Professional chowder cookoff central part of festival; Private tour of homes set for this weekend; Heceta Head Coastal Conference and Vets Day parade.

It’s Chowder, Blues and Brews this weekend…

A total of eight different entries will be presented during Saturday’s Oregon Coast Professional Chowder Cookoff. It’s the ‘chowder’ portion of the Chowder Blues and Brews Festival that begins tomorrow evening at the Florence Events Center. A panel of professional judges will taste the entries beginning at 11:30 AM Saturday. Their task: selecting the best Clam Chowder on the Oregon Coast. The winner of that tasting gets bragging rights for a year, as well as $1,000. Beginning at one, the public can get in on it. With a paid entry into the festival they’ll sample each entry and vote on their favorite. In the ‘Brews’ portion of the festival, there are six Oregon Micro Brews pouring 11 different varieties. Festival goers will also vote on Friday and Saturday on their favorites. Going along with the Chowder and Brews is the musical portion of the weekend… a half dozen northwest Blues Bands, from the local Kush Band and Paradigm to the Cascade Blues Association’s ‘best new band of 2008’… the Ty Curtis Band. Doors are open from five to eleven Friday, and then from 11 to 11 Saturday. The festival is presented by the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce.

There won’t be a Homebuilder’s Association Tour of Homes this year… for one thing, the local collapse of the construction industry caused the local chapter to disband. But, there will be seven homes on display in the area. Anne Maxwell of Maxwell Construction says they’ve teamed up with Prudential Pacific Properties to provide their own ‘mini-tour’.
211 – “We’ve always had a real positive attitude that there would be an upturn. And we also recognize that the Chowder Blues and Brews Festival this weekend… people have been used to having the Homebuilders Association Tour of Homes. We decided that we wanted to provide that to the people who would be visiting Florence.”

Maxwell says they’ll have six homes on display in the new Spruce Village subdivision just east of Highway 101 on Munsel Lake Road. A seventh home is located in the Park Village development behind the Florence Justice Center on Ninth Street. Homes will be open for tours Saturday and Sunday.

Chowder Blues and Brews may be on tap for this coming weekend, but organizers of two different events are busy with preparations.

The Fifth Annual Heceta Head Coastal Conference is set for October 23rd and 24th at the Florence Events Center. It actually opens with a series of ‘discovery trips’ in Newport, Florence and Charleston. The theme of this year’s conference, says spokesperson Gayle Montgomery is “The Land-Sea Connection”. Florence’s trip will highlight fishery enhancements through watershed protection. One feature of that will be a limited entry boat trip to the Karnowsky Creek restoration. Only 36 seats are available for that. Early registration for the conference itself is $35. Online registration can be found at HecetaHeadConference.org.

Registration for entries in next month’s Veteran’s Day Parade are now being accepted. The parade is set for Saturday, November Seventh and the theme is “Honoring All Who Served”. Individuals or organizations are eligible to be in the parade. Registration forms are available at a dozen locations around town including the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce and City Hall.

TAKING A LOOK INTO COAST RADIO SPORTS:

Prep Volleyball:
The Mapleton Sailors beat Mohawk in three games last night for a Mountain West League victory. With just a handful of games remaining in the regular season, the Sailors trail division leading Crow by three games.

On The Schedule Tonight:
It’s Friday night on a Thursday… tomorrow’s school inservice has shifted prep football to tonight. Siuslaw opens up play in the Far West League on the road in Myrtle Creek against South Umpqua. Airtime on Coast Radio Sports will be at 6:45. Reedsport will continue Sunset League action at home against Glide and Mapleton is also at home. They’ll face the Mohawk Indians in Mountain West League play. All games kick off at seven.