Let the Festivities Begin!

At 7 AM an announcement blares from a loudspeaker,  set up on a red, white, and blue truck in the parking lot of the Circle K. And so the festivities begin! And yes, the MC of the day could be heard throughout the town!

We’re out the door at 8:30 to head to the pancake breakfast at Legion Hall. On the map below, we walk to #5. (#6 is the Community Building where the quilts are displayed.) (And the jubilee truck with loudspeakers is parked 2 blocks south where I labeled  Hwy 101 in yellow.)

Members of the Rotary Club greet us at the door, thank us for supporting their fundraiser, and announce our arrival by squeezing the black bulb of a large brass horn.

For $7 apiece, we are treated to a pancake, scrambled eggs, a slice of ham, orange juice, coffee and tea.

On the table are 2 kinds of syrup: maple and Grandpa Jack’s Cranberry Syrup.

 

Hoping Grandpa Jack’s Cranberry Syrup is made locally, Jeff and I opt for what we intuit will be the home grown flavor of Port Orford. It is sweet and delicious!

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Here is what I do know about cranberries on Oregon’s southern coast…

Bandon, 25 miles north of Port Orford, is the cranberry capital of Oregon. Berries have been commercially grown here  since the 1890s. Ocean Spray has a processing plant on Highway 101.

Much closer to Port Orford, on Airport Road, across from Pacific High School, Jeff and I noticed several bogs and 2 cranberry farms the day we explored Blacklock Point on June 21st.

So, I do a little “Google surfing” to find out more about Grandpa Jack’s Syrups. Sure enough… Bowman Bogs, in Bandon,  has been farmed by the Bowman family for 5 generations. Farmer Dennis has managed cranberry production for over 30 years, including 11 years co-managing Cape Blanco Cranberries grown in Port Orford near Cape Blanco. For 20 years Dennis Bowman has produced an unsweetened cranberry juice concentrate from 300-400 pounds of berries. Each 12-ounce bottle is packed with 20 pounds worth of concentrated cranberries. In 2014 he introduced Grandpa Jack’s Cranberry Syrup which is a pre-sweetened product you can pour over ice cream or pancakes, or use as a marinade. So, there you have it… thanks to Geneva Miller’s article, “Visit a Local Working Cranberry Farm” written for Bandon Western World on September 3, 2015.

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With full and happy tummies… Let me rephrase this… My tummy is full and happy. Jeff’s tummy is happy but not full. He could have eaten another breakfast plate! But, it’s time to leave so I pop in the kitchen and ask if I can take a picture. The woman I ask is so honored and surprised by my request that she proudly grabs her husband and poses with a proud smile! I just love this picture:

And I love being in Port Orford!