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In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories from the weekend:
An estimated 15,000 people turned out Saturday for the grand debut of Vancouver Waterfront Park. The 7.3-acre park was bustling with visitors checking out the new digs connecting downtown to the Columbia riverfront.
“For years and years, we were just a bedroom community of Portland,” said Eva Halter, who was among about 70 people volunteering at Saturday’s event. “Now we’re a destination. It makes me proud.”
It certainly felt like a tourist destination Saturday as people snapped photos, shot videos and captured footage via drones (both authorized and unauthorized).
Julie Hannon, Parks and Recreation director, called the park opening a historic event. Work on the waterfront began more than a decade ago, but the idea to connect the community to the waterfront is more than 150 years old.
Howard Zidell remembers when there were six pawnshops in downtown Vancouver.
Having worked in Cameo Main Street Loan and Pawn Shop and its predecessor since the early 1950s, the 70-year-old Zidell remembers a lot more about what once was the city’s retailing epicenter.
Today, there are only three downtown pawnshops.
After mid-November, there will be two.
Zidell and business partners Donald and Susan Morgan have decided various factors make this an ideal time to close the transaction counter for good. The store that Zidell’s father purchased in 1955 will cease doing business with a Nov. 17-18 auction of inventory, including office items.
Vancouver Mall is embarking on a plan to build a satellite building and hopes to bring in three restaurants to fill the space in 2020. The mall submitted a preliminary application for the project to the city of Vancouver earlier this month.
Tenants are not yet signed, said mall general manager JB Schutte, but the mall is negotiating with potential occupants. The proposed structure would include a 5,066-square-foot space intended for a fast-food restaurant with a drive-thru and 3,931 square feet of remaining space that would be split between two high-turnover, sit-down restaurants.
Schutte said the mall’s management staff have been contemplating the expansion for the past four years, with an eye toward expanding the mall’s role as a restaurant and entertainment venue in addition to a retail destination.
Lorreta Holcomb didn’t know this was how it would go.
She started working for Vancouver Memorial Hospital on Main Street on Sept. 30, 1968, and somehow made it through all of the changes since.
She stuck around through the Vancouver Memorial and St. Joseph Hospital merger in 1977, forming Southwest Washington Hospital. She was there when the name changed to Southwest Washington Medical Center in 1989, and when the affiliation with PeaceHealth began about seven years ago.
It may not be completely accurate to say Holcomb worked 50 years for PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, the name the hospital goes by today, but in essence, she’s spent 50 years working for some variation of what the hospital is today. That’s why PeaceHealth held a celebration Friday afternoon in the Health Education Center for Holcomb’s 50 years of work. It’s not a retirement party, though; it’s more of a milestone party.
Mark your calendar with these events coming this month.
Oct. 1-Nov. 1: Get your knives and forks and tuck in your napkins, because it’s time to Dine the Couve, Vancouver’s annual dining month featuring 31 days of deals at 31 local restaurants. Savor three-item dinner specials for $23 — any combination of soup, salad, appetizer, main dish, dessert or craft beverage. Tickets aren’t needed; just ask for the Dine the Couve menu. See a list of participating establishments with menus at VisitVancouverUSA.com/DinetheCouve.
Oct. 5-7: Ridgefield’s BirdFest & Bluegrass celebrates the return of migratory sandhill cranes with three days of live bluegrass music, arts workshops, a vendor marketplace, guided birding walks and canoe trips. The festival happens in charming downtown Ridgefield and in the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. It’s free to attend, although some workshops have registration fees. Check out the full schedule at RidgefieldFriends.org/BirdFest-Bluegrass.
