Info and opinions on Willamina area?? (Portland, Salem: new home, employment, middle schools)

[tlw]

Just wondering what you folks thought about this town and area. Employment opportunity there, and can't find many posts about it. Any comments and insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Clara1082]

Willimina is a small logging town located about 10 miles from the main Hwy. Its very pretty out there but also very secluded (not such a bad thing in my opinion). As far as entertainment goes, there isnt much aside from the Casino located on the Highway. There is a grocery store out there but you would have to travel to Lincoln City or Dallas (both about 30-45 minutes away). Beautiful scenery out there though!
Monica

[Carol, Oregon coast]

I grew up in Willamina. It's a logging and farming town. There's a grocery store, a couple of taverns, a restaurant - Coyote Joe's, library, museum, lots of great people, some of whom have lived there since their pioneer ancestors came to the area. The big business is the Spirit Mountain Casino on hwy 18, owned by the confederated tribes of Grand Ronde. They have not only done wonderful things for tribal members in the area but contribute to educational and health related causes in other parts of the state. Closest medical care is in McMinnville, 20 miles away. It is becoming an area for galleries, including the Mendenhall gallery and Judy Buswell gallery, as well as other local artists. Great small town 4th of July parade and celebration and a Christmas parade. Excellent location in that it's about 30 miles from Salem, 50 miles from Portland, and 25 miles from the coast. Gets warm in the summer but about 3pm you get a nice breeze over the hill from the coast. Home prices have started to go up but it's still very affordable. A really nice place to live. Stop in at Coyote Joe's for lunch and you'll get a glimpse of the community.

[Dodgegirl]

Willamina is a small little logging town supported by the mills in the local area and the Spirit Mountain Casino. The July 4th celebration is a big thing to the community that has a 4x4 mud drag, the arm wrestling championships, and several other activites including a parade and one of the best fireworks displays in the area. The Total Destruction Racing Team works hard to make sure the mud drags were a success in 2006 and even ran a second race to raise additional money for the fireworks fund. 2007 should be one awesome fireworks show. The town is small and crowded, The homes range from very poor and delapidated to the new homes that are not visible when driving through the main street in town. Coyote Joes has the home cooking that most of us look for. They have the best Liver and Onions and one Awesome Burger but I can't remember the name of it. The locals are trying to revive the town and put some clean new faces on the town but there are still some dirty faces on main street. Wrestling and Football are two very strong sports although the youth have stepped up and shown the versitility that they hold in all sports including Baseball, Softball, Basketball, Volleyball, Track, and start the little guys in wrestling at age 4 and little guy football at third grade level. Unfortunately the drugs are an issue in the area and several meth labs have been busted in the last year. The town has police jurisdiction partly covered by Yamhill County and the other half by Polk County. The local fire dept is a vol. dept. with a nice firehouse. add this to the post above and you have quite a bit of information about Willamina. The Schools are a bit of confusion as they try to keep things going. The High school building was closed down due to mold and other issues that need to be brough up to date. That forced the Middle schoolers to move out to Grand Ronde's old elementary school and putting the High School in the Middle Schools end of the newest building on the hill with the Elementary. Grand Ronde and Willamina are working together for the educational benifit of the children. The Delphinian School (not sure on the spelling) is between Willamina and Sheridan where there is another High School and an Elementary that still has K thru 8 there is also a Japanese school that many of the children have enjoyed. There is a wide veriety of the arts offered in the area. Tap and other dance, verious painting and crafts. Hope this info helps.

[jello]

does anyone happen to know when "TOTAL DESTRUCTION RACING TEAM/BUB DAWKINS OR CHRIS DIZECK" are planning on having mud drags this year?

[Dodgegirl]

The Willamina Mud Drags are going to be on June 28th 2008. Our team is helping again the city with this again this year but we are not sure if we will be doing the Sept. race again or not.
Dodgegirl503@aol.com

[Asinas]

You guys forgot one of the best things about High school for Willamina. NOISE PARADE! (Sorry, sorry. No matter where I go, I'll always love that part of school. Do they still do noise parade? I moved out of Oregon last year.)

[kimhamblin]

Hey Dodgegirl,

You really covered the basics! Good job!

Do you still live here? I'm between Sheridan and Willamina and have been here for about 2 years.

I know which dirty faces on main street you speak of and the good ones too

Did you here that The Ford Family Foundation has made the West Valley a part of it's Community Building efforts? It's a great program and hopefully will help people work together to get make this a better place to live!

Take care,
Kim