Telling our own story

While the North Coast flooded beneath another weekend of atmospheric rivers, thirty coastal business owners and community members gathered in our local creative reuse shop to talk about what our town means to us.

We came together to celebrate the premiere of an international travel show filmed right here in town, featuring folks I have come to personally know and love. When the People’s Coast partnered with the Columbia Coast TV show, I was given the task: introduce us to the people who make this place special. Take us out for a day-in-the-life—the sort of itinerary you would create for your best friend.

So I booked them at a hotel that does more than most to give back to this place—through donated dollars and stewardship programs.

Then I took them out foraging for mussels with my friend Alanna Kieffer, and we cooked them up outdoors in the misting rain at the Jetty Marina. We showed them around the growing local art and reuse scene, joining just in time for the local Trash Bash, where the cast got to see the stewardship of our home and resources in action.

Nothing about the episode was cookie-cutter or brochure material. It was the raw, edgy, true-to-form, quirky Oregon Coast that we locals have come to know and love. We got our hands dirty, got a little bit cold, and made the most out of a day in a place that has so many layers of experience to offer.

This is the kind of storytelling that brings people together.

Against the backdrop of a hard winter and a growing backlog of things to do—like fixing a sub-pump and drying out water-damaged furniture—the community showed up to celebrate one another for the work they do to make this place such a special place to visit and live.

Familiar faces flashed across the screen, and the room filled with laughter and whispers, because there is something inherently magical about seeing people we know and love recognized—and about laughing together at the awkward, silly moments captured as we boldly show the world what matters most to us.

After the screening, we opened it up to the room for a facilitated storytelling conversation. This is the beating heart of the coast: neighbors and old friends catching up over holiday drinks, offering insightful thoughts about what resilient tourism means for our small towns, with all our unique challenges, offerings, and incredible people.

It was an honor to curate this episode and to lead the screening and storytelling party in Wheeler. Thank you to Columbia Coast TV, Ocean Inn, Heart of Cartm, Shifting Tides, Jetty Fishery, and the community members of Nehalem and Wheeler for showing up and being part of a shared conversation about the future of tourism in this place.