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August 15, 2019
northcoastcitizen.com
Sustainability...
Volume 24, No. 16
Grant from city promotes Harvest Festival
Farmers Market receives grant as part of study
Hilary Dorsey
headlightreporter@countrymedia.net
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Hilary Dorsey
headlightreporter@countrymedia.net
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his fall, the Oregon Farmers Market Association (OFMA) was awarded a $247,000 federal grant through the USDA’s Farmers Market Promotion Program. OFMA, in partnership with five Oregon farmers markets, Oregon State University’s Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems, and other partners, received this three-year grant to launch the Beginning Vendor Support Network (BVSN), which aims to study and support the role of farmers markets as small business incubators for their beginning vendors. The Manzanita Farmers Market is a partner in this program. Also included is the Clatskanie Farmers Market, Baker City Farmers Market, Umpqua Valley Farmers Market, and Albany Farmers Market. All of the markets participating in this project deserve praise, said Kelly Crane, Executive Director of Oregon Farmers Markets Association. More than half of the vendors at the Manzanita Farmers Market this year are local business startups that are in their first, second, or third year at the market. “This is hard work, and these market managers are doing it so that their markets can reach their full potential for their vendors and customers and the communities that host them,” said Crane. “We’ve been inspired by how dedicated and resourceful they are.” The entire USDA grant will be spent on this project with the goal of directly and indirectly benefitting the five markets, but none will be directly sub-granted to the markets themselves, as that is not allowable according to the USDA guidelines for this program. There is, however, a good chunk of change that is earmarked to be spent explicitly on these markets.
Customers line up for fresh vegetables from Moon River Farm and sourdough bread and pastries from Wolfmoon Bakery and Café at the Manzanita Farmers Market. (bottom) Beautiful bountiful blossoms abound at the Manzanita Farmers Market every week from Tin Barn Farm and floral of Nehalem, Flora of Arch Cape, Friends of NCRD, and this week, from a new guest vendor Effervescent Stash of Cloverdale. Photos by Trav Williams, Broken Banjo Photography. “Up to $4,000 will be spent on technical assistance and supplies for each participating market in 2020 to launch a ‘beginning vendor support initiative’ at their markets,” said Crane. “In addition, this grant is already currently paying all of the markets for their time spent gathering data for this project (Manzanita is receiving $6,440) and also covering any travel or other expenses the markets incur because of participation.” It is widely known that the average age of the American farmer has been steadily climbing, reaching 58 years old as of the most recent USDA Agricultural Census, said Crane. This highlights the need to support and encourage new and beginning farmers, ranchers, and the institutions, such as farmers markets, which help them succeed. “Farmers markets are recognized as a place where many new producers get their start, due to their low fees, relatively simple paperwork and general acces-
sibility, making them powerful engines for small business development,” said Crane. “They are a place where brands are built, products are tested and refined, capital is raised, and skills are learned.” Recent evidence from the USDA also suggests that farmers and ranchers engaged in direct marketing are more likely to “survive” as business owners and carry a lighter debt-load than their commodity-cropping counterparts. Helping farmers markets themselves become better at incubating these entrepreneurs during their early years at farmers markets is a strategic way to shore up a critical access point in the food-business entrepreneurial pipeline. “We believe that farmers markets are a natural gateway to the local foods economy for food and farm entrepreneurs, and we want to help markets be the best they can be at supporting their newest vendors,” said Crane. To this purpose, in late 2018,
OFMA launched the Beginning Vendor Support Network (BVSN), which aims to study and support the role of farmers markets as small business incubators for their beginning vendors. This program is designed to create a community of practice around five small and medium sized rural farmers markets, giving them the tools they need to better help their newest vendors succeed. “At the Manzanita Farmers Market, we’ve seen vendors both succeed at expanding their business after being a vendor, and also those who discontinued a business enterprise,” said Emily Vollmer, Market Manager of Manzanita Farmers Market. “On the success side, we have hosted at least two different new food businesses that were vendors at the farmers market in the early stages of their business and then went on to open at ‘brick and mortar’ locations in Manzanita.
