Tall Ships Not Profitable; School Board Meeting; Watershed Council Special Presentation

Tall Ships Fall Short

The Festival of Sail’s visit to Coos County was not a financial windfall.  A summary report released by the Coos Bay Boat Building Center shows last month’s event resulted in a net loss of more than $80,000. The World newspaper reports that attendance numbers fell short of projections. Prospective sponsors were told that the four-day event that featured historic ships had the potential to attract tens of thousands of people.  But only about 4,000 tickets were sold. Another 2,700 complimentary tickets were given to sponsors, Coos Bay and North Bend elementary schools and The Mill Casino.

Special School Board Meeting

A special meeting of the Siuslaw School board had been announced for Tuesday, July 25th.  The board is using this special meeting to review the contract with school superintendent, Andy Grezkowiak.  Vonnie McClellan, Executive Assistant to the Superintendent and Board says this is just a standard review to iron out specific wording in the contract and there is not expected to be any changes.  The meeting will be held at the School district office on Oak Street at 6:30 Tuesday.

Special Presentation

The Siuslaw Watershed Council will hold its General Meeting on Wednesday, July 26th, at Honeyman State Park Meeting Hall , at 5543 Canary Road. Doors open at 6:00 PM and the meeting gets underway at 6:30 PM.  There will be a presentation by Paul Engelmeyer about the natural wonders of Oregon’s complex marine food web. Engelmeyer  will speak about efforts to protect forage fish – the prey base for seabirds as well as the unique habitat requirements for the ESA listed Marbled Murrelet. Engelmeyer managed the Ten Mile Creek Sanctuary, near Yachats, for the Audubon Society of Portland and and is a member of  Oregon’s Ocean Policy Advisory Council (OPAC), which has developed a system of marine reserves and protected areas for Oregon’s coast.