City of Fortuna BID Update
to Chamber of Commerce
The City of Fortuna Business Improvement District is a department of the city under the City Manager, Merritt Perry, and Morgan Dodson is the BID Administrator and acts as staff support to the BID Advisory Committee. The office for the BID is located at the Fortuna Monday Club, 610 Main Street. The purpose and the goals of the BID is to promote public events and general business activities, to furnish music for public events, to decorate public places, and to support recruitment and expansion of commercial business.
The Fortuna City Council has appointed a full Advisory Committee of seven members. The monthly Advisory Committee meetings are held at City Hall in the Council Chambers on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 08:30am to 09:30am. The meetings are open to the public, so Fortuna businesses are encouraged to attend, bring ideas to share and advise the BID on how to support your Fortuna business. The Advisory Committee makes recommendations to the Fortuna City Council on how to utilize the benefit assessment fees collected from designated Fortuna businesses. Benefit assessment fees are collected according to the Fortuna Municipal Code 5.40, which is located on the City of Fortuna website, friendlyfortuna.com, or at City Hall. The City of Fortuna matches the amount of the benefit assessments collected to complete the budget used to accomplish the tasks and goals of the BID.
The BID is pleased to have finalized a logo that will be used to brand the BID’s efforts. The logo incorporates the trees and river that Fortuna is so fond of. The BID and the City of Fortuna also finalized the design for banners that will be displayed throughout the year, so keep your eyes out for the new decorations.
The BID hosted Rodeo week activities at Redwood Village on July 11th from 6pm to 8pm. It was an exciting evening as it has been some time since Redwood Village was a part of the week of activities during Rodeo. The event was well attended and volunteers and vendors made it possible for people of all ages to participate in fun activities. In attendance was Fortuna Fire Department, Sprinkles Concessions, HealthSport Gymnastics, LostCoast Face Painting, The Local Kick Club, JSK 5.0, Redwood Shriner’s, MadMetals, Dominick’s Tacos, Humboldt HippyCup, Martin Flashman and Bob Ebenstein to provide music and Locha’s Mexican Restaurant. Thank you to Juan at Locha’s for setting up the blocked off space as well.
Upcoming events in the City of Fortuna are Hops in Humboldt, Sip of Summer and the Apple Harvest Festival. Hops in Humboldt will take place on August 26th at Rohner Park. Please see hopsinhumboldt.com for more information. Sip of Summer, which is hosted by Wild Souls Ranch, is on September 23rd from 1pm to 5pm at Rohner Park. For more information, please check out Sip of Summer on Facebook.com. The Apple Harvest Festival will be hosted at five
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stops in Fortuna with shuttles to transport participants to each stop. The event is on October 7th from 10am to 4pm. Please go to the Apple Harvest Festival Facebook page for up-to-date information.
Social media is utilized by the BID to check in with our community and to promote events, specials, interviews of owners and staff, and give recognition to newly opened businesses. Social media sites that have been created are Facebook, City of Fortuna BID, Instagram, City_of_Fortuna_BID, and TikTok, city_of_fortuna_bid. Please follow us to check out BID videos and posts about the city’s businesses. If you are a business owner, let the BID know ways to
support your business. The BID would love to hear about your upcoming events and activities for promotion and advertising, so please send information to mdodson@ci.fortuna.ca.us or call 707-725-9261. Please attend meetings or reach out to the BID for more information and with any questions.
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NEW MEMBERS:
Founded in 2023, Gearhart Company is a new addition to Fortuna. We are a supplement manufacturing company specializing in the production of inflammation-fighting CBD and turmeric capsules. Find us at our Facebook page, Gearhart Company, or on our website, gearhartcompany.com. More products coming soon!
About Janet Green:
My love of homes and design began early. I grew up going to construction job sites with my father, a general contractor in Santa Barbara in the 60’s. I learned to appreciate the work that went into building and caring for rental properties my family owned and managed. My Father spoke about the clients he enjoyed helping and hard work and satisfaction from a job well done. Becoming a real estate agent seemed natural for me. I have been assisting my clients design, finance and find their dream properties for over four decades.
After high school I moved to San Luis Obispo where I attended Cal Poly SLO and graduated with my degree in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design. I founded a successful landscape architecture practice in Marin County before moving to Truckee in the Sierra to raise a family and continue my L.A. practice. I discovered a love of finance and worked as a mortgage loan officer with both a big
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bank as well as a niche brokerage before settling into real estate which combines all of my passions. As a realtor I strive to make the transfer of property as easy and simple as possible. My experience and insight guide my clients, and my enthusiasm and care will have you calling me your trusted friend.
Now that Fortuna is our forever home, I hope you meet you all and work with you on many projects that make this town the friendliest, sunniest jewel of Humboldt County. Where the Forest meets the River and the Sea, Fortuna is truly the best place to be.
the perfect crust. Delicious!
