IN PRAISE OF SIDEWALK CAFES

Summer is here, and we have completely run out of excuses for not spending more time enjoying the passing scene from one of the many sidewalk cafes and outdoor seating areas that restaurants offer in downtown McMinnville. Our sidewalk dining is open year-round in many cases, but it's not quite as hard to pass them by on a blustery day in, say, February, as it is now. Here's a list of places to catch some rays while enjoying the local fare.

CORNERSTONE COFFEE ROASTERS: Tables under a protective awning from which to partake of this coffee house's cupsa Joe, smoothies and homemade quiches.

HARVEST FRESH GROCERY & DELI: There is a salad bar and deli case inside with prepared foods, utterly addicting Cowgirl Cookies, and lots of healthy offerings to take outside and enjoy from several metal tables and chairs.

WEDNESDAY WINES: Tastes and glass pours are available from this shop on the corner of Cowls Street, with high, cocktail tables outside to watch the passing scene. Grab a cheese plate from their in-house specialty cheese counter to really get the most out of the wine.

K & F AT UNION BLOCK: Another fine coffee shop with protected tables for sipping the afternoon away. Wi-Fi service is available.

SERENDIPITY ICE CREAM: What better way to spend a warm summer afternoon than by loading up scoops of their hand-dipped ice-creams and taking them outside to the tables on the south side of Evans Street; fine selection of soups and chili for lunch, too.

HOTEL OREGON: The largest selection of sidewalk tables in town wrap around this historic building front, and locals know that the outdoor rooftop bar is the place to be for summer Happy Hours. Three-meal service keeps these tables hopping all day long.

LOS MOLCAJETES: Our newest Mexican restaurant on Third Street has a fine collection of comfortable tables and chairs on the sidewalk for enjoying a combination plate and a cerveza or two.

R. STUART & CO: This popular wine bar has a few choice seats outside for tasting Rob Stuart's delicious Big Fire Pinot Gris and single-vineyard Pinot Noirs.

BISTRO MAISON: A lovely, flower-decked garden area lies beside this handsome restored and re-purposed home for chef Jean-Jacques Chatelard's sumptuous French fare.

GOLDEN VALLEY BREWERY & RESTAURANT: Get there early if you want to enjoy your house-made brews and fine burgers and family fare from the outdoor seating area; it fills up, especially on warm weekends.

BRING THE KIDS DOWNTOWN

Have you had this conversation lately with the budding litigator in your family?

“Why do we have to celebrate Father’s Day? Why do we celebrate Mother’s Day? Why isn’t there a Kids Day?”

“Every day is Kids Day.”

“No, it’s not!”

Well, okay, they may have a point. But we’d like to point out here that we do indeed have Kids Days in downtown McMinnvile, and lots of things for the precious tykes to do, especially now that school is out. Here’s a list of fun things to look forward to this summer. And the next time you have the above conversation, just wave this in their face, do a little victory dance and yell, “Snap! I told you so!”

SERENDIPITY ICE CREAM & RED FOX BAKERY
Our old-style ice-cream parlor, with an authentic, antique player piano tinkling away in the background and a case of some two-dozen hard ice-creams waiting to be dipped, is a destination unto itself for kids. Especially because there are flavors that only kids can love, like bubble-gum and cotton candy. They also have terrific soups for lunch. A block away, the Red Fox Bakery has added cupcakes, pies and cakes by the slice to its selection of treats. For a summer educational experience, you could teach your kids about croissants and macaroons, too (before moving on to the graduate-level seminar in baguettes and pain au chocolat).

MAC SPORTS
Walk into our resident sporting-goods store and you’ll be greeted by the utterly pleasant odor of leather baseball gloves, basketballs and catcher’s mitts. The store also has a huge selection of logo apparel from the area’s high schools (and if you never earned that letter jacket from Dayton High, you can buy one here and no one will be the wiser). Balls and bats and workout gear, too. A fun stop for any of the sports fans on your home team.

BROWN BAG CONCERTS AND KIDS’ DAYS AT THE FARMERS MARKET
Don’t forget the free Brown Bag concerts that are held every Thursday at noon at the U.S. Bank Plaza throughout the summer, with a range of music that the whole family can enjoy together. At the Farmers Market, which is held on Thursday afternoons on Cowls Street, there are Kids Day activities scheduled for every first Thursday of the month (through September), with crafts and an Open Mic with sound system for your budding musicians.

