December 29, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 5A
‘A GIFT TO EACH OTHER’
Cannon Beach
celebrates
holiday season
with annual
lamplighting,
holiday tea
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
During a notoriously busy
time of year, Lori and Kathy
Strombeck come to Can-
non Beach as a way to start
the holiday season in a more
“peaceful and gentle” way.
“Coming here is a gift to
each other — rather than buy-
ing fancy sweaters or some-
thing,” Lori said.
The two sisters traveled
from Corvallis and Eugene to
attend the Cannon Beach Li-
brary Holiday Tea and lamp-
lighting ceremony Saturday.
Sitting by the library’s fire-
place with tea in one hand and
homemade cookies in the oth-
er, Lori said they have been
attending the town’s holiday
rituals for the past four years
as way to start off a chaotic
month of shopping and event
planning.
“We like starting the sea-
son in a peaceful way. When
the holidays start getting crazy
and expensive, we go back to
thinking about this day — the
tea, the lamplighting, the music
— and remember what Christ-
mas is all about,” Lori said.
The Strombecks were
among hundreds who came
Saturday to celebrate the 44th
annual lamplighting ceremo-
ny in Sandpiper Square.
“It makes me teary just
from the beginning to see
Sandpiper Square fill up with
so many people like this,”
said Margo Dueber, the orga-
nizer and emcee of the event.
“We come together as fami-
ly, friends and a community.
It feels just kind of yummy,
doesn’t it?”
The lamplighting tradi-
tion began in 1973 amid an
oil crisis that drove down the
number of vacationers who
were coming to visit Cannon
Beach. To get back visitors,
the town banded together
to create a holiday celebra-
tion with a Charles Dickens
theme. The Coaster Theatre
put on productions of “A
Christmas Carol” and shop
owners dressed in Victorian
style, Dueber said.
Since then, many of the
traditions remain and others
have evolved. Bill Steidel
and Paul Dueber again per-
formed the town’s official
song “Christmas in Our
Hometown,” which Steidel
composed for the Dueber
family when Paul Dueber
Sr. died on Christmas Day
1967. For the first time,
students from the Cannon
Beach Academy sang high-
lights from Christmas carols.
The lamp is still lit the same
way Jay Schwehr, a Cannon
Beach local, did for 40 years
before falling ill.
The lamplighting duty since
has been passed on to selected
Cannon Beach grade school-
PHOTOS BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Santa walks through the crowd at the lamplighting ceremony.
Hundreds stand waiting for the lamplighting ceremony
Saturday in Cannon Beach.
Bill Steidel and Paul Dueber sing the town’s traditional
Christmas song at the lamplighting ceremony.
ers. But this year, the task was
given to Ethan Burnett, the
oldest grandson of Tom Drum-
heller, a local hospitality leader
who died in September.
said at the lamplighting. “It
was extremely important to
him for people to feel loved
and appreciated.”
The evening ended with
“He was also caring, al-
ways helping, always reach-
ing out to the community
during the holidays and every
other time of year,” Dueber
kids lining up to see Santa,
who made a surprise visit in a
blaring fire truck to Sandpip-
er Square to hand out bags of
treats.
Year in review: Looking back, looking ahead
2017 from Page 1A
a rate increase. The 20-year
plan is required by the state,
and projects would focus on
rehabbing or replacing a va-
riety of systems, including
brittle water lines and water
storage tanks.
The proposal would keep
the city’s current rate structure
and raise the average home-
owner’s water bill from about
$50 a month to about $70. The
increase would be phased in
over five years and generate
$2.1 million and $1.6 million
for water and wastewater proj-
ects.
Whether this would be
enough to fully fund projects
remains a key concern.
Others raised questions
about whether commercial
outfits were paying enough
under the current rate struc-
ture. Council members were
divided whether to set aside
the full amount of funding
for the projects or to seek
out public or grant funds that
could help lessen the burden
for Cannon Beach homeown-
ers and businesses.
The city plans to hold a se-
ries of public hearings before
implementing any changes.
For now, the city is consid-
ering approving just the first
year of rate increases pro-
posed in the five-year plan,
which would increase the cu-
mulative water, wastewater
and stormwater base rate by
16 percent from this year to
next — about an $8 difference
for the average residential
ratepayer.