At Westside Pizza, we believe there’s only one thing better than fresh-baked pizza, and that is having it delivered to you by your favorite pizza restaurant!
You can count on Westside Pizza to consistently deliver a high-quality experience with excellent customer service. That’s because we believe in putting the same amount of care into preparing our delicious, fresh ingredients as we do in delivering our pizzas. When there is a consistency between the quality of the food and the way it’s delivered to you, we believe that magic happens. Our pizza delivery specialists are friendly, courteous, and fast, so we are fearless in guaranteeing that your Westside Pizza experience will be just as good seated in our restaurant as it is enjoyed in your own home.
We have crafted many unique options on our pizza menu. However, we recognize the need for creativity and customization in food. While our favorite pizzas offered on our menu are second to none, sometimes you want something a little different to satisfy your hunger. At Westside Pizza, we’re here for it!
Westside Pizza Promise: We, the pizza-loving people of Westside Pizza, do solemnly swear to faithfully execute what it means to be “All About The Pizza” with every breath we take.
We promise to prepare, bake and serve our delicious hand-crafted pizzas, made from freshly-made dough, sauce made from plump vine-ripened California tomatoes, savory authentic meats and freshly-grated mozzarella.
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Westside Pizza did not become the best pizza franchise by accident. Since we began serving pizza in 1996, the Westside Pizza team worked tirelessly to provide our customers with pizza they will love. Our award-winning restaurants are known for much more than our stellar pizza.
Nothing is better than the comfort of a fresh, hot pizza. There’s palpable excitement as you open the box and watch the steam escape from under the lid. The room becomes aromatic with freshly baked bread, gooey cheese, and savory seasonings. You select your first slice, grab it by the crust, and release it from the rest. Lifting it out of the box, strings of melty cheese dangle as you feel the weight of the generous toppings balance in your hand. Your mouth is watering as you open wide and sink your teeth deep into the ideal combination of fresh flavors on top of
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We do this for the love of pizza, and if you share the same level of dedication then you’ll appreciate all the quality we bake into every yummy bite. And we’re not just saying this. You’ve got our word on it.
Lotus Mountain Printing is a local print company that specializes in screen printing, embroidery, graphic design services, signs, and many more business promotion products. They print high volume, retail quality custom printed apparel and embroidered headwear. They also provide custom business cards, flyers, brochures and posters, and banners. Check them out at www.lotusmtn.com or on Instagram @ lotus.mountain, or swing in and say hi at 357 Main Street, Suite I in our own friendly city of Fortuna!
Our Strategy & Values
A Thriving, Just, Healthy & Equitable Region
Our Strategic Vision
The Humboldt Area Foundation and the Wild Rivers Community Foundation together announced in June, 2021, our shared Strategic Vision that will guide our foundation efforts for the next ten years and beyond. The new strategic vision is an assertion of our values as well as a road map to guide how we invest and collaborate across our four-county region. We envision a generational outcome of: A Thriving, Just, Healthy and Equitable Region.
This vision will be animated by four specific, decade-long goals:
Racial Equity
Transforming our institutions and structures to address the outcome gaps across every indicator of success, from infant mortality to life expectancy, that have been created by hundreds of years of racial oppression.
Thriving Youth & Families
Investing in the future by creating a safe, healthy place where generations of families can grow and have the chance to succeed — where everyone has the chance to experience support and success in their community and reach their greatest potential.
Healthy Ecosystems & Environments
Using traditional knowledge and cutting-edge science to clean our water, purify our air, maintain our soil, adapt to a changing climate, and provide sustainable sources of food, energy, water, and transportation.
A Just Economy & Economic Development
Bolstering economic development to create opportunities for each person in our region to have
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a dignified, productive, and creative life unencumbered by poverty or exploitation.
We will be guided by five key perennial values to fulfill our goals and outcomes:
We seek to reduce economic, social, health, and environmental vulnerabilities that disproportionately impact underserved communities;
We are in active promotion of racial equity. We recognize that people of color possess unique knowledge, assets, and experiences that can elevate us all;
We will be adaptable and responsive leaders, addressing both urgent and systematic issues that affect our region;
We will partner and collaborate to increase impact, share resources and responsibility, build capacity, and diversify understanding;
We bring our region’s cultures and communities together in a spirit of learning, empathy, and connection. We empower local knowledge and invest in our community’s solutions.
Together, these four goals will inform the programmatic and strategic work of the organization. As we embark on this strategic direction, we created a new organizational structure to enable our vision. Our new organization will empower our staff to utilize their many skills in direct service across Trinity, Humboldt, and Del Norte counties in California and Curry County in Oregon.
11 Since 1931 (707) 725-3316 info@harbersins.com 210 12th St. Fortuna CA 95540
Get all the latest news on our blog at fortunachamber.com 1095 Fortuna Blvd., Fortuna 707-726-7782 New Trend Wireless UScellular® Authorized Agent 19741282
Clendenen’s Cider Works
– The Catalyst to Fortuna’s Annual Apple Harvest that started 38 years ago!
