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Cindy Weeldreyer / The Sentinel Dozens of customers and supporters gathered for the meeting to find out more about the eviction.
First Friday Art Walk connects participants to artists and creativity
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Food hub faces eviction
CINDY WEELDREYER Cottage Grove Sentinel
nce a month Cottage Grove Historic Downtown District businesses stay open late, provide light refreshments and host local artists who showcase their talent for the enjoyment of residents and visitors. The Cottage Grove Art Walk is a grassroots, year-round event on the last Friday of the month from 6-8 p.m. The free event offers neighbors, visitors and families the joy of creativity and connection. Artists and performers welcome the opportunities to interact with participants and, at the end of the two-hour event, go home with some extra money in their pockets. Participating businesses enjoy the increased foot traffic that increases sales and improves their bottom line.
CINDY WEELDREYER Cottage Grove Sentinel
It was a full house in the Cottage Grove Armory on Thursday evening, April 25. More than 120 customers and supporters of the Coast Fork Farm Stand (CFFS) gathered to learn the details of the scheduled eviction of Scott Burgwin, the owner of the natural food store on the corner of 10th Street and Washington Avenue. The retail store is on one of five lots on the east side of South Tenth Street, across from Bohemia Park, owned by longtime Cottage Grove residents, Tom and Lila Creager. A decade ago, the Creagers purchased the properties and signed a lease-to-own contract with Kim Johnson, the founder of the Bohemia Food Hub. According to its website it serves entrepreneurs who want to “explore, start, and grow small food businesses in a supportive environment”.
See WALK on Page 3 Cindy Weeldreyer / The Sentinel Right: Gray soggy skies didn’t deter participation in the Last Friday Art Walk April 26. Thirteen businesses in the Historic Downtown District participated.
New Art Collective shares passion, need CINDY WEELDREYER Cottage Grove Sentinel
HISTORY
Cottage Grove has long been blessed with a thriving community of artists of all ages who are gifted in the visual and performing arts. Participation in a local support group for artists, like anything in life, ebbs, and flows. LOOKING BACK For many generations the Cottage Grove Art Guild gathered visual artists together each month to share their experiences and partner on community art projects. The more familiar names of Guild members who are no longer alive include Bob Baysinger, Shirley Freud, Helen Tryk and her daughter SuJo, Roger Lovelace, Joy Woodard, and longtime Cottage Grove High School art teacher Catharine Filmer. Three decades ago, Guild members created two colorful downtown murals: a menagerie of animals on the Humane Society building and a particleboard fence in the 600 block of Main St. Members’ paintings once graced the hallways of
the Cottage Grove Hospital on Birch Avenue. Some Art Guild members live on through their depictions of local covered bridges and landmarks that can still be found on note cards in bookstores and gift shops around town. See NEW on Page 3
Lane County seeing rise in pertussis cases JEREMY C. RUARK Cottage Grove Sentinel
Lane County Public Health (LCPH) has confirmed an uptick in pertussis cases, also known as whooping cough. LCPH reports a total to 13 pertussis cases in April. Several of the recent cases are not linked, according to LCPH. The recent cases indicate community spread of pertussis in Lane County. WHAT IS PERTUSSIS?
TODAY’S EDITION
Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory infection
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caused by bacteria. It can cause severe coughing fits (up to 10 weeks or more), followed by a high-pitched “whoop” sound when breathing in. Vomiting and exhaustion may also follow. Pertussis can lead to serious complications, especially in infants, such as pneumonia, dehydration, seizures, and brain damage. Some infants may not cough at all. Instead, they may have apnea (life-threatening pauses in breathing) or struggle to breathe. LCPH urges that a doctor should be consulted as soon as possible if you or your child
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Number 18 • 135 years
is experiencing symptoms, such as runny nose, fever and coughing violently and rapidly. Call 9-1-1 immediately if you or your child is: • Struggling to breathe • Turning blue or purple LCPH strongly recommends staying up to date with pertussis vaccinations. “This is very important for infants, young children, those with underlying medical conditions and their close contacts,” LCPH medical officials state in a release. “We want to protect these vulnerable See COUGH on Page 8
FAST FACT
LCPH urges consulting a doctor as soon as possible if you or your child is experiencing symptoms, such as runny nose, fever and coughing violently and rapidly.
Read developing news and story updates @CGSentinel CGSentinel.com
Scott Burgwin, another longtime Grover, owns the Coast Fork Farm Stand and Buying Club. In 2009, the Cottage Grove Area Chamber of Commerce embraced the idea of combining its summer concert series in Coiner Park with a Growers Market. Burgwin has a passion to provide organic produce to the community and promote local growers and artisans, so his management of the market became the genesis of the farm stand-to-be. He said, in 2013, he was invited by the Creagers and Johnson to move into the current location at 90 S. 10th St., next to the food truck lot. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT At the meeting it was reported that in early March he received a verbal threat of eviction if the rent was not paid on time. A few weeks later, they said the rent was paid, yet Johnson still posted a 30-day notice that ordered him to move out of the building by Saturday, May 11. Since mid-March, more than 800 people have signed online and paper petitions to respond to the eviction threat by describing the significance of the business to the community. The petition praises Burgwin’s personal investment in the farm stand that has created the only, easily accessible hub for the purveying and sale of local, healthy, organic, biodynamic, sustainably-grown or manufactured produce, plants and other goods in Cottage Grove. The petition states, “Since CFFS’s opening, Scott has dedicated himself to bringing local cultivators, creators See FOOD on Page 2