12A • May 29, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
Locals and visitors take to downtown First Saturday Art Walk
for Seaside’s annual spring Wine Walk celebrates 11th birthday
Family maintains Wine
Walk tradition of wearing,
swapping elaborate hats
By Katherine Lacaze
Seaside Signal
For the Dixon family, as
well as extended members
and friends, Seaside’s wine
walk is all about fun, fellow-
ship ... and hats.
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time they attended the annu-
al spring Seaside Downtown
Wine Walk, held May 16, but
the tradition of wearing and
swapping elaborate hats start-
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fall event, also sponsored by
the Seaside Downtown De-
velopment Association.
It was the family’s second
attendance at the fall Wine
Walk after stumbling across
the event the year before
during a trip to Seaside. It also
was the birthday of Dixon
matriarch Sue Dixon, of Van-
couver, Wash., and the family
decided to buy her a birthday
cake hat from Seaside Mostly
Hats in the Seaside Carousel
Mall.
The rest of the family
thought, “‘We should do
something that makes us all
look together,’” said Sue Dix-
on’s daughter, Chelsea.
Since then, the tradition
has snowballed, accumulat-
ing other family members
and, of course, more hats,
along the way, and the fam-
ily shows up every fall. For
each event, the group divides
the duration of the four-hour
Wine Walk by how many
people are present to deter-
mine how frequently to swap
hats in order for each person
to wear each hat at least once.
Everyone is given a number
to determine the order of the
swap, so it’s important to re-
member who is before and
after you, Sue Dixon said.
The event is harder to at-
tend in May, but after the
family’s photographs were
KATHERINE LACAZE PHOTO
The Dixon family and their friends were once again in town for the 2015 spring Seaside
Downtown Wine Walk, held May 16 and sponsored by the Seaside Downtown Development
Association. The group, which usually attends the event in fall, has a special tradition of wear-
ing and periodically swapping extravagant hats throughout the event.
used to advertise for the 2015
spring Wine Walk, the family
knew they had to make an
appearance, even with small-
er numbers, said Erin Dixon,
Sue Dixon’s daughter-in-law.
Sue Dixon, her children
Chelsea and Chris Dixon,
their spouses Sarah Til-
ler-Dixon and Erin Dixon,
nephew Brady Petersen and
his wife Panan Phat and friend
Amelia Peachy traveled from
the Vancouver, Wash., and
Portland areas to attend the
event donning their chapeaus.
When asked what keeps
them returning year after
year, Chelsea Dixon respond-
ed, “The wine, the hats...”
“The friends,” Sue Dixon
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Seaside Mostly Hats de-
cided to donate some new
hats to the Dixons this year,
to help update the family’s
collection.
As they’ve been buying
hats consistently from Sea-
side Mostly Hats, co-own-
er Wendy Knick said, “we
thought, ‘we can donate.’”
“They have a lot of fun do-
ing it. They always tell people
where they got their hats,”
she said, adding that free ad-
vertisement is good for the
business.
The shop offers an array of
hats, some indicative of cur-
rent trends and others goofy,
capped with oversized hot-
dogs, Viking horns and ani-
mals. They order from about
100 suppliers to maintain the
variety, Knick said. The most
popular hat varies constantly,
depending on weather or oth-
er factors.
“People ask us what our
best-seller is and we just
laugh, because it does just de-
pend on the day,” Knick said.
In addition to the Dixons
and their extravagant hats,
this year’s spring Wine Walk
brought 24 Oregon winer-
ies to locations throughout
town. For $10, an attendee
could purchase an specialty
wine glass — necessary to
partake in tastings – and an
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as an entry into a drawing for
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side weekend getaway pack-
age. Winery representatives
were stationed at businesses
throughout the downtown
core, from Beach Books to
the Seaside Coffee House and
Del Sol. Most charged $1 to
taste a wine, or four tastings
for $3. Hors d’oeuvres were
complimentary at each site.
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ly brings a big crowd to the
downtown area,” Knick said,
adding, “anything that brings
people to town is good.”
About 770 people attended
the spring event, according to
Seaside Downtown Devel-
opment Association Director
Tita Montero. She said she did
not know the net amount of
money raised from the event.
“We love seeing people
having fun throughout the
downtown,” Montero said
in a news release. “They get
to know what our businesses
have to offer. Many of the
wineries have told us we have
the best organized wine walk
of the many conducted by
towns throughout the state.”
The next Wine Walk spon-
sored by the association will
be in November and mark the
event’s 10-year anniversary,
Montero said.
The Seaside First Satur-
day Art Walk, celebrating 11
years in 2015, is all about the
arts. Visitors wander, meet
artists, sip wine or snag ap-
petizers by favorite restau-
rants or personal chefs, view
artist demonstrations, listen
to an artist talk or enjoy live
performances in music. The
next art walk is June 6, 5
to 7 p.m. Saturday, at busi-
nesses, shops, boutiques and
dining establishments locat-
ed between Holladay Drive
and Broadway in the historic
Gilbert District of downtown
Seaside. Courtesy parking for
the Gilbert block is available
on the corner of Holladay and
Oceanway.
SunRose Gallery, 606
Broadway features the rich-
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of Portland artist Kath Jones.
With a particular fondness
for blended colors in glazed
pottery, Kath integrates the
pottery shards with semi-pre-
cious stones, shells and beads
to create panels of vivid ab-
stracts, trees and landscapes.
Also participating will be
mixed media artist Patty
Thurlby, a longtime local’s fa-
vorite. Live music will be pro-
vided by Richard T. on guitar
and SunRose owner Ray Cof-
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a great night of art and music.
J. Rae’s Wines, located
at 608 Broadway, features
artist Marcus Lundell, who
utilizes a traditional reverse
glass painting technique on
distressed windows. Window
views include classic land-
scapes and comedic charac-
ters — sometimes juxtaposed
in the same scene. Proceeds
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Animal Assistance.
Fairweather House and
Gallery, 612 Broadway, opens
an exhibition Ocean Staged,
that highlights the fascina-
tion of the sea featuring the
artwork of John Dudley, a
gifted visual and verbal artist;
children at play on the beach
art work in plein air and oil
paintings by Victoria Brooks;
Jan Shield, Professor Emeri-
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ty, mixed media works; Beth
Collins, and Paul Brent who
in his watercolors to his recent
oil paintings he captures the
element of the sea in its best
and most idyllic form.
Introducing two new art-
ists in the gallery: James
Dunbar who with his heavily
sculptured oils and bold use
of color composition have
earned him the reputation of
a highly sought after com-
missioned artist; oil paintings
by Cheryl King; fused glass
sculptor Cindy Duvall and
emerging artist Chelsea Jane,
who stipples in pen and ink,
placing many, many dots on
the paper to indicate shading.
The artists will be in atten-
dance to meet patrons and to
offer narratives on their art.
A Seaside Painting Live epi-
sode will be offered by Paul
Brent. Wine tasting and com-
plimentary desserts will be
offered. Shirley Yates-Smith
will perform live music. In
addition, Seaside/ Gearhart
naturalist Neal Maine will
speak at 6 p.m. about the “liv-
ing along the coastal edge.”
The Gilbert District Gal-
lery, located at 611 Broadway
offers original water colors,
bronzes, limited edition gi-
clee and prints, Native Amer-
ican jewelry, oil paintings,
greeting cards and metal
sculpture. Featuring national
award winning wildlife art
artist Dave Bartholet.
Beach Books, 616 Broad-
way features the Green Cab
Artist Collective. The collec-
tive was created with the goal
of encouraging and inspiring
one another, sharing artist
techniques and information
about the business side of art,
and sharing work with the
public. The “Cabbies” are a
synergistic alliance of artists,
working in diverse mediums
from the greater Portland
area. The featured artist from
the group for June is Helvi
Smith who is showing her
farm to table series, art that is
painted with recycled acrylic
house paint.
Get up. Get out. Get active.
May is National Stroke Awareness Month.
John Etter was 45 when he had his fi rst stroke. Since then, the 62-year-old has endured
two more. He found hope in his recovery at Providence. The folks here kept him going,
even when he struggled to brush his teeth. Today, he can check decathlon off his list.
John’s best defense against a setback is staying in motion. Every step counts toward
putting distance between him and his strokes. He walks, swims, cycles and strength trains
fi ve days a week. He cherishes his good health – and he works hard to keep it that way.
“I’m humbled by the fact that I’m here and a very lucky person.”
Read more about
John’s story and get
tips on how to live
a healthy lifestyle
and prevent stroke.
www.providence.org/stroke
John Etter volunteers with Providence Acute Rehabilitation Center to help motivate other stroke
survivors. He exercises regularly to stay physically vibrant and prevent future strokes.