Coos Bay Found Itself

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Coos Bay Area Finding Itself

Kathy and I moved to Coos Bay in 1985. It was a huge step at the time. I’d worked at a lumber yard for eight years while going to college but in order to step out of that and into my career we had to pack up from Hillsboro and move four hours away to a place neither of us had ever been.

Back in those days and for several decades after Coos Bay struggled to find an identity. Coos Bay is in the Eugene Television Market. As a news guy and even after I left the business we covered a lot of stories about the town trying to put itself on the map.

We haven’t visited for a couple of years and what a surprise. The town looks to be thriving, vibrant and a place worthy of people’s attention.

Back in the day there wasn’t much on the waterfront accept industry.

Now there’s a new Central Dock with shops and restaurants. There is a food cart area in the industrial part of town and a pizza place we’ll try tonight.

We had dinner at 7 Devils Waterfront brewery. The girl who helped us said she thought it opened there a couple of years ago. The food was great, we talked with some construction workers who recognized us from our travel shows and my days on tv and had a great time. Coos Bay feels like it’s finally becoming what it always had the ability to become.

Coos Bay and North Bend have miles of waterfront but few places to sit and enjoy it. Now, that's changed. It almost feels like Astoria to us and we love Astoria so much.

For us it was so good to see. While in my opinion much of the state is succumbing to the attitude that brings with it homeless campers on the streets, garbage along the roadways and high crime, Coos Bay seems to be sprucing up while other more populated areas appear ravaged by grime.

We noticed the same thing in Reedsport as we drove through. We always thought that town had the shell of something great to come. Driving down main street we saw more pubs and breweries and the markings of change on the way.

Coos Bay will always have a special place in our lives. We found ourselves here and people in this town back then provided a foundation that would help make us who we are today.

It’s so nice to see a community in Oregon finding its way in the midst of chaos.