CITY PARK
Don’t forget our beautiful, woodsy and sprawling City Park, which begins where Third Street meets Adams, and has one of the best play structures of slides, swings and things to climb in the city. There are benches and tables for picnics, tennis courts and paths for hiking and biking. Our community swimming pool and library are also here for cool getaways on summer days.

TURKEY RAMA, July 8 & 9
And finally, our biggest summer street fair is coming up, where McMinnville celebrates its turkey-loving heritage with a two-day street festival. There will be carnival rides and games in the parking lot of Rice Furniture (next to Lowe’s) from Thursday through Saturday. Enjoy classic fair food and sidewalk sales downtown on Friday, and on Saturday check out the world’s largest turkey BBQ at Wortman Park. Saturday also offers the Cruise-In Classic Car Show on Third Street. TheTrolley will be giving free shuttle rides from the carnival to the BBQ and the downtown street fair on Saturday. Finally, be sure to load the kiddies up with sugar and caffeine (see fair food, above) so they can stay up late to dance at the free street dances downtown on Friday (The Jake Blair Band) and Saturday (The Boomer Band) from 8 to 10 p.m. at the Main Stage on Evans and Third.

ONE DAY IN MAC: PETER KIRCHER

We've been asking people around town what they would do if they had one perfect day to spend in McMinnville. Peter Kircher, the owner of our wonderful Golden Valley Brewery & Restaurant, who (as you can see below) "likes to keep busy," offered these thoughts on a perfect day for him.


1) I'd take a balloon or glider ride at sunrise on a beautiful summer day.


2) I'd then get on my bike and take a long ride on the Masonville loop out to the Lawrence Gallery on Highway 18, or to Eratic Rock, stopping at a bistro along the way for a leisurely lunch.


3) Then I'd head for the wineries: Ken Wright, Soter and Scott Paul, all in or near Carlton, would be at the top of my list.


4) An afternoon beer tasting at Golden Valley (of course).


5) At sunset, I'd be walking at Youngberg Hill, with its sensational views of hills and vineyards.


6) Back to downtown Mac for a French dinner at Bistro Maison.


7) And then I'd turn around and go back to spend the night at the Youngberg Hill Vineyards & Inn, with its big deck overlooking the vineyards, comfortable rooms and great breakfasts.


Now that would be a sensational day in McMinnville.

CALENDAR ALERT! ALIENS AND APRICOTS COMING TO MAC

Spring has finally arrived in McMinnville, and the trees and flowers are blooming all over town. For those of us who live here it means that it’s time to dust off our antennae and spaceships, find the wicker baskets in the back of the closet and otherwise prepare for the many events and festivals that are happening over the next few months. Quick, save the dates for these don’t-miss events coming our way.

UFO FESTIVAL, May 13 & 14
The annual event that puts the whack in Mac. This over-the-top fest celebrates the sighting of UFOs near McMinnville back in the ‘60s with a parade, speakers, music, food and general merriment centered around the Hotel Oregon on Third Street. Don’t miss the Alien Costume Parade on Saturday, beginning at 1 p.m.; it really is one of the funniest, freakiest processions you’re likely to see anywhere, with people dressed up in full alien regalia and parading down Third.

FARMERS’ MARKET, Thursdays beginning May 26
There is nothing that announces spring for us like our beloved Farmers’ Market, which is held Thursday afternoons between the hours of 1:30 and 6 p.m. on Cowls Street between Second and Third Streets. It’s a great place to pick up fresh produce and food items from local farms, taste local wines and beers and mingle with the locals. Bring your basket and stock up on the freshest veggies and fruits of the season. Runs this year to October 13.

BROWN BAG CONCERTS, Thursdays beginning June 9
Concurrent with the Farmers’ Market are the free concerts held every Thursday from noon to 1:30 p.m. (starting June 9 and running through August 18) at the U.S. Bank Plaza on Davis Street & Third Street. Favorite performers like Mike Strickland and Whistlin’ Rufus are back on the schedule, along with some new artists who perform jazz, folk and bluegrass music. Bring a lunch and come out to the plaza to enjoy the shows.

TURKEY RAMA, July 8 & 9
McMinnville’s big mid-summer bash celebrates the memory of our town being a major processor of turkeys. Now TurkeyRama is a street festival and community barbeque, and this year will see the addition of the McMinnville Cruise-In to be held on Saturday night on Third Street, with members of the North Valley Cruzzers proudly displaying their classic street rods.

