By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
Like the last four months of 2020, July 4 in Yachats was a lot different.
Gone were the big crowds lining the streets for the city’s whimsical la de da Parade. No fire department barbecue or duck race on the Yachats River. No fireworks from Yachats State Park.
Even the town’s only brewery took a different approach on what should be the biggest and busiest day of the year for businesses in Yachats.
Instead, locals and visitors – and while there were still plenty the town was not full – quietly wandered through downtown and its shops and through the Yachats Farmers Market.
But they wore masks to help protect others from the burgeoning coronavirus outbreak in Lincoln County and Oregon.
And for two hours at least 75 people lined U.S. Highway 101 through downtown for the sixth straight weekend to exclaim that Black Lives Matter.
But families still walked or biked through town, kids wearing masks in tow. Others hunted for agates or walked the 804 Trail. Fishermen tried their luck off the entrance to Yachats River as a surfer worked the waves nearby. During the afternoon, the Yachats River beach was busy as a minus tide cooperated and the ocean retreated for hundreds of yards.
It was all still good. Just smaller, quieter, more subdued.
Lincoln County gets a warning
Yachats’s quieter July 4th came after four months of coronavirus pandemic restrictions on people and businesses and a day after Gov. Kate Brown put Lincoln County and seven other rural counties on notice that state and local officials could tighten restrictions unless COVID-19 outbreaks are brought under control. Lincoln County has had 346 COVID-19 cases, most concentrated in the Newport area, and four recent deaths.
The warnings came a week after a mandatory requirement that people wear masks in public if they could not maintain six feet of distance from non-family members.
The agency said state officials will monitor the situation and see if additional resources are needed. But there is also the threat of more severe measures.
“If the counties do not see a downturn quickly, restrictive measures such as business closures or tighter gathering size limits will ensue,” the governor’s office said in the statement.
A July 4 protest
It was a different July 4th for Jyl Wheaton and her daughter, Hailey Feuling, 14 of Yachats.
Most July 4th holidays they would come to town for the parade, the duck race that supports a popular youth program, and then hang out with friends.
But protests against police brutality have been sweeping the nation, reaching from the streets of New York City to U.S. Highway 101 through Yachats.
So, this July 4th, Wheaton brought a megaphone, led fellow protestors in chants, and read names of people killed by police from Hailey’s Black Lives Matter sign.
“As a Native person, I’ve awaiting for this for a long time,” said Wheaton of the protests sweeping the nation and for the sixth Saturday lined the highway through town. “As long as there’s no justice there’s no stopping.”
Party house a lot quieter
Their home along Ocean View Drive overlooking the Yachats River used to be known as the “round house.” A small, red and white house with a big deck.
Over the last 25 years it developed a well-deserved reputation as the July 4th party house. Bands, food, drink, lots of friends and the prime spot for viewing the parade during the day and fireworks at night.
But it was falling apart. So two years ago Jerry and Meredith McCall of Eugene tore it down and built a new modern house.
On Saturday, there were no bands and just 10 friends, many dating back to grade school in Eugene.
The McCalls understand the reasons for the change this year, although Meredith McCall said the whole situation “feels a bit strange.”
“It’s fine,” said Jerry McCall as the group sat on the front deck and told stories and shared memories. “We’re enjoying ourselves. We’ll resume the big party next year, I hope.”
Family time, beach time
Margy Stevens moved to Yachats from Ohio a little over a year ago. She had visited for years, but never had experienced the town’s July 4th celebrations until last year.
This year her son, Tyler Stevens, and Kat Prudell of Louisville, Ky. joined her for the holiday with their two young sons.
But instead of activities in town, they spent the afternoon on the broad sandy beach at the mouth of the Yachats River.
“It’s totally different,” Margy Stevens said. “Last year we did the parade, the duck race, the fireworks. It was the best Fourth of July ever.”
“This year, everybody’s doing what they need to do. This is my family. We stay together but apart from everyone else. I get it why we do what we need to do.”
Brewery changes for a day
Since it opened six years ago, Yachats Brewing + Farmstore has been a big gathering spot for beer, food and friends on July 4th. But the coronavirus pandemic has changed – and often decimated – the restaurant and bar industry’s approach to big crowds.
This year, instead of a wide open venue for food and drink, the brewery did takeout only for one day only, closing off its outside seating area and access to the beer taps inside.
“We’re just trying to avoid potential virus spread and today’s the busiest day of the year,” said Randi Siller, who was running the operation until its 7 p.m. close. “It feels safer. It’s a lot less busy, but that’s OK.”
A wedding to cap the day
Seven years ago on July 4th, Chris Caruthers and Shallon Scoville of Milwaukie went on their first date to Oaks Park in southeast Portland.
This July 4th they got married on Smelt Sands Beach with just four family and friends, and an occasional passerby, watching the 6 o’clock ceremony.
They have been coming to Yachats, staying at the Adobe Motel, for the past six years. So it just seemed the right time and right place to get married.
“From the first time we met, it just clicked,” said Caruthers.
The couple intended to have more wedding guests, he said, “but they weren’t able to make it work because of the (coronavirus) situation.
“But we’re happy to be here and we’ll always be back,” Caruthers said.
