OUR 114th Year October 29, 2021 SEASIDESIGNAL.COM Couple appeal to city for water $1.00 FALL FUN FEST Dilemma over drinking water By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal An untreated water main runs down their driveway in the middle of the prop- erty off of U.S. Highway 26. To the east, the water system’s headwaters are only a mile and a half away. The treated water connection is 1,700 feet to the west. But Peggy and Brian Pogue can’t get drinking water for their home for up to 10 years, the city says, when the system receives upgrades. “We’re stuck, really,” Brian Pogue told the Seaside City Council this month. “We don’t have a water source. Right now, it’s absolutely making us miserable. Our request is that you consider letting us tap your untreated line since we already have a treatment system in place that we used for our well water. Your line already crosses our property and we believe it would be an easy job to tap the line and install a meter. About three months ago, the Pogues’ well, which had been in operation 40 years, went dry or was damaged by settling. Nearby Mail Creek is on a lower bank with a steep grade, with limited water this time of year, they said. The state is con- sidering giving the Pogues limited water rights to the creek, but then only for two years. See Water, Page A3 Photos by Katherine Lacaze High school, middle school students return to new normal TOP: Eighth-graders Mya Feeney and Liliana Miller, with Seaside Middle School’s Builders Club, volunteered to run games at Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District’s Fall Fun Fest on Oct. 23. ABOVE: Children in costumes play carnival-style games at the Fall Fun Fest. Cupcake walk, carnival games at the Sunset Recreation Center By KATHERINE LACAZE For Seaside Signal By KATHERINE LACAZE For Seaside Signal With clubs, sports and activities reemerging, Seaside School District administrators are experiencing a slow return to a sense of normalcy as the school year progresses. “Every day, kind of, we take a step for- ward,” Jeff Roberts, principal at Seaside middle and high schools, said. Over the past few weeks, the schools have seen visitors, done hands-on sci- ence experiments in class, facilitated vision screenings and celebrated the Stu- dent of the Month in an in-person capac- ity. A group of high school students also will be attending an event being put on by the Astoria Writer’s Guild at the Liberty Theatre in November, featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jericho Brown. T here were pumpkins, candy and costumes galore during the Fall Fun Fest at the Sunset Recre- ation Center on Oct. 23 — the first large community event hosted at the facility since it was acquired by Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District. Families spent the afternoon dec- orating pumpkins, playing carni- val-style games and participating in the traditional cupcake walk, with a Halloween theme woven in to cele- brate the season. “It was really good weekend,” said Melissa Ousley, the district’s manager of marketing and special events. Families decorate pumpkins during Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District’s Fall Fun Fest on Oct. 23. See Fall Fun Fest, Page A6 See Schools, Page A3 HALLOWEEN HAPPENIN’S A stylish boutique draws inspiration from Hollywood glamour days Giant pumpkin drop to make a splash at the Turnaround By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal Seaside’s pumpkin drop went viral last year. The iconic drop loads a By KATHERINE LACAZE For Seaside Signal 1,000-pound-plus pump- kin and is lifted by a crane. Last year’s event took place at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center park- ing lot downtown, drawing a crowd of hundreds as the big pumpkin splattered in all directions. Katherine Lacaze See Pumpkin drop, Page A6 Tom Galiardo opened Tommyg, a contemporary casual boutique in Seaside’s downtown Gilbert District, in May. Tommyg, in downtown Seaside, is as much of an artistic achievement as it is an upscale boutique store. Each feature and deco- ration — from the “Break- fast at Tiffany’s” and “Ara- besque” movie posters to stylized fashion illustra- tions and bird figurines from Rio de Janeiro — reveals a piece of owner Tom Galiardo’s long his- tory in fashion, as well as the experiences and ideas that influenced his taste and professional philoso- phy surrounding contem- porary casual clothing and accessories. “You’re actually seeing parts of my life in here,” Galiardo said. “It’s not just random.” See Boutique, Page A5