The plan would impact
rates annually by accelerat-
ing or slowing increases de-
pending on what projects are
planned for each fiscal year,
according to City Manager
Bruce St. Denis.
Which plans and what
rate structure the city propos-
es will be sure to bring out
stakeholders on all sides. Two
public meetings are scheduled
in January to discuss utility
rates, on Jan. 16 and Jan. 22.
allow visitors enough time
to enjoy the restaurants and
browse through the local
shops” generated 120 signa-
tures.
After impassioned argu-
ments from the community,
the Cannon Beach City Coun-
cil voted in July to table any
discussion of timed parking
or any other parking solutions
until after the summer.
As of December, the topic
remains to be considered.
Cannon Beach Academy
BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
LEFT, Cars are parked where the city planned to imple-
ment timed parking on Hemlock Street between Second
and Third streets.
RIGHT, Cannon Beach Information Aide Patrick Leary
writes a parking violation citation during a recent bike pa-
trol.
pose time limits along a sec-
tion of Hemlock Street.
The proposal would have
installed three-hour parking
limit signs on Hemlock Street
between First and Third ave-
nues, as well as on First, Sec-
ond and Third streets between
Hemlock and Spruce.
A pilot program, with the
goal of creating 50 new spots
by the end of 2018, never got
off the ground.
Opponents to timed park-
ing rallied, rejecting the idea
as bad for business and adding
that they felt “shut out” of the
process. Residents presented
a petition arguing that timed
parking would “negatively
impact the relaxing atmo-
sphere” of the town, “increase
traffic congestion when cars
need to be moved,” and “not
Cannon Beach’s Best Selection
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Parking
To many in Cannon
Beach, parking is well-nigh a
God-given right. There are no
time limits in heaven.
Contrast that with a sum-
mer weekend in Cannon
Beach, with vehicles grid-
locked along Highway 101
for miles. Trailers and cars
circle the streets looking for a
spot compound the problem.
Finding a parking space on
Hemlock Street is like win-
ning the lottery.
In an attempt to create
more downtown parking,
Cannon Beach planned to im-
COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP
TOP, Mayor Sam Steidel speaks to the crowd at the grand
opening of the Cannon Beach Academy.
Students, their families
and residents gathered for a
grand opening celebration
this to celebrate the Cannon
Beach Academy’s first school
year. The ribbon-cutting high-
lighted four years of volun-
teering and fundraising it took
to open the charter school
at the former Preschool and
Children’s Center after Can-
non Beach Elementary School
was closed in 2013.
The path in 2017 was nev-
er fully certain until the first
day of classes. They reached
their enrollment goals on
the last week of the Seaside
School District deadline.
Because of budget issues,
the Cannon Beach Academy
board had to change locations
for the charter school in May.
The Planning Commission
voted unanimously to grant a
conditional use permit to the
grades K-2 charter school.
That left only a few months to
secure the lease for the current
location at 3781 S Hemlock
St. from the city and finish
necessary renovations before
a fall opening.
By the end of the year, it
was all smiles as community
members came out to cele-
brate the academy’s official
grand opening with a rib-
bon-cutting and tour of the
building.
The school will look to
2018 for greater enrollment,
new classes and a positive
role in the community.
UPCOMING
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Friday & Saturday
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Tasting Room Hours
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Jan 6 • Wines for the New Year
Jan 13 • Walla Walla Wines
Jan 18 • Wine Women & Wealth
- Money Talk
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COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP
Personnel with the Seaside rope and rescue team pre-
pare to bring up a dog that fell off a cliff Monday after-
noon at Ecola State Park.
Dog rescued from cliff
Dog from Page 1A
requires more climbing than
usual.
For Seaside Fire Lieu-
tenant Genesee Dennis, the
man who scaled the rock face
to retrieve Felix, this was his
first rescue since gaining his
certification a year ago.
“The most difficult part
about this rescue was the fact
it was a dog,” Dennis said.
“You can’t reason with a dog,
and they can’t really help. At
one point he slipped out of
his harness, and I was basical-
ly bear hugging him, with no
available hand holds.”
About three hours later,
Felix was greeted by a warm
blanket, a visibly emotional
owner and group of friends
anxiously awaiting his ar-
rival.
“He’s everything,” Strem-
ming said, clutching Felix in
her arms.
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