VOL. 42, ISSUE 7
WWW.CANNONBEACHGAZETTE.COM
APRIL 6, 2018
Tiny
homes,
larger
questions
Cost, rules are issues in
Cannon Beach
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
PHOTOS BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Children look for eggs at the 10th annual Sea Ranch Easter Egg Hunt Saturday, March 31.
ONE
Nearly a year after Cannon Beach agreed
to experiment with tiny homes as affordable
housing, the city is taking another look.
The original idea was to have four or five
400 square-foot homes in the city-owned
RV Resort on Elk Land Road and Haskell
Lane by last fall.
But the pilot project was put on hold un-
til the new city manager, Bruce St. Denis,
was hired. Since then, the city has raised
more questions about the details: How does
the city target tenants who work in Cannon
Beach without discriminating? What is the
cost of management and maintenance? Will
those costs be covered by rents that are af-
fordable?
See Tiny, Page 6A
AT A TIME
Cannon Beach celebrates
10th annual Easter Egg Hunt
‘A long
way to go’
Local hospitality leaders
tackle emergency
preparedness
By Brenna Visser
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
Cannon Beach Gazette
A
bout 100 children were on the hunt for
brightly colored eggs filled with taffy
Saturday during the 10th annual Easter
Egg Hunt at the Sea Ranch Resort.
Children as young as three and as
old as 10 scoured through bushes, brambles and tree
stumps in a variety of bunny costumes and Easter
dresses on a clear but incredibly crisp March morning.
The staff of the resort spend a couple of months
meticulously organizing and filling the 600 eggs it
takes to make the event go, said Carmen Swigart,
owner of Sea Ranch Resort. But rarely are they all
found. Swigart decided to host an egg hunt 10 years
ago after realizing there was none to be found in Can-
non Beach at the time.
“We were looking for something to do for the chil-
dren,” Swigart said. “Then we had a great response.
There was a need that needed to be filled.”
Since then the event has continued to grow. Next
year, Swigart said they are considering answering a
popular request: introducing an adults-only section of
the Easter egg hunt.
But for parent Erica Mahoney, who came to cel-
ebrate Easter weekend from Seattle, watching her
3-year-old daughter Emily hunt for the eggs was
enough fun as it was.
“We like this (egg hunt),” Mahoney said. “It makes
it a little more challenging to have it on a campground
rather than an open field or something.
ABOVE Emily
Mahoney, 3, looks
for eggs with her
mom Erica Mahoney
at the 10th annual
Sea Ranch Easter
Egg Hunt Saturday,
March 31.
LEFT Emmett Sapp,
4, opens some of the
eggs he found with
his mom Shannon
Sapp. The two came
to visit Cannon Beach
from Forest Grove for
a family vacation.
After the devastating earthquake in Ja-
pan in 2011 that spurred tsunami fears
across the Pacific, Linda Beck-Sweeney
remembers driving through Cannon Beach
and knocking on the doors of her dozens of
rental properties to make sure guests knew
about the evacuation.
Her urgency was an example of the of-
ten unique and challenging relationship be-
tween the hospitality industry and emergen-
cy preparedness.
In the past few years, the topic has
evolved from taboo into must-do as com-
munities on the North Coast wrestle with
the growth in tourism and greater tsunami
awareness.
But emergency planning is a balancing
act, with obstacles for commerce at many
turns. How do you educate people about the
risks of a disaster without scaring travelers
away?
“(The threat of a tsunami) is something
we’ve been aware of for a long time,” said
Beck-Sweeney, of Cannon Beach Vacation
Rentals. “We want to give them the best
information we have. Because informed is
better than fearful.”
‘Long way to go’
While on a road trip to educate Ore-
gon Coast communities about emergency
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
See Prep, Page 6A
COASTER SETS STAGE FOR LAUGHS
‘Noises Off ’ spins comic mayhem in Cannon Beach
By Patrick Webb
EO Media Group
No offense to the actors, but
the star of the show opening at
the Coaster Theatre Playhouse
may be the set.
Built by father-son team
Jerry and Mick Alderman, the
cleverly designed revolving
scenery is the centerpiece of
“Noises Off.”
The comedy by British
playwright Michael Frayn
takes place backstage at a the-
ater. The actors are trying to
stage a sex farce called “Noth-
ing On” — but there’s com-
ic mayhem when everything
goes wrong and their rivalries
and foibles are exposed.
Mick Alderman said he de-
lighted at the chance to direct
the show. “I’m always up for
a challenge and every show
has either creative or technical
challenges.”
The set demands two levels
with eight doors, two stair-
cases and one window. “It’s a
challenge to do at the Coaster
because it’s only 14 feet high
and each level must be 7 foot
maximum,” he said. “I came
up with the concept, and we
figured it out.”
His father, Jerry Alderman,
is known for his firefighting
leadership but has significant
construction and design ex-
perience. He first sketched the
structure — measured to the
inch — on multiple pages of
penciled drawings. “He has
the artistic talent, I have to try
to make it happen!” Jerry Al-
derman said, laughing when
asked about working with his
son.
Figuring out such things is
not new. In 1998, a four-door
sedan had to be turned side-
ways when hauled into Asto-
ria’s Performing Arts Center
for a Mick Alderman show
called “Road to Nowhere.”
The set for “Noises Off” is
three sturdy wooden pieces, all
on wheels. With help from the
actors and stage crew, the cen-
ter pivots, so during the second
of the three acts the audience
views a theatrical scene as if
from “backstage.”
The Aldermans began build-
ing two months ago during
breaks between rehearsals of
See Coaster, Page 10A
PATRICK WEBB PHOTO
House owner Ann Bronson’s character, right, makes a point
to her nervous husband, played by William Ham, watched
by a mystery man, Daric Moore, left, and housekeeper
Cathey Ryan in a farcical scene from “Noises Off,” which
opens at the Coaster Theatre this weekend.