McKenzie River Reflections - Make the McKenzie Connection!

It is with saddened hearts that we postpone the community Thanksgiving meal until 2022. McKenzie Fire & Rescue began serving a community family-style Thanksgiving meal in 2018. As we are all aware, the 2020 pandemic halted many community events. We...

Significant reforms in areas like healthcare and environmental protection will be impossible to achieve until big money is removed from Oregon politics. Despite the fact that voters supported Measure 107 and it was declared constitutional, the...

Our rivers are a powerhouse for every living thing. But for how long? With high demand for water and most of Oregon experiencing drought amid a warming climate, the future of our rivers is threatened. This year, the Deschutes River experienced the...

Significant reforms in areas like healthcare and environmental protection will be impossible to achieve until big money is removed from Oregon politics. Despite the fact that voters supported Measure 107 and it was declared constitutional, the...

For those of you, that don’t know me, I am Patence Winningham, a resident of McKenzie Bridge, formerly a Blue River brat from the 70’s and 80’s. And as of 2019, Emergency Manager for Lane County. I still can’t believe I actually moved into a...

Growing up, my older brother, Frank, reminded me of Dick Tracy. No, he didn’t have a wristwatch phone but he was the only teenager I knew of in the Sixties who could play records in his ‘57 Chevy as he drove down the road. There were other...

The Walterville Grange would like you to join us at the 70th annual Walterville Community Fair on September 11 from 7 AM to 4 PM. The Walterville Waddle will begin at 8 AM (signup is online or morning of the race starting at 6:45 on location). Fair...

Note: Zybach wrote this a year ago, following the Labor Day fires in Oregon. The most deadly, destructive, and widespread catastrophic wildfires in Oregon’s history erupted on Labor Day this year, driven by strong east winds. But unless we change h...

A little-noticed initiative by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-WA, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-OR and five other senators would boost local jobs, accelerate sales and improve economies. The Local Journalism Sustainability Act, S. 2434, is designed to help local news...

hat today we must share with you the loss of our beloved father, and your beloved small town cartoonist, Barry McWilliams. Barry passed away a few days ago from a sudden heart attack at his home in Pipestone, Montana. One might say his decades of rel...

ad an opportunity to chat with several fellow Veterans, Service Members, Military family members, and Gold Star families. It is beyond the obvious in saying that the past few days have been extraordinarily difficult for those with a personal...

Vida McKenzie Community Center is absolutely thrilled to announce being awarded $240K from Sen. Floyd Prozanski and another $240K from Rep. Cedric Hayden from a legislator’s discretionary fund. VMCC receive these funds specifically for the...

e you to join us at the 70th annual Walterville Community Fair on September 11 from 7 AM to 4 PM. The Walterville Waddle will begin at 8 AM (signup is online only this year). Fair entries (your canning, baking, garden produce, arts/crafts,...

Greetings McKenzie friends, Just an FYI...It's getting hot again so Living Water Family Fellowship is serving as an official Lane County "Cooling Center" at our temporary modular. We are servicing the McKenzie Valley. 52353 McKenzie Hwy. Doors will...

’Brien Memorial Library was destroyed by the Holiday Farm Fire that affected the entire Blue River community. Soon after the loss of our library, efforts were started by a few determined individuals to find grant money and raise funds to rebuild....

I think we need to petition the Governor to declare a National Disaster on Lame County’s Land Use & building permitting. The Holiday Farm Fire was a horrible experience but not much compared to Lane County Land use Soon it will be another winter...

With much discussion and careful consideration it has been decided that the safest and most responsible action to take at this time is to cancel the August 14th Popsicle Social Event due to the increase in COVID numbers in Lane County and Oregon and...

When conventional food supply chains had difficulties adapting at the start of the pandemic, farmers markets and local food systems clearly displayed the resiliency of short supply chains as interest in local foods spiked nationwide. Farmers markets...

The 2021 Oregon Legislature convened in early February. Among its first orders of business was the formation of two wildfire committees; one in the House and one in the Senate. The House Committee was a “special” committee, with its only charge w...

As many of you know the Upper McKenzie Community Center hosted the relief center, our version of a free community store, just after the Holiday Farm fire last September until March, helping our neighbors who had suffered so much get through the winte...

At midnight on Labor Day, I joined a caravan evacuating the Holiday Farm wildfire which destroyed more than 500 homes and devastated 174,000 acres. Our lives were forever changed that night, never to be the same. Yet, the incredible support from...

“Looking good!” People have been telling me while delivering Reflections to stores and restaurants for the last two weeks. That’s because they liked seeing color photos rather than the print edition’s normal black & white front-page images....

Last year was the worst wildfire season for western Oregon and the Willamette and Mt. Hood National Forests in decades. As for the Forest Supervisors of these National Forests, we saw firsthand how the fires affected the lives of our communities, emp...

r Day night 2020; nine months since the Holiday Farm Wildfire devastated more than 170,000 acres and destroyed more than a thousand structures and five-hundred homes in the McKenzie Watershed. Three seasons (Fall, Winter, and Spring) since thousands...