Eugene Weekly

Biz Beat has been running nearly every week for more than a year now. It’s a humble effort to give some attention to small businesses, nonprofits and the people behind them who are vitally important to our community but don’t always get media attention. Our thanks to the many people who have sent us suggestions. Keep ’em coming. Continue reading →

Community Alliance of Lane County has announced the departure of Kori Rodley as executive director. Rodley is taking a new position in marketing with Mountain Rose Herbs in Eugene. She has served as CALC director since March 2010 and will continue with fundraising and donor cultivation, according to a CALC statement Jan. 12. CALC started in 1966 as Clergy and Laity Concerned but changed its name when it’s mission expanded beyond opposition to the Vietnam War. Continue reading →

The Fun with Fermentation Festival is from 11 am to 4 pm Saturday, Jan. 12, at the WOW Hall, 291 W. 8th Ave. in Eugene. The fourth annual event is a fundraiser for FOOD for Lane County and the Willamette Valley Sustainable Foods Alliance. Admission is on a sliding scale, $10-$20 per person or $5 with two cans of food. Kids 12 and under are free. The event focuses on the many ways fermentation is used in making foods and drinks. Continue reading →

We hear the Eugene Airport is super busy over the holidays with more than 1,800 people departing the day after Christmas, up about 17 percent over last year. Cathryn Stephens, deputy airport director, predicts Dec. 27 and 30 will also be big days for arrivals and departures. She says the more typical departure rate is about 1,100 a day.  Continue reading →

Anybody want to buy a weekly newspaper? Not this rag, of course, but The Jefferson Review and the Scio News are currently on the block cheap in order to “avoid imminent closure,” according to a notice from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. Cash only and the deadline for inquiries is Friday, Dec. 21. Call the owner at 971-3217. Contrary to conventional wisdom, print publications still have a lot of life left in them and not all are shrinking to oblivion. Continue reading →

In February or March 2013, The Bier Stein will move from its location on East 11th Avenue to Midtown, the building at 16th and Willamette that was formerly home to June. Bier Stein owner Chip Hardy says The Bier Stein has purchased the building and has begun remodeling so it can accommodate a single business. Its new location will almost sextuple The Bier Stein from 2,100 sq. ft. to 12,000 sq. ft. The extra space will also provide a room from which Hardy and company will begin packaging and shipping beer from online sales. Continue reading →

We wrote about The Barn Light in this column back in August and its plans to open a new bar and coffee shop in September. The classy new watering hole finally opened the evening of Thanksgiving Day at 924 Willamette, in the newly rebuilt Broadway Commerce Center. Owners are Thomas Pettus-Czar and Dustin Kinsey, who met and worked together at a popular bar and coffee shop in Lawrence, Kan. “We look forward to participating in the rebirth of a thriving, vibrant center of commerce and community in downtown Eugene,” says Kinsey. Continue reading →

MECCA, the Materials Exchange Center for Community Arts, is expanding its store hours at 449 Willamette St., next to the Amtrak station. MECCA will now be open afternoons and early evenings, and will be celebrating its new hours with a public ceremony at 11 am Saturday, Dec. 1. Officiating will be MECCA Executive Director Jija Adrade and Slug Queen Sadie Slimy Stitches. The nonprofit store acts as a clearing house for scraps and discards that can be used creatively and sold at low prices to artists, teachers and others. Continue reading →

Holiday Market, an extension of Saturday Market that includes fine arts and crafts from around the region, plus food and music, kicks off from 10 am to 6 pm Saturday, Nov. 17, at the Fairgrounds. The market runs weekends through Dec. 24. See holidaymarket.org Dutch Bros. Coffee is planning to open its first Cottage Grove location at 1534 N. Gateway Blvd. at a date in November to be announced. The coffee chain gives away free drinks when it opens new stores, always leading to long lines. Continue reading →