he City of Manzanita has awarded the Lower Nehalem Community Trust (LNCT) a $2,500 grant, part of their Off-Season Tourism Promotions Grant funding for 2019, to help promote the Harvest Festival. The City raised the city transient lodging tax from 7 percent to 9 percent in 2012. By state law, 70 percent of the tax revenue from that increase is required to be used for tourism promotion and tourism related facilities. In 2015, the City completed an Off Season Tourism Marketing Plan, which suggests ways to attract visitors to the community in the off season (October through May). The plan explains that the community is concerned about maintaining the quiet village character of Manzanita, while recognizing that some events in the off season that are consistent with the community’s character are needed to provide a more stable year-round economy for local businesses and employees. “We will put the funding to use to promote Harvest Festival locally and to communities outside of the tri-village area (Manzanita, Nehalem, Wheeler),” said Ginnette Marberry, Communications Coordinator of the LNCT. “We will focus on using digital media as well as print advertising and hope to bolster interest for visitors and vendors to grow the Festival so that it not only generates support for the Lower Nehalem Community Trust, but for the vendors and businesses in our community.” LNCT’s Harvest Festival has been celebrating the small village feel for 16 years. It highlights the community of farmers, foodies, nature lovers, and artists. This family friendly event is attended by the children of children who once attended. In promoting the Harvest Festival, the LNCT strives to keep the event accessible to everyone while generating activity for vendors and local businesses in the shoulder season. Any donations or revenue generated from the Harvest Festival typically go to cover the costs of the event, said Marberry. The LNCT’s 17th annual Harvest Festival will be on Saturday, October 5 from 12-4 p.m. at Alder Creek Farm. It will include a Farmers Market, over 30 vendors of fresh produce, fresh pressed cider from apples harvested in the LNCT’s Community Garden, arts and crafts from the local community, a showing of several local non-profits, live music, and a kid’s activities booth hosted by NCRD.
n See Study, Page 2
Sonic boom shakes Tillamook County’s Coast Cody Mann
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esidents and visitors in Tillamook County took to social media on Monday with questions about a boom that shook homes along the coast from the areas of Netarts to Sandlake. While some suspected an explosion or earthquake was responsible, the majority consensus was the sound and shaking were caused by military aircraft. The 142nd Fighter Wing of the Oregon Air National Guard is currently hosting training with FA-18F Super Hornets from the VFA-41 Squadron out of Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. The jets are conducting dissimilar air combat training, executing realistic scenarios that use advanced aerial tactics to prepare for actual warfare. The training, considered essential to military readiness in support of the Portland Air National Guard Base’s national and state missions, was slated for Aug. 11-23. Gordon’s Tillamook Weather Center, a popular local social media page run by Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Gordon McCraw (who also
serves as the county emergency manager), reported that callers began asking about sonic booms around 10 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 12. McCraw later posted a refresher of an explanation he gave in June regarding sonic booms. He noted that the jets aren’t zooming and booming above Tillamook towns, rather they’re over the ocean just off the coast, adding that how far and fast sonic booms travel is affected by the atmosphere. He said when it’s warmer and wetter the sound travels more. “Obviously, we are warmer and more muggy these days, and the winds are westerly, which helps the sound move inland further also,” McCraw said. McCraw wrote that another influence could be temperature inversion, trapping the sound and bouncing it between surface and the inversion level. He said Tillamook County generally has an inversion layer in the morning hours. “Normally, temperature decreases with height. An inversion is an area where the temperature temporarily rises
Sailors prepare an F/A-18F Super Hornet for flight operations on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis in the Pacific Ocean, Feb 15, 2019. Photo: Oregon Military Department with height,” McCraw wrote. “Watch the smoke stacks in the morning. If the smoke climbs then stops and spreads out, that is where the inversion is. If it keeps climbing, no inversion is present.”
The 142nd Fighter Wing flies F-15 Eagle fighter jets, guarding the Pacific Northwest skies from northern California to the Canadian border on a 24-hour alert as part of Air Combat Command
and the North American Aerospace Defense Command. The training flights will depart from and land at the Portland International Airport daily after 8 a.m. and will conclude before 4 p.m.