By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews.com
WALDPORT — From the street, the Waldport Moose Lodge appears to be every bit as shuttered as many other businesses in town. From all appearances, it’s just more victim of the coronavirus.
Inside, however, the long-time community gathering place is humming with activity as head cook Jim Elkins, other staff and volunteers hustle to prepare and deliver free sack lunches and dinners to anyone who calls.
“I could never in my life have predicted that we would see a pandemic like we are right now,’’ said Jim Sehl, the lodge’s administrator. “But it’s here and we have people all over town who are in need. As long as that’s the case, we’re going to be here for them.”
Throughout Waldport, businesses and individuals are trying to cope with a medical emergency that has changed life as it was just a few months ago.
Restaurants, motels and vacation rentals that normally are ringing up cash this time of year are closed after business dried up when Gov. Kate Brown on Monday ordered that people stay home and that certain businesses close. The same day, Lincoln County commissioners prohibited recreational visitors in local motels and vacation rentals. As a result, hundreds of workers are suddenly unemployed with seemingly few options at hand.
Still, the kind of resiliency needed to survive in a coastal city even in the best of times is playing out in different ways as residents adjust to conditions few have ever encountered.
“Residents are incredibly concerned,” Mayor Dann Cutter said. “We are already one of the more economically challenged counties in the state. This certainly isn’t helping things.”
The city has curtailed operations deemed non-essential. Customers wanting to pay utility bills or municipal court fines have to use the drive-through at the former Umpqua Bank building. All Community Center events are cancelled and the Waldport Library is closed.
“Needless to say, we are facing a real challenge,’’ Cutter said. “It’s been really tough.”
Jeff Berg closed his Waldport Family Cuts barber shop along U.S. Highway 101 in downtown even before the governor’s statewide closure order. He did so, he said, for his own protection.
“In my profession, I have to touch people’s heads,” Berg said. “Some people have open scab wounds on their scalps. Others start sneezing. The health risk just felt too great, so I closed up shop.”
One desperate customer called and offered to pay $100 for a haircut. Berg turned him down. He hopes to reopen when the health crisis passes, but like most he has no idea when that will be.
At Family Fabrics, longtime owner Ruth Stole is now conducting business by appointment only. She will meet customers at her business if they need sewing machine repairs, and she has ordered extra elastic to accommodate the mini-wave of people wanting to sew protective masks.
Concerns about the virus are exacting an emotional toll, too, said Laura Furgurson, executive director of the Waldport Chamber of Commerce.
“There are just so many unknowns,” she said, “and people are struggling to stay motivated. This is definitely a difficult time, particularly for people who don’t like change.”
In Furgurson’s case, she is trying to combat some of that through humor. Noting that the Port of Alsea’s Waldport boat launch and docks are still open for fishing and crabbing, for instance, she quipped, “So you can still fish – as long as you’re a large sturgeon who is staying well away from others.”
Bob Williams jumped at the chance to get out on the water this week, where he was one of just a few crabbers out on a warm, sunny day. An afternoon of crabbing, he pointed out, still allows him to follow social-distancing guidelines urged by health professionals.
“I got tired of sitting around,” said Williams, loading crab rings and traps into his boat. “I decided to go out – I’m still by myself.”
Around town, most businesses have signs on their front doors asking people to keep at least six feet apart.
Copeland Lumber on the south edge of Waldport taped off its front door and moved to a single entrance in its drive-through bay, where it stationed an employee to keep the number of customers inside to four at a time.
But business has remained steady there, said assistant manager Bryant Fields, as homeowners were suddenly catching up on do-it-yourself projects and contractors were ordering ahead in case suppliers in the valley ran out.
“We’re holding our own right now,” Fields said. “Everything’s working well and people understand, but it’s something you just never imagined.”
The take-out business still allowed at Oregon restaurants cratered at the Salty Dawg Bar & Grill this week, after a governor’s notice forcefully urged all residents to stay home. The 100 or so online hits per day the restaurant was getting prior to the notice dropped to almost zero afterward.
“We had $275 in sales yesterday, which is nothing,” owner Rosetta Dimiceli said. “That’s not even enough to pay the help and the hamburgers.”
However, Dimiceli understands why people are staying away.
“I’m 80 years old and I have emphysema,” she said. “Everything is scary right now. Very scary.”
Paul and Terry Lopez closed The Waldport Inn on Monday, one day before the governor’s closure order took effect. A spate of cancellations followed.
“At this point, we are in uncharted territory,” Paul Lopez said. “We don’t know if things here will ever be like what they were.”
But there is one business doing well.
At Mr. Nice Guy cannabis store along Highway 34, daily sales are roughly double what they are normally.
“There’s a lot of doomsday buying as people are stocking up for the unknown,” assistant manager Lukas Olsen said. “People stuck inside don’t know when they’ll be able to leave again. But they are sure smoking a lot of pot.”