May 26, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 9A
Haller was a former teacher, city councilor
Haller from Page 1A
He worked on the pageant
for more than 40 years, she
said, serving as judge’s chair-
man on the executive board
judges’ panel.
“When Larry was solicit-
ing ads for the pageant’s jour-
nal, no one dared say ‘no’ out
of respect for the man — and
they knew he would come
back until they did,” Phillips
recalled.
Teacher, mentor
Haller was born in Sweet
Home to Alma and Joseph
Haller.
He graduated from Mil-
waukie High School. He re-
ceived a bachelor of science
degree from Oregon State
University and a master’s de-
gree in administration from
the University of Oregon.
He married Joyce Cum-
SEASIDE SIGNAL/FILE PHOTO
Larry Haller in 1980.
berland in 1956. In 1960,
he moved with his family
to Seaside, where he taught
and coached at Seaside High
School until he retired in 1989.
“He moved here in 1960
and he hit the floor running
with being involved in the com-
munity,” his daughter Kristi
Haller-Shaffer said. “There’s a
lot of years in with Miss Ore-
gon, Seaside Kids, City Coun-
cil, Jaycees and all that.”
Winstanley was one of
Haller’s students at Seaside
High School. “I’ve known
Larry for darn near 50 years,
because he had me as a fresh-
man in high school,” Winstan-
ley said. “He was a very good
teacher. He cared very much
about his students.”
Stubby Lyons, a former
Seaside High School teacher
and coach and later a mem-
ber of the City Council, called
Haller “one of the brightest
men I’ve ever known. He al-
ways had the right thing to say
and the right thing to do.”
“I knew Larry clear back
when I was in high school,”
former City Councilor Don
Johnson said. “He was the
teacher, I was the student.”
Winstanley said Haller
served as councilor during
two separate periods, from
1981-92 and from 2001-10.
Council legacy
Haller was instrumental in
the formation of the city’s first
Trail’s End and Greater Sea-
side urban renewal districts,
which brought improve-
ments to the Broadway area
from Holladay to the Prom.
“I thought meetings were a
magic place where daddys
went when I was a little kid,”
Haller-Shaffer said. “It really
gave me a big sense of com-
munity.”
“We got a lot of bridges
done,” Lyons said. “We got a
lot of service done in the in-
frastructure around town. We
started this business of getting
it done — and I’m really hap-
py about that.”
At his retirement in June
2010, Mayor Don Larson said
Haller was instrumental in
developing the Seaside Civic
and Convention Center.
Without the convention
center, we would be a small,
hardly used community,” Lar-
son said in 2010. “Larry was a
prime mover behind that.”
“He was a doer and a get
’er doner,” Johnson said
Monday. “He was part of the
‘secret seven’ of the instiga-
tion of the convention center
— he, my dad, and a hand-
ful of other citizens formed a
committee and figured out we
needed a convention center.
Didn’t seem to hurt us any I
don’t think.”
When Johnson joined the
City Council, Haller served as
Johnson’s mentor and teacher
on the council.
Haller played a sim-
ilar role for Phillips.
“Larry’s the reason why I’m
on the council,” Phillips said.
“After the brain tumor, he
knew it was time to step aside.
He called me, and said, ‘Dana
would you consider thinking
about running?’”
In 2010, Haller had this
advice for would-be council-
ors: “You are here to help the
public,” he said. “Don’t come
with a specific agenda. Be a
team player and be prepared
to work closely with the city
manager and the City Coun-
cil. That’s what I think is most
important.”
Haller is survived by his
wife, Joyce; daughter, Kristi;
son-in-law, Todd Shaffer; son,
Scott; daughter-in-law, Cheryl
Harrison; a brother, Bill; and
several nieces and nephews.
“My brother and I were raised
to give back to the community
in which we live, and he lived
that,” Haller-Shaffer said.
A celebration of life is
planned for later this year.
Bob Chisholm Center
gets a makeover
Refresh from Page 1A
In the first week of May, the
commission got approval from
the city to meet with RESOLVE
Architecture and Planning, the
firm that initially designed the
renovation, and start preparing
the bid process to select a gen-
eral contractor.
