Gothic style. “Wise Blood” was her fi rst novel and is about a recently discharged World War II veteran who fi nds his family home abandoned. The book follows him as he struggles with issues of faith. This month, Linda Schaeffer will be the discussion leader. Newcomers are always encouraged . Classifi ed Sales Jamie Ramsdell Advertising Sales Holly Larkins Chris Olson Staff writer Brenna Visser Contributing writers Rebecca Herren Katherine Lacaze Eve Marx Nancy McCarthy CANNON BEACH GAZETTE The Cannon Beach Gazette is published every other week by EO Media Group. 1555 N. Roosevelt, Seaside, Oregon 97138 503-738-5561 • Fax 503-738- 9285 Calling all crafters and bakers! The annual Fall Festival is on Saturday, Sept . 30 , and is an important fundraiser for the library. Donated crafts to be sold are appreciated. And if you’re a baker, we are in need of items for the bake sale. Stop in at the offi ce soon to sign up to work at the festival or contribute baked goods or craft items. Sign-up sheets are next to Buddie’s desk. Library Board member Pam DeVisser is in the process of collecting interesting local gift certifi cates for our September Gift Certifi cate Drawing and Hotel Stay Silent Auction. The tickets are $1 each, six for $5 or 25 for $20. Winners will be announced at 3 p.m. on the day of the Fall Festival. Tickets will be on sale at the library beginning Sept . 1 , so stop in and take a look at our drawing and silent auction items and purchase your tickets. You do not have to be present to win. So that’s what our September looks like so far, library-lovers . Come join us! www.cannonbeachgazette. com • email: editor@cannonbeachgazette.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Annually: $40.50 in county, $58.00 in and out of county. Postage Paid at: Cannon Beach, OR 97110 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cannon Beach Gazette, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Copyright 2017 © Cannon Beach Gazette. Nothing can be reprinted or copied without consent of the owners. here’s something special about small-town living. That something special is a phenomenon I found myself defending when I made the decision to move to the Oregon Coast. I was halfway through my last quar- ter of college in Bellingham, Washington, when I took the job with the newspaper more than six months ago, and the announcement was usually met with either some jealous statement about an opportunity to live on the beach, or some form of this question: “Why there? It’s so small. Do you have connections down there?” They meant connections in a vague sense LIFE AT THE BEACH — professional, BRENNA VISSER personal, familial or otherwise. Six months ago, my answer was “no.” Deep down, I was nervous to leave all my friends and family for somewhere unknown. But then I would line up my defenses. I grew up in a small town, so I know what to expect. You connect with people stronger and more quickly, I would argue. So what if there’s no big strip malls or large concert venues? So what if most of the bars and restaurants close by 10 p.m.? I had faith in having that small-town, fami- ly-like culture carry me through. Turns out I was wrong. I did have a connection to the North Coast. It took me physically moving here to discover I had a whole branch of extended family I never knew existed. And I found my family through a series of conversations and connections that only a small town could provide. For those of you reading and wondering: yes, I am related to longtime North Coast residents Dan and Sharon Visser, and their kids Jennifer, Julie and Lori Visser. I was fi rst tipped off to their existence when sources would ask me if I went to Seaside High School, or if my name was Jennifer. Apparently we look similar. They would ask if I was one of the “local Vissers” in town, and each time I would answer that I wasn’t sure. After this happened fi ve or six times , I decided to fi gure out who these “local Vissers” were to be able to answer these inquiries . When I asked my parents about being related to some- one named Jennifer, the answer was more or less “plau- sible.” The description sounded like the daughter of my dad’s cousin, but he wasn’t sure. If at this point you are wondering how I could not be aware of an entire branch of my family, it may be worthy to note, I haven’t met a large portion of Vissers related to me because my grandfather’s generation had 10 siblings. Many live all over the country, and when each of those siblings have babies, and those babies have babies, the number of Vissers to keep track of starts to become quite the task. Sorting it out To sort the local connections out, I found one of my colleagues was a mutual friend with Jennifer Visser . I sent her message saying I thought there was a chance we were related. Around this same, an article about my arrival ran in The Daily Astorian, which listed the fact I grew up in Wenatchee, Washington, where a sizable portion of the “Visser clan” still live. Between Sharon reading the article and the timing of the Facebook message, dots were con- nected and before I knew it I had received an invitation to Easter dinner from my new-found family . I showed up the next day with a bottle of wine and a lot of questions. We had 22 years to make up for, anyway. Over the course of dinner, we found that Dan was my dad’s cousin, and our grandfathers were twins. I left Easter with fewer questions and fi ve new lovely people to call family. Looking back, it’s uncanny to think of all the intersect- ing, moving parts that lead to this culmination of events. I often wonder if this situation had unfolded in a place like Los Angeles or New York would I have ever met this family. One of my greatest fears moving here was the possibil- ity of feeling lonely. But by moving here I not only was able to connect with biological family, but also with the tight -knit North Coast community that allowed me to fi nd them in the fi rst place. There is a lot of power in knowing your neighbor, and in small towns like this, a lot of impact. And taking the energy to know your neighbor is what makes small -town living so special. Uncommonly common REX AMOS An unbroken common murre egg found at Chapman Point by Diane Amos. THE NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING