Rhododendron Festival
Today is the start to the Rhododendron Festival in Florence. Davis Shows Northwest will be opening this afternoon and festivities will continue to open tomorrow. This evening the Pioneer Museum will hold its business afterhours with the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce and introduce the Queen Rhododendra Gillian Norton and King of the Coast Lucian Murphey. They will be presented with a special gift from the city from Mayor Ron Ward. The event begins at 5:30. Friday through Sunday the town will be buzzing with visitors from around the state and beyond. The Maple street Vendor Fair will open tomorrow between Bay Street and First Street. The annual Rhody Run will be at 9am on Saturday and the annual Rods n Rhodies Show and Shine will be at the Siuslaw Middle School beginning at 9 am. Saturday night the Coast Radio Classic Car Cruise will be broadcast on KCFM 104.1. Sunday the 116th Rhododendron Grand Floral parade will head down Highway 101 to Bay Street beginning at Noon. Coast Radio will broadcast that live on KCST 106.9. A complete list of activities can be found on the coast radio Website.
Truck Blocks 126
Yesterday afternoon, a dump truck flipped on its side on Highway 126 just east of the gingerbread café. Both lanes of traffic were halted until they were able to move the vehicle and partially unblock a portion of the road. The incident was first posted on social media. There is no information on injuries, the Oregon State Police were investigating the accident.
Gas Prices
Gas prices are staying steady according to Marie Dodds with AAA Oregon. Lower crude prices and higher demand are cancelling each other out according to Dodds. Oregon’s price for a gallon of regular gas has increased by a cent and a half while Florence prices vary from $3.60 to $3.95 a gallon. Dodds says that Memorial Day Weekend traves is expected to be one of the third busiest on record with about 12.6% of the population planning trips.
Time Capsule
32 years ago the fourth grade class at Siuslaw Elementary School place a bin of items in the ground as a time capsule to be unearthed in the future, the future was yesterday. One thing notable is that there would have been no live feed in 1991 to document the process. Siuslaw School posted the unearthing yesterday. Many items were vacuum sealed for protection and there were books, games, a look at 90’s fashion, VHS tapes and even a floppy disc. Mrs. Wachtel’s 4th grade class was on hand to witness the opening. They will be preparing their own Time Capsule to be Buried on June 8th.