“We think we are pretty close
on the money, so really the bids
will tell us where exactly our
budget is going to be,” said Dar-
ren Gooch, the IT and Marketing
Manager for the Sunset Empire
Park and Recreation District,
which oversees the building on
behalf of the city. “If there is
any remaining fundraising that
needs to occur, then we’ll have
a better idea of what that looks
like.”
Time for a change
The refresh project has been
a pipe dream for numerous
years. The most recent effort to
accomplish the renovation was
set in motion in mid-2015 when
the commission, which is tasked
with tracking the center’s usage,
was curious about why the facil-
ity was under-utilized, member
Lou Neubecker said.
“Then we all went in there
and looked at it and said, ‘Be-
cause this is a 1970s design,’”
he said.
Not only is the main hall of
the building dated, but it also
possesses remnants of its orig-
inal function as a gymnasium
for a church, making it an unap-
pealing venue for private parties
and special events. The com-
missioners decided it was time
for a change. They got the ball
rolling on the renovation project
with the hope that, when com-
pleted, the building will be “so
desirable people will be beating
the door down to get in here,”
Neubecker said.
Through a bid process, the
city selected RESOLVE as the
architecture and design firm. Ar-
chitect John Flynn and design-
er Suenn Ho presented project
plans — which included updat-
ing the lighting, flooring, wall
coverings and window treat-
ments – to Seaside City Council
in August 2015.
From there, Gooch said,
“It took us about six or eight
months to get the fundraising
machine rolling.”
Turning to the
community
In the early spring of 2016,
the commission held a Taco
Night to kick-off the fundraising
effort and introduce the project
to the public, according to com-
mission member Kristin Tschan-
nen. In the following months,
they also presented the project at
community meetings for groups
such as the Seaside Chamber of
Commerce, Seaside Downtown
Development Association and
Rotary Club of Seaside.
Most of the funds raised so
far came from donations made
by individuals and organiza-
tions. Pacific Power donated
$5,000, which was the first big
donation received from a com-
pany, Gooch said. Some busi-
nesses also have donated in-
kind goods and services.
The Funland Arcade put for-
ward $4,000 of in-kind dona-
tions for the commission’s Fas-
cination Tournament fundraiser
in March. Thirty-six teams of
four participated in the tourna-
ment, but including spectators,
attendance reached a couple
hundred. The event included
pizza, a no-host bar and addi-
tional fundraising activities, like
a raffle with prizes donated by
local businesses. Tschannen said
she was pleasantly surprised by
the number and variety of peo-
ple who attended the Fascina-
tion tournament.
“I was really excited to see
how the community got behind
that fundraiser,” she said, add-
ing they raised about $3,000.
“At that event, it was nice to see
new faces of people in the com-
munity that just heard about (the
project) that wanted to come out
and support it. That was neat to
see some different faces of peo-
ple who aren’t always volun-
teering or coming to stuff.”
In general, Gooch said, “it’s
been interesting to see where
some of these donations have
come from.” Bob Chisholm’s
family, between several mem-
bers, has contributed about
$4,000. Second homeowners
from all of Oregon and out-of-
state also have contributed.
LYRA FONTAINE/EO MEDIA GROUP
Angi Wildt displayed a variety of wines from Nehalem Bay Winery at the 2016 Seaside Farmers Market.
Expanding
versatility
One of the main objectives
behind the renovation is to
broaden the facility’s functions.
“Up to this point, the space
has really been used as a senior
center, and we’re trying to ex-
pand that identity into more of
a community space,” Tschannen
said.
The renovation will high-
light the center’s glulam beams
and tongue-and-groove ceiling,
while providing much-needed
improvements to the room’s
acoustics and energy efficiency,
according to the commission.
The new color scheme will in-
clude the shade of fireman red
in honor of Bob Chisholm, the
building’s namesake. Overall,
the atmosphere should become
more memorable, warm and
welcoming
“It’s a neat room with a lot
of really positive feeling, but
we’re taking it to the next level,”
Gooch said.
