By QUINTON SMITH and CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews.com
There will be fireworks shows – two nights of them.
And a parade.
And music. And an art show, duck races, and a pancake breakfast.
After a two-year absence – although just one in Waldport – the full slate of traditional Fourth of July events on the central Oregon coast are back with a bang beginning Friday.
The holiday weekend kicks off quietly at 10 a.m. Friday with the opening of the Yachats Arts Guild’s in-person four-day show in the Yachats Commons.
Saturday is when things get going in Yachats.
Polly Plumb Productions is sponsoring a free, three-hour performance by T. Ray and the Shades beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday in the pavilion behind the Yachats Commons. The four-piece band plays blues rock, funk and soul music. Popcorn – but no other food or drink – will be available.
The coronavirus pandemic had forced the cancellation of Yachats’ all-volunteer fireworks show the past two years. This year the Yachats Chamber of Commerce stepped in to contract with Western Display of Canby, got a $25,000 contribution from the city of Yachats – and the show is set to blast off at 10 p.m. Saturday – yes Saturday — from Yachats State Park.
Roads and access to the park will be closed Saturday afternoon as pyro-technicians from Western Display set up the show. Community volunteers organized by Polly Plumb Productions will man six stations around the park and along Yachats Ocean Road in two-hour shifts to keep traffic moving or people from getting too close to the fireworks.
It’s a bit quieter Sunday in Yachats — but not in Waldport.
The art show continues its run, the Yachats Farmers Market opens on West Fourth Street, and the Yachats Ladies Club resumes an in-person craft fair – but not its pie and ice cream social.
Waldport stages its annual fireworks show over Alsea Bay at 10 p.m. Sunday, July 3.
In Yachats Monday, July 4 activities resume again with the Lions Club offering up its all you can eat pancake breakfast from 7:30-11 a.m. The farmers market will also be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, July 4.
The big event Monday is the return – also after a two-year absence — of the quirky, homemade come-as-you-are La de da Parade that begins its march through Yachats at noon. The Yachats Umbrella Drill team – which is recruiting new members – has been practicing and will lead the parade, according to organizers.
The non-motorized parade is open to families, individuals, groups and organizations with registration through the Yachats Chamber of Commerce. Participants will begin forming up in the road behind city hall (once proposed to be called La de da Lane) at 11 a.m. and the parking lot behind Yachats Community Presbyterian Church before marching off at noon. The parade will march west on West Seventh Street to Ocean View Drive, and then all the way to Beach Street in downtown Yachats before disbanding.
Waldport fireworks
Fireworks in Waldport were also saved this year after the city council voted to step in and put up the $17,500 needed to contract with Western Display for the munitions. A team led by Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue Volunteer Association president Rick Booth does the preparation on the bank of Alsea Bay and the pyrotechnic work of setting them off.
The show begins at 10 p.m. Sunday, July 3.
“We’re aiming for 25 minutes, so it’s a good show,” Booth said.
The work actually starts late Sunday morning when volunteers dig a trench 30-40 yards long and 18-24 inches deep. Then 5-inch mortar tubes go into the sand. No members of the public are allowed within 500 yards of the launch area once fireworks are in place.
Unlike Western Display’s larger fireworks shows July 4 in Newport and Lincoln City, which are launched electronically, Booth said his team of four pyro-technicians light their fuses by hand.
“It’s a fun thing,” said Booth, who spent 27 years in the Navy and Navy Reserves as an ordnance technician. “We have fun doing it, the team we have is a good one and it’s great for the community.”
There will be a Lincoln County Sheriff’s marine officer patrolling the bay to keep boaters away from the launch area, Booth said, “because somebody always wants to get under the show.”
Law enforcement
With throngs of visitors to the coast joining residents already in a celebration mood, there is bound to be some issues that require a law enforcement response.
For the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office the weekend is an “all hands on deck” affair with off-duty deputies brought back on overtime to help deal with the spike in calls over the weekend, said Sheriff Curtis Landers.
Deputies will be spread out evenly over the county and in the Yachats area on Saturday, with more patrols in the Waldport and Bayshore areas on Sunday, Landers said. Monday will find more deputies in north county, Landers said, “and then evenly dispersed in areas where the call load takes us.”
Unless there is a life-threatening emergency, Landers advised people in unincorporated areas with complaints about fireworks during the weekend to call the sheriff’s non-emergency dispatch line – 541-265-0777. Dispatchers place fireworks-related calls on one report and if there is a deputy nearby, they may respond, Landers said, “based on circumstances and threats to the community.”
“… but realize that not every (fireworks) call will get a response,” he said.
Landers said the cancellation of community fireworks shows in 2020 seemed to result in more personal fireworks displays – and more neighborhood complaints. That dropped some last year when most communities resumed their big shows, he said, and may drop again this weekend as all shows return.
