- Cover Photo by Steve Rogers
I’m all about Oysterville. Anyone who knows me can attest to that. My mother and her father before her were also all about Oysterville. I do believe it is a genetic condition.
It’s not that I don’t adore other places. High on my list are Paris and San Francisco and Gordes and Chipping Camden. I could stay in those places (and have) for weeks or months or years at a time. But, in the end, my heart is here and I’m glad that the rest of me is, too.
So, I feel an almost naïve amazement when I run across folks who don’t give Oysterville the time of day. Especially if they live right here in Pacific County and even more especially if they are in the so-called “tourism business.” A case in point is the “Pacific County Press 2011 Visitors’ Guide” – a freebie that can be found almost everywhere. For some reason (probably because I am not in the tourist biz) I just ran across it.
Blazoned across the bottom of the cover: Bay Center – Frances – Grayland – Lebam – Long Beach – Menlo – North Cove – Ocean Park – Raymond – South Bend – Tokeland – Westport.
At first glance I thought it must be a North Pacific County Visitor’s Guide – perhaps a trial at competing with the Chinook Observer’s very successful Visitor’s Guide, “Discovery Coast: Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula.” But, no, Long Beach and Ocean Park (not North County at all) are right here on the Peninsula and right there on the cover. And then there’s Westport, also right there on the cover and which, the last I heard, is located in Grays Harbor County. So I looked inside.
Aha! On page 5 I found a full page map of “Willapa Bay And Surrounding Communities.” And there was the Long Beach Peninsula showing only Ocean Park (“the Heart of the Long Beach Peninsula”) and Oysterville with no blurb at all. Could they have at least written “National Historic District” as a description? It is the only such designation in Pacific County, after all. Each of the other communities shown have blurbs (am I whining?). But at least Oysterville is on the map! Whatever happened to Long Beach, though?
Oysterville gets several more mentions on page 32. In fact, most of the Oysterville places near and dear to me – the church, school house, old houses, post office and cemetery – are suggested under places to go “For History.” And, as I perused the other pages (which had very few mentions of the peninsula), I ended up feeling that our little village did all right.
In looking for some sort of “mission statement” in this very confused and confusing publication, I found only that it is from the Pacific County Press Inc. located at 115 West Robert Bush Drive in South Bend. It would have been helpful had they expressed their intent upfront — or somewhere.
My upfront intent is to give it, along with the tried and true “Discovery Coast,” to some friends who will be staying at the Oysterville Guest House for a month. I’ll be interested in their comments about it.
Frustrating is the word for it! I’ll bet Ilwaco and the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum weren’t even mentioned – it’s a real battle to get the word out!
Hi, Sydney. I met you at the home of Stephanie Frieze not too long ago. I just heard from you. She asked me to let you know she has no internet. She’d like you to give her a call at 360-642-4644 if you have time to play this summer. We are heading down to Ilwaco this weekend. Can’t wait!
Sorry, I just heard from HER, not you. What can I say?
I agree with Betsy – Where is Ilwaco, Cape Disappointment State Park and the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center? All great tourist attractions!
I think it was a conscious choice. They list all the other school districts of the county, but not Ocean Beach. They list the Raymond branch of PUD but not the Long Beach branch. They list the Cranberry Museum at Grayland but not ours at Long Beach. And on and on. If the intent was to do all of Pacific County EXCEPT the Peninsula, fair enough. But why not say so? The Observer’s “Discovery Coast” has the subtitle “Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula” so you know right away what to look for within its pages. And why in the world did the “Pacific County Press” include Long Beach and Ocean Park on the cover if they weren’t going to include their points of interest? As I said, “confused and confusing.” Even worse, not very professional.
It’s all about what you pay for to advertise whatever area you serve. The Ocean Park Area Chamber paid to be in this visitor’s guide and represent the “Area” that we serve. Which includes Ocean Park, Oysterville, Klipsan, Nahcotta and Surfside. Which is why you won’t find Ilwaco, Long Beach and others. WE represent our area members. I hope this helps explain to all of those who commented. I realize this is a year old, but the new one just came out and the same goes for 2012.
Thanks for the clarification, Karen. I wish the publication had been explicity about that. Maybe this year’s edition is clearer. I heard a lot of confusion from folks who thougjt it was meant to be a visitors’ guide to Pacific County. In fact, isn’t that what the title said — “Pacific County Press 2011 Visitors Guide” ? To me, that’s a whole lot different than a paid-for-advertising circular. In fact, now that I understand how it works, it sort of smacks of false advertising. The impression to visitors is that this is an overview of places to visit in Pacific County. Obviously, that’s not what it’s about at all.