The architecture firm gave
an estimate for how the re-
fresh project would cost, which
helped the commission set their
fundraising goal. The actual
cost, however, won’t be estab-
lished until the general contrac-
tor is selected, Gooch said.
He planned to meet in late
May with the architects and the
city’s Public Works Director
Dale McDowell to discuss lo-
gistics of the bid process. Once
bids are received, the commis-
sion will review them and make
a recommendation for approval
to City Council. Until that tran-
spires, the project does not have
a timeline set in stone, but the
goal is start construction with-
in the 2017-18 fiscal year. Part
of the planning process will
involve conversations on how
to renovate the building “with
the least impact to the program-
ming that takes place in there,”
Gooch said.
LYRA FONTAINE/EO MEDIA GROUP
Flowers in moss balls and driftwood at the Seaside market.
LYRA FONTAINE/EO MEDIA GROUP
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Ruben Manuel sold photography as a Biz Kid at the Asto-
ria Sunday Market.
Yvonne Whitney is a Clatsop County Master Gardener. She
participates in the Seaside Farmers Market every Wednes-
day afternoon in the summer.
Farmers Market off to a running start
Market from Page 1A
excited to see how much the
market has grown. Last year
we had 12 to 15 regular ven-
dors every week; this year
we already have 16 signed
on, and are expecting 8 more
by the time we open.”
New to the Seaside Mar-
ket this year is Biz Kidz, a
business-minded club that
encourages young people
to develop their entrepre-
neurial abilities. Cyndi
Mudge, manager of the
Astoria Sunday Market,
is introducing Biz Kidz to
Seaside after seeing how
successful the program has
been at the Astoria Market.
“The big news is thanks to
Jeremy Mills of State Farm,
we’ve worked out arrange-
ments to have Biz Kidz vend
at Seaside’s Wednesday
Market starting in June,”
Mudge said. “This provides
Seaside kids more opportu-
nity to participate.” She said
Mill’s sponsorship made it
possible for Biz Kidz to pur-
chase two new tents for the
program, which will be used
at the Seaside market and
Astoria. Mudge said Mills
connected her with Sunset
Empire.
“We’ve been doing Biz
Kidz since 2009,” Mudge
said. “We encourage kids
to develop entrepreneur-
ial skills. We have a series
of workshops the kids at-
tend to learn how to make
a product, sell it, market it,
and price it. We also do a
one day boot camp that re-
views what they learned in
the workshops, as well as
training sessions to prepare
them for actual market ex-
perience. The goal is for the
kids to be market vendors
sharing a table under one
big tent.”
She said that if any Biz
Kidz vendor sells their
wares at the markets 5 times,
they become eligible to ap-
ply for a grant.
“The grants range to
$30 to $100,” Mudge said.
“They also have to submit
photos and their business
plan.” Mudge said kids who
are in Seaside now can vend
at either the Seaside Mar-
ket or the Astoria Market.
“Most of them will focus
on Astoria because they
are from Astoria,” she said,
“but we’re hoping more kids
from Seaside will partici-
pate.”
The kids do well, Mudge
said. “They learn important
skills, and the markets give
kids who have an inventive
spirit to market and sell
what they’ve made. One girl
raised enough money to buy
a saddle she coveted.”
Angi Wildt is the man-
ager of the Seaside Market.
“Angi is a previous vendor
and she’s been a vendor at
markets for several years,”
Grace Smith said. “She’s
experienced.” There is also
a Farmers Market commit-
tee that helps shape the fu-
ture of the market. Meetings
are held monthly in Seaside
from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the
Bob Chisholm Communi-
ty Center. The committee,
which begins its meetings in
October, continues until the
market opens in June.
The market is open every
Wednesday, June 21 through
Sept. 27, from 3 to 7 p.m.
Visit seasidemarket.org for
current market information
and market news. Email
Angi Wildt at awildt@sun-
setempire.com for details.