JUST ONE DAY TO SPEND IN MAC? HERE’S HOW

What to do if you have one day to spend in Mac? The question is a bit puzzling to those of us who live here, because we’ve set up our lives to spend lots of days in McMinnville, not just one. Our friends Jan and Steve Iversen, for example, began visiting Mac a few years ago from their native Santa Barbara, decided that a day here and a day there just didn’t cut it, and are now building a house – with a very solid foundation, I might add – in order to spend as much time as they possibly can here. Jan likes it so much that she’s now scheming ways to spend her afterlife here. But that’s a different story.

But sure, we’re here to help if you have but one day to devote to McMinnville during your travels. It’s a question that we’re going to ask a number of area people in an on-going series that will appear in this space. I’ll start: If I had but one day to spend in Mac, here’s how I’d spend it.

MORNING: I WOULD EAT AND WALK

I love the way downtown Mac looks when it’s waking up in the morning; it’s the same stirring that any small town has, but in our case, it’s set among really cool old buildings and is punctuated by great food. To set the tone for my day, I would deal with that classic breakfast dilemma -- sweet or savory? – by heading straight to the Crescent Café on Third Street to load up on Chef Danny’s coffee cake and the most incredible chicken and mashed potato hash, served with chicken gravy, that I’ve ever had. If the line out the door is too long, I’d backtrack to the Red Fox Bakery for baker Laurie Furch’s fine croissants and pastries.

Thus fortified, I’d take a good, long walk west on Third Street to City Park, where McMinnville got its start as a mill town. Some of the original mill stones are still on display there, and the creek that William Newby used to grind his grist still runs through the park. I like old houses, too, and I’d continue my walk on the tree-lined streets between Third and Tenth Avenues to check out the craftsman homes. And then a return to Third Street and another cup of coffee at K&F Union Block to read the paper and watch people would round out a fine morning.

AFTERNOON: WINE AND MORE WINE

All of the above merely serves as killing time until the wineries open. My afternoon would be devoted to wine tasting, but only after picking up a takeout lunch from the terrific Haagenson’s Catering & Ribslayer BBQ. You just don’t want to be caught out in the wilderness of Yamhill County without a pile of pulled pork at your side. I’d swing down to Amity and try the red, Portuguese-style blends at the Coelho Winery, and then swing by the Coeur de Terre Winery and Youngberg Hill Vineyards & Inn; both make excellent Pinot Noirs to taste and buy direct. Then I’d backtrack to Carlton and Lafayette, where Anne Amie Vineyards commands lovely, bucolic farm views from its patio, with picnic tables that practically cry out for you to buy a bottle of winemaker Thomas Houseman’s Pinot Gris to accompany your lunch (goes great with barbeque).

EVENING: SHOPPING AND DROPPING

Back in town, I’d drop in on a couple of stores, like NW Food & Gifts, for a souvenir or bottle of wine to take home, and the R. Stuart & Co. wine bar, which is one of the most convivial places in town. And then you’d find me watching the sunset from the vantage point of the wonderful rooftop bar at McMenamins Hotel Oregon, with views in every direction of the surrounding countryside, not to mention hand-crafted beers (try the Terminator).

If I were still ambulatory, I’d conclude the day with a long, wine-soaked dinner at Bistro Maison, the practically perfect French bistro that continues to make me sigh and say, “How does a little town like this support a restaurant this good?”

And then I’d cancel my plans for the next two days and do it all over again.

LONG LIVE THE COZINE HOUSE

I spent a very pleasant hour recently in the Cozine House, that gorgeously renovated Queen Anne home on the corner of Third Street and Adams. With its stately presence and bearing, it announces the beginning of downtown McMinnville; its fish-scale shingles, green lawn and blue and purple trim symbolize the entire downtown renovation. Drivers bound for the coast who pass it are suddenly seized with an urge to turn left to explore Third Street, and twenty minutes later they’re drinking wine, planning to buy a vineyard and figuring out how to retire here.

