Someone forgot to tell Mountain entrepreneurs that these were difficult times.
Or, maybe local business operators are sending a message to communities
that just aren’t with it.

But whatever economic construct one ascribes to, the reality is there are no
fewer than 10 new businesses either starting up, changing hands, or
expanding in this summer climate.

A new grocery story in Sandy, a new restaurant in Welches, a new graphics
company serving the Mountain, a new electrician, an old tavern reopening, a
new computer repair business, a tool and equipment rental company,
changing of ownership at a restaurant/lounge, a new coffee shop, pastries,
sweets, cakes, the list goes on as new doors swing open to serve this bustling
community.

“Yes, these are tough economic times, but if you don’t take a chance, you
won’t get ahead,” said Ginny Thompson, half of the Jay and Ginny team
starting up Salmon River Electric.

Her sentiments reflected the feeling of all the entrepreneurs.

“We’ve waited for doors to close, but they keep opening up instead,” she said.
“I’ve wanted to do this for a few years,” Jay Thompson chimed in. “There are
no guarantees in this economy, but it feels right. And, it’s already working.”
From the electric company with two employees, the other end of the scale is
Grocery Outlet in Sandy, launching with 29 community employees — several
from the Mountain.

Locally owned by John Halverson, 40, the store’s primary focus is on discount
prices.

“The first thing smart shoppers will notice is the low prices,” Halverson said.
“Where most markets will have, say, a half-dozen to a dozen brands of each
item, we’ll only have three or four. This, along with our opportunity buying,
produces merchandise at 50 to 70 percent off what other grocery stores
charge.”

Halverson grew up in Gresham, attended Centennial High and Mt. Hood
Community College, and started in the grocery business “sorting bottles”
when he was 16.

After one and a half years at manager’s school in South Lake Tahoe – where
he met and married Laura Halverson – he was offered the Sandy store.
“It was coming home for me,” he said. “I was really lucky. I grew up fishing the Sandy River and spent plenty of time on Mount Hood.”

Like the Thompsons, he is up to the challenge despite the difficult economic
times.

“First of all, it’s exciting and fun,” he said. “It may be a difficult time, but the
community has already responded well to the new store.”

Grocery Outlet opened its doors May 28, with hours from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.,
seven days a week.

Taylor Butel, 29, is two months into pastry creations – called Bella Cakes –
while continuing and expanding her
Nouveau Catering enterprise. Bella Cakes are being turned out at local
favorite coffee shop, Java the Hut.

“We sell out every day,” Butel said, referring to her Java offerings. “I’m
finding out lots of people haven’t had homemade pastries since grandma. The
response has been terrific.”

Butel’s road to kitchen creations was an unusual one. While living in southern
California, toiling as an insurance agent, she was coaxed to the Mountain by
her then-boyfriend, now-husband Tom Butel, who had just bought the
Brightwood Tavern.

“First thing I know I’m doing everything,” she said. “I’m in charge of
personnel, bartending, and then I’m cooking in the kitchen.”

Her knack for pastries grew out of locals taking her to their homes and
teaching her how to make baked goods.

After two children the tavern business was no longer an option, so she turned
to the baking. Since then they have sold the tavern.

Heading up the loop, Bob Gambell is set to reopen the Brightwood Tavern in
July, with manager Kim Perry at the helm – with six employees already lined
up.

The tavern is a legend on the Mountain, having first served up the food and
beers for loggers and millworkers in 1946.

This is Gambell’s second time around at the Brightwood. He came to the
Mountain in 1976, purchased the Whistle Stop, but hearing the old tavern was
for sale he immediately took on the challenge.

Years went by, the tavern changed hands, and recently shuttered. Now,
Gambell – and the Brightwood Tavern – return.

“I wanted to save her (the tavern),” Gambell told local graphic artist Gary
Randall in a recent interview. “There’s too much Oregon history and memories
that would be lost if she were to become irreparable.”

“It will be a cleaner, cheerier, happier place,” Perry told The Mountain Times.
“We are all very excited about the July opening.”

On Aug. 16, 1982, Doug Hall walked into the Inn Between and was taken by a
bartender named Melissa.

“It took him six trips in here before he got up the nerve to ask me out,”
Melissa Hall said.

Doug eventually came through, the couple married, and on May 21 this year
bought the business that had been the object of their coming together.
“It was always a place we loved,” Doug Hall said. “And we saw it slipping
away. We want to bring it back where it used to be.”

Music lineups are set for the grand opening festivities of July 16-19. (See
listing, Page 19.)

The new owners are also trotting out multiple menu specials – besides the
classic steaks – that include smoked meats, barbecue and Thursday veggie
nights.

The Inn Between provides jobs for five Mountain workers.
The Hoodland Shopping Center has a new addition, Café Aria and Cast One On
have joined forces at the new business site.

Cast One On, with its array of yarn, sweaters and shawls moved up the road
from Zigzag with Kara Verdoorn as the craft(y) lady.

Lora Crampton and Nate Bent head up the new owner team of the café, with
Blythe Rocha behind the counter as well. Aria features ice cream (perfectly
placed next to McKenzie Dental), coffees, quiche, candy apples, cookies,
muffins, cakes and Torta Rustica, which Bent describes as “shepherd’s pie on
steroids.”

The rest of the food menu is a work in progress and will depend on freshness
and available products.

This is just a taste of the business boom in progress. Other include Lisa
Riversong’s Eruption and the McCloskey’s Tool and Equipment Rental (see
stories in June issue), Mountain View Computer and Repair Services by John
Levis, Kessel Kreations, and Barlow Trail Welcome by Cheryl Dixon. Look for
their stories in the August issue.