This story was a collaborative effort by the Valley Life columnists.
So much happened in Mazama this last week. Like for instance, the Bairs had a garage sale. And many homes that are normally empty were full of people and dogs. Lots of dogs. There was a complete lack of fear and anxiety over fires being started by illegal fireworks and lax campfire care.
There was much multi-colored latex, bike helmets, and clacking of pedal clips passing through the Mazama Store. Instead of a no shoes, no shirt, no service sign, the Mazama store should consider, “Please remove shoes, mahalo” to save those beautiful wooden floors. Maybe provide a basket of soft-soled slippers by the door. They’ve thought of everything else: bamboo slippers to go with the bamboo straws? I’d give anything for a loaf of warm Mazama bread right now. There’s always a loaf sticking out of my pack when hiking in the gorgeous upper valley.
One of the first PCT hikers came through the store in search of these famous baguettes. Unbeknownst to these hungry hikers, a group of musicians dressed in marching band attire had already visited the store and cleaned them out of baguettes. The hungry hiker was happy to settle for a pain au chocolate while the marching band broke out in a spontaneous performance on the patio. An impromptu dance party broke out and even the flickers got excited, abandoning their devious bug plucking from the nearby cabins.
After the visitors departed on Sunday evening, nothing was left in the bread case at the Mazama Store except for a few crumbs, which were scarfed up by store employees, who had not been able to leave their posts for something like 72 hours straight. Rumor had it that copious quantities of bread were rising and getting golden and toasty in dozens of Carlton households, but since driving to Mazama from Carlton is akin to taking a major road trip, the hungry full-time residents of our valley’s tiniest hamlet were forced to make do with cold cereal for dinner, while whiling away for a new library.
Since Mazama itself is not likely to get its very own library (aside from the sweet little pop-up library in between the Mazama Store and the Goat’s Beard), we all need to throw ourselves wholeheartedly into the new Winthrop library project. According to Mazama resident and avid reader, Boo Turner, Saturday (July 13) at 9 a.m. at the Winthrop Barn is the time and place to be to catch up on what’s happening with the new Winthrop library. Friends of the Winthrop Library (FOWL) is hosting a pancake breakfast in order to gather for conversations, presentations and … manifestations (?). They are creating a vision for the new larger library where community can gather, connect and discover. We are a community of readers and the numbers support this. Did you know that our little Winthrop library has the busiest per capita use of the 30 libraries in the North Central Regional Library system? It also supports 30 book groups (three in Mazama), many programs for kids and adults and serves as a safe place for students to use the internet and study. More next week on the Mazama book clubs.
Finally, do not forget to come on out to the first Mazama Market of 2019 on Thursday (July 11) at 5 p.m. Bring your stuff to sell, trade, give and fix. The theme is re-use. Don’t be shy. Be there or be square. Nanu nanu and all that.
P.S.: If you are under 47, you might not get that last reference. For that, I apologize. Google is your friend.
