Newsie Features

Orange you glad it’s Halloween time? This October, the Tillamook Revitalization Association (TRA) will host their annual downtown Tillamook Halloween decorating contest. Businesses are invited to dress up there windows, doorways, or front entrances for the spookiest time of the year.

The flagship steam locomotive for Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad (OCSR), McCloud River Railroad #25, just turned 100 years old this September. To celebrate, OCSR hosted a weekend-long event (Sept. 20-21) with special excursions including a stopover in Wheeler. “This run’s been exciting because we’ve gone all the way from Garibaldi to Wheeler which is something we don’t normally do. Typically, we only run trips from Rockaway Beach to Wheeler or Rockaway Beach to Garibaldi, but not the entire length of the service railroad to Wheeler,” OCSR Operations Supervisor and General Manager Trevor Park said. “We brought people up here not only to celebrate the #25’s 100th birthday, but also to bring business to Wheeler as we’ll be running up here every single weekend [soon]” The specialty ride from Garibaldi to Wheeler, brought out 200 passengers. 

First it was a fishing settlement. Then a farming and camping area. And now today, a vibrant community on the rural Oregon Coast. The evolution of Neskowin is captured through historic photos in The Neskowin Historical Foundation’s first ever book: “Neskowin: A Book of Found Photos 1880-1970.” The 300+ page, hardback coffee table book takes readers on a visual journey through time featuring photographs of the area’s iconic landscapes such as Proposal Rock and the mysterious Ghost Forest, as well as portraits of the town’s pioneering families.

It’s that time again to let the gourd times roll at The Kilchis River Pumpkin Patch. “It's a different kind of pumpkin patch in a beautiful, remote, authentic and relaxed setting,” Zweifel said. “Come for the afternoon and enjoy the good, wholesome family fun.” Boasting thousands of gourds and u-pick pumpkins, and the biggest corn maze on the Oregon Coast, the Kilchis River Pumpkin Patch will operate every Saturday and Sunday in October from noon – 5 p.m. Get the full, down-home experience with free hay-rides behind one of the farm’s tractors, or snap a cute family picture at one of multiple photo booths. “People who come here, remark about how family-friendly and non-commercial it is,” Owner Patrick Zweifel said. “It is very relaxed. People come with their families and a basket of food and hang out for several hours.”

Benefit Concert brings The Voice contestants to Garibaldi

Editor’s note: This feature story contains information about suicide and suicide prevention and awareness. If you, or someone you know, is struggling with thoughts of self-harm or suicide, help is available: Suicide & Crisis Lifeline : Call or text 988. 24/7 Tillamook County Crisis Hotline : 1-800-962-2851 or 503-842-8201 24/7 AgriStress Helpline (available specifically for people in farming, ranching, fishery, and forestry industries): call 833-897-2474 Mental health and behavior health services are available at: Tillamook Family Counseling Center: 503-842-8201, tfcc.org Adventist Health : 503-815-2292 Nehalem Bay Health Center : 1-800-368-5182 Tillamook County Community Health Centers: 503-842-3938

Inside the Tillamook Farmers' Co-op , a new boutique is offering western wear, but elevated. The Cowboy’s Closet softly opened June 1, but celebrated their grand opening and ribbon cutting on August 22.

Starting a business is already a leap of faith for most. And when you have question as a small business owner, who do you call for help? That’s where the Tillamook Bay Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is able to assist. “A lot of our students are experts in the goods and services that they provide, but need training in other areas,” Tillamook Bay SBDC Director Leon Telesmanich said. “There’s a lot of people who are starting out and don’t know what to do, or they get going and have questions.”  Tillamook Bay SBDC serves a variety of businesses, from small commercial fishing operations to restaurateurs to manufacturers. The organization offers free, confidential one-on-one advising for businesses in every phase of development, from a rough idea to a small empire. Additional workshops and classes focused on other business-related areas of need are also offered.

They’re elusive, a mystery: the band that doesn’t exist. When the Neah-Kah-Nie Coast Art and Music Cultural (NCAM) Foundation decided to host the Rockaway Beach Music Festival, they wanted to bring together talented musicians from the greater Northwest area as well as showcase local talent. That includes budding youth artists. “Dead Lines is a group of local musicians who together to write and rehearse a set of original music and debut at the Rockaway Beach Music Festival,” NCAM volunteer and Dead Lines band member Cosmo Jones said. “Our goal was to be able to incorporate student performers and our lead guitar player is going into his senior year at Neah-Kah-Nie High School. Go Pirates!” Coming together to form the band is Jones on drums, Chad Martin (you may know him from Brittney Bakes) on vocals, Mike Simmons (NKN music teacher) on bass, and NKN senior Lucien on guitar. “The band plays a genre of our own making called ‘ill ass yacht rap’ and it blends mega-lyrical hip hop with danceable grooves, live players with yacht rock tinted funk that can go from one to 11,” Jones said. When settling on a name, “Dead Lines” was chosen for many reasons. “One, we needed a deadline as several of us have always talked about working on music,” Jones said. “Two, we all live and work here, and own businesses. The Rockaway economy is designed for tourism and in the winter the lines are dead, so we need to do more. Three, it's hip hop and our rapper resurrected some old lines to get the ball rolling.” As a new band, Dead Lines doesn’t have any merch of their own yet, yet encourage guest to purchase NCAM items to raise money for the foundation. “This performance is a demonstration of what happens when a student gets to have their education supplemented and excels because of that opportunity,” Jones said.