Florence on Top…Again!
On the heels of our recent designation by USA Today as one of the top 10 destinations to visit on the coast, Coast Radio News spoke with the executive director of the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce, Bettina Hannigan and asked her why she thought Florence has been consistently picked by major publications as a great place to visit.
“The service and friendliness is really what makes the difference. You know you go to Waterfront Depot and you see Tom there. The friendliness of the servers Fred Meyer, you go to Fred Meyer and your checking out and the checkout people are happy to see you. They’re friendly, they know your name. I think that’s really what makes the difference. The people in Florence are generally very happy or very happy!”
With normal tourist season being quite busy, Hannigan hopes that all the kudos will help to book some of the slower times.
“I’m really hoping it will bring some overflow into what they call the shoulder seasons. Which would be like April, May, June, you know, October, November. Because our hotels rooms are emptier at those times. Our tourism oriented venues are not as busy.”
Hannigan reiterated that it really is about the people of Florence that makes us such a great destination.
Bridge Construction Continues
Progress on the Siuslaw River Bridge in Florence continues. For the next two weeks prior to the Rhododendron Festival. Workers will be in place most days and nights. The focus will be on getting bridge rails in place and continuining sandblasting of metals to prepare for the protective zinc surfacing. It will continue to be noisy for residents on the north side of the bridge with sandblasting set to begin at 4 am Monday through Friday each week. Motorists can also expect some delays due to lane closures. ODOT says the hope is not to make travelers wait more than 5 minutes, but delays could be as long as 20. There is no work scheduled during the Rhododendron Festival.
Lyme Disease Increases
Reports of lyme disease has increased over the first 17 weeks of 2017. There have been 14 reported cases in Oregon and that is up from 11 for the same time last year. While it was a wild, wet winter it was not cold enough in most of the state to control the white footed mouse population which is how the disease is spread to the tic population. There are however currently no reports in lane county according to public health reports at Oregon dot Gov.
