Waldport boys basketball coach helps makes a little Oregon sports history

December 19, 2019

By JERRY ULMER/OSAAtoday On the surface, last Saturday’s boys basketball matchup between Waldport and Yamhill-Carlton high schools seemed like an ordinary nonleague game. In the history books it was much more. The game was the first in Oregon high school sports history featuring two boys varsity teams with women as head coaches. Last season, Yamhill-Carlton’s Heather Roberts became the first woman head coach for

Waldport debates what to do next after Umpqua Bank gives away its $600,000 bank building

December 12, 2019

By KATHERINE LJUNGQVIST and QUINTON SMITH WALDPORT – What happens when a regional bank walks away from property valued at more than $600,000 and gives it away for free? The city of Waldport is trying to figure that out. Umpqua Bank closed its 3,200-square-foot branch along Highway 34 last spring because of declining business and the move to online

What does it take to be ‘Young in Yachats’? Six 30-somethings talk about their journeys

December 5, 2019

By ELAINE WATKINS/YachatsNews.com Will Susich and Laura Perazzoli were living in the Willamette Valley when they fell in love with Yachats and the Oregon Coast. Brian Hoberg, Daniel Cooper, and Thomas Arndt were working in Newport when an opportunity in Yachats opened up. Heather Hoen was born and raised here. But it took awhile living in Portland before she

Yachats council votes to allow unlimited vacation rentals in commercial and motel zones, lowers cap in residential areas

November 26, 2019

The Yachats City Council has made a dramatic change in the city’s vacation rental ordinance, deciding to allow an unlimited number of rentals in areas of the town zoned for businesses and motels. In doing so, however, the council last week dropped the cap on the number of licenses from 125 citywide to 100 in areas zoned for single-

Paradise, Calif. fire victim perseveres in Yachats one year after fire destroyed her town

November 7, 2019

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com Tracy Cahn’s daughter is in second grade and looking forward to her first ukulele lesson. Cahn’s son graduated from high school in June, despite living 450 miles away, and is looking for a trade apprenticeship. But a year after fleeing the Camp Fire inferno in Paradise, Calif. that incinerated her home and photography studio, Cahn, 45,

Yachats Celtic Music Festival recovers from struggles to attract performers from across North America

October 31, 2019

By KATHERINE LJUNGQVIST/YachatsNews.com When the four-member traditional Scottish-Irish music group Beolach takes the stage next Saturday night to headline the 2019 Yachats Celtic Music Festival, it’s not an accident that they traveled the continent from Nova Scotia. It’s because festival music director Stephen Farish of Waldport spends months researching artists, making connections and trying to coax well-known Celtic performers

New Yachats fire station, largest public works project in area’s history, ready to unveil to the public

October 24, 2019

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com The big entrance sign is almost done, the last of the landscaping is in, there are walls getting a last touch up with paint, floors to clean and polish and a radio tower to erect and test. Three flag poles stand at the ready. The largest public works project in the history of Yachats – the

Yachats’ fake cop car and ‘Officer Creepy’ do their job in slowing Highway 101 traffic

October 17, 2019

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com The 14-year-old black and white Ford Crown Victoria sporting a big city of Yachats logo sits at a slight angle along U.S. Highway 101 on the south side of town. Inside is a battered mannequin, a castoff from two other coastal cities. It sports a bright orange vest, hat and dark sunglasses. Yes, the seatbelt is

Yachats gets ready to kick off 20 years of celebrating mushrooms with big weekend of events

October 10, 2019

Yachats will fill with mushrooms and people who love them for three days starting Friday, Oct. 18. Sponsored by the Yachats Chamber of Commerce, the Yachats Mushroom Festival is celebrating its 20th year as it attracts hundreds of visitors and local residents to learn everything from how to hunt, to identify, to cook or grow your own mushrooms. It

Yachats council votes unanimously to keep 125-license limit on vacation rentals

October 3, 2019

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com The Yachats City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to continue a controversial 125-license limit on vacation rentals in the city, its first major step to update its regulations governing use of houses for short-term stays. Yachats remains one of two Oregon cities putting a specific limit on the number of licensed rentals, although cities across the United