After a year-long pandemic closure, Yachats Chamber of Commerce reopening office, seeks volunteers

Quinton Smith **Joan Davies is getting ready to help reopen the Yachats Chamber of Commerce office in the C&K Plaza, almost a year after it closed because of pandemic restrictions.**

The Yachats Chamber of Commerce plans to reopen its small office in the C&K Plaza downtown on Thursday, nearly a year after it closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The reopening is being organized by Joan Davies, a former Yachats city manager and real estate broker, who will work part-time for the chamber.

Initially, the office will be open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. It could expand hours and days during the busier parts of the spring or summer tourist season, Davies said, and if enough people volunteer to help staff the office.

Two former and longtime volunteers, Gerald Stanley and Dan Dolan, are signed up to help again. But the chamber is looking for more volunteers able to work four-hour shifts, and Davies said people wanting to help can email her at joanvdavies@yahoo.com or call the chamber office at 541-547-2345.

“It’s just another step toward normal,” Davies said. “Having this service available is important.”

Davies has also reached out to James Kerti, who now holds the city of Yachats’ contract to operate a visitor center and provide tourism marketing, and plans to join Kerti’s steering committee.

Kerti was awarded the city’s two-year contract for visitor center operations and marketing last July; the chamber had held the contract for at least 24 years. The city declined an offer last July to sub-lease the chamber’s current office space, which had closed because of the pandemic.

Former chamber and visitor center employee Bev Wilson now manages the Drift Inn’s motel and art gallery operations for its owner, Linda Hetzler, who is chamber president.

Davies said she plans to reach out to Yachats-area businesses see “what they need and what they want.” She’s will also ask for help to stock the office with items from local artists and shop owners to help promote what they have to offer.

There will also be some merchandise – Yachats themed T-shirts and sweatshirts – and pamphlets and tourist information provided by Kerti and the visitor’s center.

“Of course, our focus will be to support businesses, as chambers do,” Davies said. “But it hard to operate that separate from tourism.”