The
Cottage Grove
entinel
Sports
Family Fun
Boys’ track places sixth| PAGE 10
Children of all ages enjoy the circus | PAGE 3
Bundle home & auto to save $$.
Get an insurance plan —not just a policy.
(541) 942-0555 PayneWest.com
Morning showers. High of 66 and a low of 43
See more weather on Page 2
$1.00
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Number 21 • 135 years
Courtesy photo The Bedrock Fire burned in rural areas of in Lane County in 2023.
Moving on
Community support creates bright future for farm stand
Courtesy photo from Shelby Bartram Community volunteers helping to pack inventory at the old Farm Stand location.
T
CINDY WEELDREYER Cottage Grove Sentinel
TODAY’S EDITION
he outpouring of community support for the to-own arrangement so the new businesses do not have Coast Fork Farm Stand and Buying Club could the same vulnerability to eviction they had in the previous be seen on full display May 10. location. A three-day-old plan, to move from its “When we first built this place we wanted it to be a longtime location at 90 South 10th Street across Main community space,” Chapman said. “So to see it morph Street into the former Covered Bridge Brewery building, into a market that will benefit our community in many was enthusiastically completed in just seven hours. ways — with consumers, local farmers and small Josh Fattal is a friend of Scott Burgwin, owner of the business owners coming together — it is an amazing Coast Fork Farm Stand, and has been a customer of the thing!” natural food retail store for many years. Fattal was one Once the former brewery’s equipment is sold, of the facilitators of the April 25 town hall meeting in Burgwin’s retail space will move into that area. This will the Armory to brainstorm solutions to make way for small businesses owners relocate the business prior to a May 11 to set up shop in the market to provide eviction notice. products and services to the community. He described the move as “a beautiful The building offers indoor and outdoor act of sheer community resilience” dining areas, offices and a meeting and provided details of the remarkable room. The former brewery’s outdoor event. courtyard has spaces for multiple food On Friday morning at 7 a.m., people trucks and a stage for live music and started moving the contents out of the events so it can resume its function as building it called home for just over a one of Cottage Grove’s entertainment decade. By 8 a.m. the place was buzzing venues. with activity. With minimal centralized Eleven months ago, Elasah Smith and coordination, all the volunteers made her family opened their popular mobile themselves useful. By 10 a.m., most of food truck next to the farm stand and the store had been relocated to its new serves breakfast and lunch four days a location. Assuming the work would take week, Thursday-Sunday from 6 a.m. to all day, volunteers continued to arrive 3 p.m. throughout the morning and afternoon. The local entrepreneur participated Cindy Weeldreyer / The Sentinel in the Chamber of Commerce’s recent “Over one hundred pairs of hands This sign marks the store’s bustled back and forth to create the Business Challenge to enhance her new location in Cottage new community space,” Fattal said. mobile restaurant business and is ready Grove. “Community members brought food, to take it to a new level of success. had a barbecue, and, by 2:30, had Embracing the vision of the Coast Fork largely set up the new retail location.” Public Market, the family has relocated the Food Smith’s Rebecca Allen Lamptey, another facilitator of the truck to the courtyard on the north side of the building at April 25 meeting, said she was also surprised to see the 926 E. Main St. sheer number of enthusiastic volunteers who showed up “My heart is to be part of this new foundational Coast throughout the day and guesstimated 20 vehicles were Fork Public Market, for the building of future generations used. Three days later, on Monday, May 13, the farm of entrepreneurs,” Smith said. “We are creating this stand reopened for business. community of artisans and producers with the Mutually Covered Bridge Brewing Group co-founder, Chrissy Assured Economic Growth Strategy.” Chapman, owns the building on the corner of Main Street She described the strategy as finding ways to connect and Highway 99. She said she embraces the farm stand dots between businesses in the local economy and advocates’ vision of transforming the large structure into providing a crowd-funded Public Market space: Natural an economic hub for small businesses and continuing Food Store, Food, Plants, Crafters, Artists — all in one it as a pleasant community gathering place. Chapman’s See MOVE on Page 6 commitment offers the Coast Fork Public Market a lease-
Weather — 2 Obituaries — 4 Opinion — 5
Comics — 7 Classifieds — 8-9 Sports — 10
Read developing news and story updates @CGSentinel CGSentinel.com
‘It’s steep and deep’
A look at the ’24 wildfire season JEREMY C. RUARK Cottage Grove Sentinel Dylan Johnson, Weyerhaeuser forester and firefighter crew leader, said he has one fear heading into Oregon’s 2024 summer and fall wildfire season. “The ice storm that we had this past winter has created a lot of heavy concentrated fuel loading across the landscape, so there is a a lot of new fresh dead and down materials,” he said. “That increases the danger of spreading hot and intense fires and it will be difficult to get to the fires for suppression.”
Johnson also worries about the rugged terrain inland at Cottage Grove and along the Oregon Coast range. “Yes, it is steep and deep,” he said. “That definitely doesn’t help with the fire behavior. The terrain plays a factor in fire growth. It starts at the bottom of the slope and is forced up as the heat rises. It can run up the slope pretty quick.” Joining local, state, and federal forestry officials, Johnson is urging property owners to prepare now for the wildfire season ahead. See FIRE on Page 6
Cindy Weeldreyer / The Sentinel A work session filled a board with ideas and concerns on a new strategy to address legal mandates on accommodations for homeless people.
City Council considers new strategies to address homelessness CINDY WEELDREYER Cottage Grove Sentinel
A much anticipated Cottage Grove City Council work session gave city staff the opportunity to review its efforts to address challenges with homelessness. The May 18 session also allowed the opportunity for the council and staff to explore a partnership with
St. Vincent de Paul to develop a more effective strategy to manage it in compliance with state and federal laws. Federal funding for the 2-year-old Highway 99 managed shelter ends June 30 and continuation funds are not included in the city’s 2024-’25 proposed budget. The unhealthy conditions and crimes committed in the See COUNCIL on Page 4