Friday, March 30, 2012

The Yachats Gazette, Issue 8


Breaking news:
Toad Hall expands model train inventory

The Yachats Gazette spoke with Valeria Tutrinoli of Toad Hall.

TYG: Why do you have so many new trains?
Valeria: Because trains are a fun thing to do on a rainy afternoon! Many people enjoy having model railroads. It’s not just for children–many adults have model railroads, and the little villages that go with them. So that’s why we’re carrying these.

TYG: What new products do you have?
Valeria: All the trains are HO [gauge]. We have the tracks, and we have different individual cars, and we have entire train sets, and most of the accoutrements that go with them.

TYG: What exactly are accoutrements?
Valeria: Accoutrements are the products that go with the trains–so if you have the trains, and you want the track, and you want the little house, and you want the little coupler, or you want the little logging mill, or the bridges–those are accoutrements.

TYG: Hmmm, I see. How have they been selling?
Valeria: They’ve been selling quite well! Since Christmas we’ve sold out several times.

TYG: Great! I must say that the EZ Track left switch is quite an impressive piece! What do you think about it, and how well has it been selling?
Valeria: I don’t have very many left, so it’s been selling quite well. The Harry Potter train set is probably the most impressive item that I stock, because so many people really like Harry Potter.

TYG: Yeah, and also, it’s just huge! At two hundred and fifteen dollars, it’s just an ENORMOUS set!
Valeria: It is! Most of the other sets are around fifty dollars.

TYG: Yeah. Also, the EZ Track double-switch crossover is extraordinarily impressive.
Valeria: You really like your trains, don’t you?

TYG: Yes!
Valeria: See, most people who come in to look for trains know about trains. I don’t know that much about trains personally, but I like to look at them. My father had a Lionel when I was growing up...

TYG: I have an MTH O-gauge Daylight, the 4449–THE last Daylight that is still in existence and up and running.
Valeria: That is so cool.

TYG: It was in fact the last 4449 set that Portland’s Whistle Stop Trains ever sold... that I know of.
Valeria: Very cool.... So the other new products that we have here–we have 25 local artists who are showing their work from now through summer.

TYG: That is good!
Valeria: So a lot of Made-in-Yachats products.

YACHATS LADIES CLUB craft show

The Yachats Gazette spoke with Sandy Dunn, President of the Yachats Ladies Club, at the club’s 10th Annual Craft Show & Luncheon.

TYG: What products have you got?
Sandy: We have many handmade craft items that our members made. We have things like journals, pillows, afghans, quilts, baskets, purses, knit slippers, aprons, and hats.... We have adult clothing protectors (bibs), and things for kitchen towels.... We actually have a food table–people make food.  We have Christmas items, pot holders, all kinds of floral things.... We do gift baskets–all those gift baskets up there on the piano?

TYG: Yeah?
Sandy: Those have been purchased by different people, and those will be donated to My Sister’s Place. My Sister’s Place is a shelter in Newport for abused women and their children. At Easter-time the people who are in residence there are kind of hiding out from those who have been abusing them, so they don’t have family around them. So people can buy those baskets, and we donate them so that the kids will have baskets at Easter.

TYG: That is absolutely wonderful!
Sandy: We do more than just crafts, though. We’re a ladies club, we’re a nonprofit, and we’ve been in the community for 85 years–I feel like I’ve been here all 85 years. We do all kinds of fund-raisers in order to give back to the community. So we donate money to places like South Lincoln Resources, YYFAP [Yachats Youth and Family Activities Program]...

TYG: I go to YYFAP!
Sandy: Sure. We donate money to them and help them out.... The adult clothing protectors that we have over there? We just made 60 of them for the residents of Sea Aire Assisted Living. They wear them at their meals, three meals a day. They wear out pretty fast....  

Sandy [cont.]: Those pillows over there that look like dog bones? Those are pillows to use in your bath, to put behind your neck. We made those for the residents of Sea Aire one time also. We make quilts for different people... the residence house over at the hospital in Eugene, where family members can stay if they have people in the hospital... they have 13 beds over there, and we made 13 quilts for their beds. The fleece throws that you see over there–we made over 70 of those and gave them to the Children’s Advocacy Center. We put on pie socials–have you been to one of our pie socials?

TYG: No...
Sandy:
On Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day, we put on a pie social. We sell pie and ice cream. On the Fourth of July we made over two hundred pies, and cut them into six pieces each...

TYG: So that makes... [calculates] one thousand two hundred pieces!
Sandy:
That’s right. So we cut all those and serve them... we actually go up to the Commons to do that, because we can’t fit everybody in here. That’s a fund-raiser. And we do this craft bazaar twice a year, spring and Christmas. And then we put on dinners... in October we’re going to do a dinner and auction, and all the money from that will go to South Lincoln Resources. They need a new building, and so we’re going to help them fund their capital campaign.... We’re selling raffle tickets for this handmade quilt, and the money from that goes to our scholarship fund.

TYG: Why was this building moved here?
Sandy:
This building was moved here from where the state park is. It was a dance hall. In 1929 the ladies in the club went and got a loan, for a hundred dollars, and they bought the building. Their husbands dynamited all the stumps off this lot, and they moved the building over here. It’s got great history–the Lions Club met here before they built their building; the library was here before they had the library; the Chamber of Commerce, when they formed, they needed a place to meet, so they met here. There used to be a big fireplace in here, and it was heated by fire. So they didn’t charge the Chamber rent, but they had to provide their own wood for the fireplace. ... It was the social center of the town until we started getting some other buildings. ... During the war the Ladies Club left here, and ... the people who were working up at the cape, like the CCC, bivouacked out of here for about two years.

TYG: Then what happened?
Sandy: Then the Ladies Club came back. They just let the military use it for housing and the kitchen and such. ... In 2007 we remodeled our building. We took the whole roof off–the Ladies Club went topless for a while. We put in a new roof with new trusses, new flooring, we remodeled the kitchen. ... We spent $98,000 refurbishing the building. It was all paid for by donations from the community, fund-raisers that we put on...

TYG: How long have you been involved in the Ladies Club?
Sandy: I retired here a little over six years ago. My mother moved to town in 1986 and became a member of the club. She was president for nine years, so I was part of the club all that time until I retired and moved here.

TYG: Who is the longest-time member of the club?
Sandy: That would probably be Edna Marie Thorn, who is about 92 now, and she lives up at Sea Aire. She isn’t as active but she does get involved and tries to make a few things for us.

TYG: Do you know when she joined?
Sandy: I think it was in the mid-70s. We have a plaque on the wall over there with the names of all the charter members, the ladies that started the club. It was just a bunch of women, ten or twelve, I think, that wanted to meet, and met at people’s homes.

TYG: How much do you enjoy the Ladies Club personally?
Sandy: I enjoy it very much. It’s a great place to socialize, to meet people, and we do a lot of very good activities, so I enjoy being a part of that giving.


Book release party at Toad Hall

April 22, 2012, 1-3 pm: Kari Wergeland will celebrate the release of her new book of poetry, Voice Break, on her 50th birthday.