By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews
YACHATS — An image of a dainty china teacup dominates the home page of the Yachats Ladies Club’s website. But there’s nothing dainty about the real-world needs — from children in crisis to hungry families — that are met every day with help from the ladies of the club.
“We’re not a collection of grannies sitting around sipping tea,” says club president Huck Huckins of Yachats.
In fact, the 42 club members — mostly from Yachats and Waldport — regularly roll up their sleeves to bake, quilt, knit and glue gun their hearts out to make treats and home goods that do good in the community.
Nevertheless, tea will be the star beverage when the club hosts an “Information Tea” from 1-2 p.m. Saturday, April 20, at the clubhouse at the corner of West Third and Pontiac streets in downtown Yachats. It’s seeking new members to help bolster its activities.
“We have an influx of new people into Lincoln County, and we want them to know about what we do, and join us in helping the community,” says Huckins.
Membership is open to any woman in south Lincoln County, including part-time residents. Men are welcomed as auxiliary members.
The April 20 session will feature speakers from just a few of the area nonprofits that benefit from the sales of goods at club bazaars throughout the year.
The roster includes representatives from Don’s Place, the winter shelter at Yachats Community Presbyterian Church; Samaritan House, a family shelter in Newport; Yachats Youth and Family Activities Program, the local center for under-served youth and families, and the Shark Shack at Oregon Coast Community College, a food pantry for students needing help.
These are just a few of the groups that shared in the $7,000 raised by the Ladies Club last year, thanks to the sales of cookies, mini-pies, quilts and knitted apparel at the club’s periodic bazaars. Other beneficiaries include the Children’s Advocacy Center, South Lincoln Resources, Waldport Food Share, Yachats Food Pantry, and Friends of Lincoln County Animal Shelter.
“All the money we raise goes to people and animals in need,” says Huckins. “We just keep enough for utilities and insurance” on the clubhouse. Before the Covid pandemic the club raised as much as $12,000 a year.
Not everything handmade by the ladies of the club is for sale. The organization regularly makes and donates cookies and other refreshments for community events like the Winter Solstice bonfire, the Yuletide reception at the Heceta Head Lighthouse, and the annual New Year’s Day Peace Hike. On Saturday, when Yachats’ new Pocket Parks on Ocean View Road are dedicated, the club’s cookies will be there, too.
More pie and ice cream?
Until the Covid pandemic struck, the Ladies Club’s pie and ice cream socials had been fixtures in town for decades. Visitors filled the clubhouse to buy pie by the slice, top it with ice cream or pick up pre-ordered whole pies. Sell-outs were swift and predictable.
However, a low number of active bakers and the demands of hustling pie to big crowds caused that tradition to end. Today, members sell mini-pies at the club’s periodic bazaars.
Could the days of whole pies and pie and ice cream socials return?
“If we get a few more physically active members, yes,” says Huckins. “It would mean a lot to south Lincoln County.”
The average age of members now over 65; one member turns 100 this year. However, there are a few members under age 50. “Membership is down a bit, from a high of 50 women” to today’s group of 42, says Huckins, who has been a member for more than 20 years.
97 going on 100
The club began in 1927, first meeting in members’ homes.
The clubhouse on West Third Street is a vintage part of Yachats’ charm and tradition. It had been a dance hall at Yachats State Park, when in 1929 the Ladies Club bought it from the Oregon State Highway Commission for $100.
According to club history, the property on which the club sits was donated by an English lord named Sir Robert Perks, who owned most of the available land in Yachats at the time. Members and their husbands cleared the lot, built a foundation, and secured a $200 loan to move the building to its present site.
When the club marks its 100th year in 2027, festivities (and cookies) will abound. Huckins says Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis, “has promised to get the governor to make a proclamation when we celebrate our 100th birthday.”
Until then, the club will go on doing what it’s been doing for almost 100 years — baking, quilting and crafting to make the things that bring the cash that helps the community.
“This is a good place to spend time,” Huckins says.
The clubhouse is open at 10 a.m. every Wednesday for members — or potential members — to gather for craft workshops and resource-sharing.
More details about the April 20 Information Tea and the club itself are available on the Yachats Ladies Club website. Just look for the dainty china teacup. You can’t miss it.
- Cheryl Romano is a Yachats freelance reporter who contributes regularly to YachatsNews.com. She can be reached at Wordsell@gmail.com