Competition for cars fills motel rooms…
The seventh edition of the annual Rods and Rhodies Hot Rod show opens tomorrow morning when more than 100 high-line hot rods and collectible cars go on display in Historic Old Town Florence. Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Cal Applebee says it takes a lot of work to convince owners to bring their cars to Florence.
205 –“One of the challenges is there are probably 13 different car shows going on in our region on the same weekend so it is a huge competition to get the cars here in Florence.”
All of the vehicles are here by invitation, the vast majority are from out of town. Applebee says the weekend can have a very positive economic effect.
206 –“The benefit is that it brings business to the community. Our hotels are filled, our RV parks get filled, our restaurants get packed. It’s a huge economic impact.”
Applebee estimates each participant in the show contributes at least a thousand dollars to the local economy and when you multiply that by all the additional business that is transacted as a result… it can add up to a real boost.
Rods and Rhodies may be focused on hot rods, but many visitors to Old Town this weekend will be able to fly… On the water. Jason Hardy has become a familiar sight on the Siuslaw River over the past few weeks with his personal watercraft that has been converted into a device that lets a person fly. The jet propulsion unit on the jet ski has been removed and a long hose attached to something that resembles a snow board has been put in its place.
215 –“So that same propulsion that can send these watercraft 60-70 miles an hour across the water is now diverted through a hose and that propulsion is sent out your feet instead and if directed in the right way, you know, sends you airborne.”
Levitating over the water may sound like a real challenge, but Hardy says it is actually quite simple.
216 –“What I say is, you know, if you can stand, you can fly. It’s truly that easy. The human body is meant to be upright, and if we just let it do what it wants to do, pretty much anybody can fly.”
Based on that, just about anyone would be able; Hardy will be on the transient dock near Mo’s Saturday and Sunday where anyone willing can rent his “fly board” and learn to fly.
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For the past ten years, the annual Heceta Head Coastal Conference has brought together scientists, conservationists, sport and commercial fishers to talk about the condition of the Pacific Ocean and her fisheries for one weekend in October.
There will be a tenth meeting of the minds next month, but it will be a little different than in previous years.
It will still be at the Florence Events Center and will once again offer talks on marine science and current policies. But it will be condensed into one day and known as the “State of the Coast”. There will also be more variety in the topics discussed in afternoon “breakout” sessions; things as diverse as seafood cooking and disaster preparedness.
Award winning and best selling author Paul Greenburg will be the keynote speaker..
The “State of the Coast” is set for October 25th. Information about the conference, including how to register, can be found at state-of-the-coast-dot-com (www.stateofthecoast.com).
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