Yachats has a population of approximately 836 people give or take the season. A bit less in the winter, a few more in the summer but nevertheless it’s a small town or village as most people refer to it. Naturally in the summer Yachats is a popular getaway destination for many and the special summer events like the Smelt Fry and the 4th of July celebration and dazzling fireworks show draws visitors from all over and quite a few from other countries.
However, in the winter after the New Year and Christmas Holidays the village can grow quite quiet. For some that is great as they relish the lack of traffic and people, while others use this relatively quiet time to have some fun and invite folks to come enjoy Yachats and the surrounding areas. Two of these fun events come to mind both produced by the Yachats Lions Club.
The first one held last weekend was the annual Crab Feed. A real party with those in attendance feasting on all the Crab they could eat along coleslaw, French bread, baked beans and other refreshments. Almost 400 tickets were sold and both the Yachats Commons and the Lions Hall we full of happy eaters. In both venues the volume level was high with conversation and the sounds of Crab being cracked! It was a lot of fun for everyone with the kids especially getting a kick out of cracking Crab legs with the little wooden mallets the Lions provided.
The other time to have some fun in Yachats is coming up on February 7th. It’s the Fifteenth Annual Yachats Lions Barbershop Festival. This will be a night of spectacular singing and some great comedic moments. This too will be held in the Yachats Commons and will feature The Eugene Cascade Chorus, Sweet Adelines, Star Time and the Coastal Aires Chorus. These are large groups with many members and when you get all the performers, their families, and the crowd that comes to see the show the Yachats Commons will be packed and music will be reverberating with a joyous sound of many voices in harmony.
Afterwards a good portion of the crowd and many of the performers will walk over to the Lions Hall for the “Afterglow” party which features spontaneous signing by the performers in a variety of combinations and there will be plenty of food and refreshments.
In addition to being a lot of fun and neat adventures, both of these events are fundraisers which benefit the community.
This is just an example of the kind of fun you can find in Yachats and other small towns along the Central Oregon Coast. It’s always there if folks seek it out. Some places are more fortunate than others in that they have the facilities to hold events and people to run them but this is Oregon and there are a lot of small towns and people just want to have fun. So I’d suggest find some and enjoy yourselves and invite your friends and neighbors to come along!
~ yarick@pioneer.net ~