“In 2020 we saw that people didn’t have a show to go to, so they did their own,” Landers said.
Yachats events
Friday, July 1 through Monday, July 4: Yachats Arts Guild in-person show
10 a.m.-4 p.m., Yachats Commons, 441 Hwy 101, Multi-purpose and adjacent rooms
“Back with a Bang” is the theme of the Yachats Arts Guild’s weekend art show, its first major in-person event in two years. “We had a small, in-person show during Memorial Day weekend that was very successful,” says Sherry Secreast, the guild’s show coordinator and publicity chairwoman. “We’re hoping for big crowds for this full-blown show.”
Some 18 artists from Yachats, Waldport and Lincoln County will be displaying and selling original works in a variety of media: oil, acrylic and watercolors, along with jewelry, stained glass, photography, mixed media and silk art. Established in 2007, the Yachats Arts Guild is sponsored by Polly Plumb Productions.
Sunday, July 3 and Monday, July 4: Yachats Ladies Club Craft Bazaar
10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 286 W. Third St.
Find an array of handcrafted items, plus handmade baked goods, when the Yachats Ladies Club stages its traditional Independence Day weekend bazaar.
Although no whole pies or slices will be offered, “We’re hoping we can dazzle everyone with our cookies, pans of brownies and cakes,” says club president Huck Huckins. “We just don’t have the personnel to bake pies right now” but anyone interested in joining and baking can inquire during the event.
The items offered will include knitted scarves, hats, gloves and sweaters, plus pet items, household gifts, water bottle carriers and more. Also available: free Covid masks for those who want one, and masks for sale.
Shoppers can also buy $1 raffle tickets to win a handcrafted quilt, with proceeds going to scholarships for nursing or education majors at Oregon Coast Community College. The raffle drawing will be conducted at the club’s December bazaar. “We try to give two or three, $1,000 scholarships each year,” said Huckins.
Monday, July 4: Yachats Lions Club Pancake Breakfast
7:30-11 a.m., Lions Hall, 344 W. Fourth St.
Chow down on a full pancake breakfast — and help local causes — when the Yachats Lions Club resumes its annual July 4 breakfast. For a suggested donation of $10 (or whatever you can offer), enjoy pancakes, sausage from Coastal Cutters, ham, eggs, coffee and orange juice.
The club threw a Memorial Day weekend breakfast as “kind of a trial run,” said breakfast coordinator Charles Reed, and about 100 people turned out. “We’re hoping to triple or quadruple that number,” says Reed, who will be aided by some 20 volunteers, including six helpers from Angell Job Corps.
All proceeds go to the Lions’ support of scholarships, local charities, the fire department, and their work aiding eyesight and hearing.
Monday, July 4: YYFAP Duck Race
10 a.m., Yachats River Bay (from Yachats Ocean Road, take beach access stairs, walk towards the bridge).
Tickets are on sale for the rubber duck race, a fundraiser sponsored by Yachats Youth and Family Activities Program. Tickets are $5 for one, $10 for three, and $40 for 12 (includes a souvenir “Pirate duck” that won’t be in the race.)
“We’ll have a ‘chute’ in the water that keeps the ducks contained when we release them at 10 a.m.,” says YYFAP executive director Patricia Hettinger. Each duck will have a number corresponding to a sold ticket. When the ducks “race” to the end of the course, the winning numbers will be recorded, and the ducks gathered up. Winners will be announced at 1 p.m. at the YYFAP booth in the Yachats Commons. Some 40 prizes will be handed out, including youth bikes, a computer tablet, tickets to Oregon Coast Aquarium, restaurant gift certificates and more.
All proceeds support YYFAP’s pre-school, youth and summer camp programs. Tickets are available on the YYFAP website (https://www.yachatsyouth.org/) and YYFAP office, at the Yachats Chamber of Commerce store and the Sunday Yachats Farmers Market.
Families and children are also welcome to join YYFAP in the La de da parade. The group will meet at the Commons at 11 a.m. and then march in the parade at noon.
Great recap, thank you. Really appreciative of everyone who’s worked so hard to put this slate of events together for this weekend.
Our annual deposit of flaming debris into Yachats Bay last night seems to have gone off well. We thumb our noses at the welfare of other life forms on this day. Of course there are also those who view this event as a celebration and mimicry of war, that being the origin of martial aerial explosions intended to kill an enemy. And there was the usual cadre of local yokels (more than usual) out there getting off on their smaller bangers despite the threat of maiming themselves – more flaming debris raining down, this time on roofs and other flammables. Then we have the intense aural pollution that goes along with the questionable spectacle, which causes severe distress among many animals and vulnerable humans.