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| Catch some sweet air at the Rockaway Beach Kite Festival, this weekend in one of Tillamook County’s favorite beach communities. Here, Cindy Brecht flies an 84-inch delta at Rockaway Beach. The kite was provided by Al Pieper at Sea Breeze. OCT photo by Niki Price. |
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Cue the lines!
Rockaway Beach Kite Festival
May 17 & 18, 2008
By Niki Price
Oregon Coast Today
It’s not correct, of course, to declare you have “discovered” Rockaway Beach. This collection of summer homes and sandy beaches has been a favorite of Oregonians for a century. When the first passenger train service began in 1912, it turned Rockaway into a bustling destination that hosted families for the season and breadwinners on the weekends.
Perhaps you can rediscover Rockaway Beach. It’s 15 miles north of Tillamook on Hwy. 101, it boasts seven miles of flat, sandy beaches that are perfect for the pastimes of yore: building sand castles, beachcombing and flying kites. Its annual kite festival, set for this Saturday and Sunday, May 17 and 18, is the perfect old-fashioned family treat.
The Associated Oregon Kiters will be flying their favorite kites and offering activities for the children in attendance. Kids can make their own kites, learn how to fly them, take part in competitions and chase the “teddy bear drop,” in which AOK members release flying stuffed animals from above. All events are free, with Sacajawea dollars (or other collectible coins) given out to the winners. And just about everyone is a winner, said Ann Swain, the former town mayor who now manages the Rockaway Beach Chamber of Commerce information center.
“I don’t know how many kids know how to fly a kite anymore, or how to build a sand castle,” said Swain. “Our festival doesn’t have races or stunts or big demonstrations. It’s a family fun day at the beach. We hope the sun will shine and the wind will blow, but we always have a great time.”
DJ John Mychak will be providing music throughout the day, while vendors selling everything from hot dogs and sodas to soap and fused glass will entertain. It’s the first big event of the season in Rockaway, and all the stores selling ice cream, fish and chips, gifts, caramel corn and coffee will be open for business.
The festival will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Rockaway Beach State Wayside.
Not far, Rockaway
At the dawn of the 20th century, the area was largely inaccessible. The first vacationers explored by horse and wagon, or by foot, at low tide. Then, things changed when the Pacific Railway and Navigation Company, promoted by Elmer E. Lytle, laid track from Portland to Hillsboro, then to the coast. The first train from Portland arrived in Tillamook in October 1911.
Rockaway Beach, like nearby Manhattan Beach, was named for a seashore destination near New York City: Rockaway, Long Island (there’s a Brighton Beach, too, but its original namesake is the famous ocean resort in England, at least according to “Oregon Geographic Names”.)
Rockaway was first developed by the Rockaway Beach Company in 1909, and grew rapidly. By the 1920s, families could board a passenger car at Union Station in Portland at 9 a.m., and be in Rockaway by 2:30 p.m. Beach resorts were built to handle the influx of summer visitors, and developments began to multiply. Today’s city encompasses the subdivisions of Manhattan, Highland Park Addition, Moroney Town, Lake Lytle, Beal’s Addition to Lake Lytle, Seaview Park, Elmore Park, Tillamook Beach (known as Saltair), Midway Beach, Twin Rocks and a part of Ocean Lake Park.
From 1911, when the first post office was established, the community was known simply as Rockaway. In 1987, it was officially changed to “Rockaway Beach.”
Beachfront bonanza
The summer crowds were at their peak before World War II, when most people still took the train for their summer holidays. Since then, the reliability of both roads and vehicles have spurred development across the Oregon coast, and the vacationers are spread out in small towns from north to south.
As the 1,400 full-time residents of Rockaway Beach know all too well, summer is still high season. And the RB Chamber of Commerce, headquartered in “A Little Red Caboose,” promotes events throughout the summer, starting with this weekend’s kite festival and ending in September, at the annual Autumn Festival. In between, there’s Wine, Cheese and All That Jazz (June 14), the Fourth of July fireworks and parade, and the Arts and Crafts Fair (Aug. 16 and 17). The city’s parks department lights beach bonfires every Friday from July 11 to Aug. 22, and hosts a series of free Saturday night street dances at the Rockaway Beach Wayside.
The Little Red Caboose isn’t the only nod to the city’s railroad past. The tracks still run right through the center of town, parallel to Hwy. 101, and on summer weekends you can still climb aboard, thanks to the nonprofit Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad.
The OCSR will begin weekend service from Garibaldi to Tillamook on May 23.
You may not be the first to discover the many beauties and diversions of Rockaway Beach. But you may recover a sense of the past, and of your own family’s wellbeing, if you find your way there. |
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