Quirk of the Week 050725

Quirk takes a quick tour through the West Valley this week, starting a few miles west of McMinnville, all the way to Willamina, where a Triangle turns out to be a rectangle.

First stop, “Secret Garden.” Except it’s not secret and hardly a garden. What appears to be a tall shed-like structure, with a rusted corrugated iron roof and faded sign, has sat for years along Highway 18 at Southwest Delashmutt Road.

Heading west a mile or two, there is life still in the old Lawrence Gallery location, the building no longer containing art (and the building and land is for sale) but home to ongoing estate sales. A recent one included contents of a barn owned by an airplane mechanic and collector, with hundreds of motors and other parts picked up Sunday by a scrap dealer ... another sale starts in late May.

Stopping next in Sheridan, on Southwest Monroe Street, is the “kaleidoscope mural” done a few years back by McMinnville artist Natalie Fletcher. It’s on the outside of Figaro’s Pizza, and needed revising after changes were made to the exterior of the building. The 15-foot image’s fanned-out repeating pattern of conifer, Oregon grape flowers, butterflies, antlers and Bigfoot surrounds the iconic Sheridan bridge (and a lone canoeist on the river) and is worth a look.

Down the road in Willamina are the benches covered in iridescent tiles — the décor is intact on the bench at Northeast Main and D streets (near the fascinating Willamina Historical Museum) but across town on Main near Lamson Street, many of the tiles have either fallen off or been removed (or both.)

(The bench is next to what might be the best approach in town to the Yamhill River — a gentle grassy slope down to the water, next to the Main Street bridge. The verdant, tree-lined lawn is inviting, but remember it is posted “No Trespassing.”)

Just across the bridge is the old city building at 115 N.E. Main St., with the town slogan “Timbertown” and an odd set of dates: 1903-2003. It marks the city’s centennial 22 years ago, and was not meant as a lifespan. Willamina remains “Timbertown.”

On the south side of town, things were quiet on a spring Saturday at the West Valley Community Campus, the former high school until 2003, now run by a nonprofit. In the breezeway is a sprawling bench carved from a log, with detailed images of the Willamina Museum and Skyberg Hardware, and the message “We (Heart) R Volunteers.” A few feet away, in the old shop classroom, a “Closed By Order of Fire Marshal” sign — a frown face filling the O in closed — is on the door of what has for years been an on-again, off-again collectibles store. (The nonprofit is in the process of installing smoke alarms and building a fire wall in the building.) Now the sign reads “Flea Market (The Sequel).” At the end of the building, the sign on a rented space now used for auto repairs reads “Transportation Department” — 22 years after the district vacated the property.

Other signs of its former life include, on a fence, a rusted sign reading “No Smoking on School Property,” effective Jan. 1, 2001.

Across Southeast Adams Street from the former football field, a couple of unique, handmade windmills adorn a front yard: one is a series of blue-painted beer cans, holes cut in one side to catch the wind, all of it mounted on a pair of old bicycle wheels. Next to it is a horizontally-oriented device made of small metal cans turned sideways, to catch the wind. It’s adorned with several toy trucks.

Heading out South Main Street, one of the city’s permanent civic features: painted in the triangular traffic median where Southwest Main, James and Branson streets meet is a sweeping “Willamina” underscored by a trio of blue-edged stars and a waving trail of red and white stripes. The billboard-on-asphalt promotes two proud Willamina traditions: “Old Fashioned July 4” and “Coastal Hills Art Tour.” The divider IS a long triangle, and just south across James is Triangle Park — which is rectangular. It’s a simple green space, well-shaded (with fresh bark dust around the trees), two benches and a trash can. Also seen: a horseshoe pit, so overgrown it appears no one has played on it since that 2003 centennial.

A block away on dead-end Branson Street is a cemetery; the first thing you see is “Cemetery Parking” before you notice the cemetery, which appears well-tended.

Heading north out of Willamina, on Willamina Creek Road, a few rural charms can be found:

n Along Tindle Creek Road is a weather worn sign pointing to Bare Farms — with an ursine outline suggesting Winnie the Pooh;

n In a field a few miles north, a longhorn with prongs a good two-feet on each side of his head, rests impassively;

n At the driveway, an old truck door painted with a large “20603” serves as an address sign.