If you haven’t been inside lately, you should go back. The parlor on the main floor serves as a kind of living-room for the whole community, with its floral wallpaper, antique piano and sideboard and photos of Samuel and Mahala Cozine glaring at us from 1895. (Someone should have mentioned that their images would be greeting people for a very long time, and thought to offer hair and makeup services.) The piano is covered with flyers of info from local businesses, and calendars of events like the Linfield Chamber Orchestra’s 20th Anniversary Season performances. A table with padded folding chairs invites sitting and browsing. You half-expect Ginger Williams and Kris Gullo, who run the Downtown Association, to come flying out of their offices dressed in full Victorian bustles and ruffles, brandishing broomsticks and feather dusters and admonishing you to do some chores before you get too comfortable.

Poke around a little further and you find out that the Cozine House, which dates back to 1892, was an eyesore that was nearly demolished before a civic group led by Marilyn Dell found the funding and willpower to completely renovate the old place in 1991. Photos show a ghost of a building, its paint faded and peeling, windows boarded over and roof leaking, that looked like a strong gust of wind could blow it over. It was one of only two remaining pioneer houses – Samuel Cozine was a blacksmith whose original land claim encompassed 640 acres, mostly in the area where Linfield College now stands – and the community was split over whether to keep it or tear it down. His blacksmith shop was on the site of today’s Cozine House, on land granted to William Newby.

Luckily for us, the ayes won, with the then-ungodly sum of $150,000 raised to complete the renovation. While raising the building off its dilapidated foundation, workers found gravestones that were being used to shore up support beams. One of the white, hand-carved markers, in memory of a child named Seth, is now mounted on the wall outside of Kris’s office. He passed away almost exactly 152 years ago, on March 1st, 1859, which was thirty-three years before today’s Cozine House was built.

It’s nice to think that Seth, were he to return today, might recognize the pictures of his parents on the walls (if not the indoor plumbing). And that the Cozine House may continue to greet visitors to McMinnville for another hundred years.

LET THERE BE TURKEY

Okay, time to fess up and tell the truth. As you probably know, McMinnville has a thing about turkey, dating back to the days when the area was known for its turkey farms, and there were turkey bars on Third Street where the wine bars are now. Step inside, plunk down your fifty cents, eat a turkey, wipe your mouth on the community rag hanging on the wall, leave and get on with your day.

Well, things have changed and now instead of turkey bars, we have Turkey Rama once a year, which gives the whole community the opportunity to celebrate downtown on Third Street, eat barbequed turkey at Wortman Park, exchange turkey mating calls late into the night and engage in other friend-or-fowl behaviors.

Now here’s the truth-telling part: Last year, the UFO parade – also held on Third Street, but in the spring -- was dominated by an enormous float of a rather fearsome-looking turkey, some seven-feet high, that was pulled by a tractor. The float was created by downtown manager Kris Gullo, who has a background in constructing very large farm animals out of Plaster of Paris. (She started with chickens and bunnies, and now this.) Well, few people know that I was sitting inside that float last year, charged with the task of making the giant turkey’s head bob up and down on a stick as we marched among scores of aliens and Star Wars characters. The only problem was that the turkey’s head broke off of the stick just as the parade started, and once inside the float, I wasn’t about to come out and fix it.

And that, my friends, is why a lady who happened to be riding on the outside of the float, dressed like an alien, could be seen holding and waving the head of a turkey that had come loose from its gigantic body that day at the UFO parade down Third Street. There are often very logical reasons for illogical things.

All of this confession comes by way of saying that yes, Virginia, there will be another Turkey Rama this summer, but this year it will feature its own parade. And this time we’re going to get it right. The Turkey Rama Parade will take place on Third Street on Friday, July 8th. Food, music and sidewalk sales will be featured on Friday, capped off with a street dance to returning Turkey Rama favorite, the Ty Curtis Band. And this year, on Saturday, July 9th, the festival will include the 12th Annual Classic Car Show, whereby a whole slew of custom cars, trucks, hot rods, street rods, antique cars and other cool vehicles will hold their own parade (albeit a stationary one – they’ll be parked up and down Third Street). That night there will be a street dance from 8 to 10 p.m. featuring the Boomer Band.

In short, it is shaping up as one of the finest Turkey Ramas ever, and anywhere. Save the Date! We can’t guarantee a gigantic turkey whose head is being held by an alien, but who knows what may happen when McMinnville’s turkeys meet up with its hot-rod owners on a warm, summer day. We’re looking forward to it, and this time I hope to see the parade from the outside of the float, not the inside.