HISTORY
Ernest Clifton Clendenen – Founder of Clendenen Cider Works
Ernest Clifton Clendenen, father of Andrew, grandfather of Clif, and great-grandfather of Drew, was born in Eureka, CA in 1867 shortly after his parents, Andrew and Emeline, arrived from New Brunswick, Canada. It was a long and arduous journey that took them around the stormy Cape Horn. E.C. Clendenen used to say, “I came around the Horn, and I was born in Eureka.”
Ernest, and his wife, May, bought the land that is the orchard today, in 1908 from E.F. Johnston of Oregon. Among the varieties of apple trees on the property dating back to 1869 were Minkler, Smith’s Cider and Stark – that are still producing apples today. “We use all three in the cider at different times,” Clif said. “The old varieties are blended with other varieties for great flavor.”
When E. C. bought the producing apple orchard, he first packed and shipped apples in wooden boxes that were sold on the San Francisco wholesale market. In 1909 this was an overnight horse-and-cart trip to the docks in Eureka from Fortuna! From the Eureka docks the apple boxes were loaded onto a steamship for the voyage to San Francisco. Word was sent back from San Francisco that one of his shipments had spoiled, and that he wouldn’t be paid for his apples. Wanting to see for himself, E.C. boarded the next steamship, and upon his arrival in S.F., found his apples in perfect condition in the unscrupulous dealer’s warehouse. The old dairy barn across the street from the orchard soon had a small cider press, and the Clendenen’s started pressing and selling fresh apple cider.
After struggling with a manual basket-type press for a few years, Ernest purchased the Mount Gilead No. 4-C Hydraulic Cider and Fruit Press in 1916, a roomsized machine that was shipped from Mt. Gilead, Ohio. Powered by an electric motor, it was capable of producing 100 gallons per hour, allowing uninterrupted pressing while the next batch was prepared.
Cider Fact
During Prohibition, the cider press ran nearly every day during the apple season. Apples from numerous local orchards were harvested and brought to
Clendenen Cider Works for processing to supply the demand for a fermentable juice.
Andrew Clendenen
Less than a year after E. C. and May purchased the land, in January of 1909, May gave birth to their son Andrew in the house that is still being used by the family today.
Andy Clendenen rejoined his father in the family business in 1948, after delivering fuel for Shell Oil Company, and serving in the South Pacific during
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Andy Clendenen pressing apples with the Mount Gilead Cider and Fruit Press.
Young Clif Clendenen with father Andy after harvesting apples.
WW II. In 1960 he moved the business across the street and into a new 1,800 square foot building. It was constructed by the Fortuna firm of T & H Construction and cost $3,829, not including plumbing, electrical or painting. The quality of construction and choice of materials has allowed the building to withstand several major earthquakes over the past forty years.
Clif and Drew Clendenen
Like his father, Andy, Clif took to the business at a young age. Today, Clif and his son Drew are picking apples, pressing, which happens roughly every five days, and welcoming visitors to sample a drink that varies in taste as different varieties become ripe. Clif and Drew blend varieties and each pressing has its own unique taste and texture.
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The 102nd Annual Fortuna Rodeo Week Recap ~
This year’s Rodeo events kicked-off with a Chamber mixer on Saturday. The event was held at the Rodeo Grounds and co-hosted by the Fortuna Rodeo Association, 2nd Supervisor Michelle Bushnell and Tri-Counties Bank. The event occurred during the Annual Cattleman’s Rodoni Round-Up. Attendees were offered delicious pizza provided by Supervisor
Bushnell, and discounted by Paul from Paul’s Live From New York Pizza. Drinks were generously provided by Tri-Counties Bank. We had such a great time that the Chamber and the Rodeo Association agreed to host this event each year. So mark your calendars for next year to start off Rodeo week with a Chamber mixer hosted by the Fortuna Rodeo Association. Next on the week’s agenda was the Annual Chamber Chili Cook-off held on Monday from 5-7pm on Main Street. This event sponsored by Redwood Capital Bank, Recology and Mendocino Humboldt Redwood Companies, featured live music by Ryan Rice, 20 Chili Contestants (winners featured separately) and two delicious food trucks, Caps Food Shack, and Manzanilla Kitchen. We also featured other vendors such as Lemonade Sisters, the Fortuna
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July 8-16,
Police Department, and Six Rivers Kings selling cornbread and baked goods! The six esteemed judges, City Manager
Merrit Perry, Fortuna Police Chief Casey Day, City of Fortuna Mayor Tami Trent, Humboldt County Supervisor
Michelle Bushnell, Fortuna Rodeo Association President
Shannon McWhorter and Humboldt County Undersheriff JD Braud worked diligently in judging the 20 different chili’s and gave credit to all the hard work that the contestants did to cook for so many people! We had over 1,000 attendees to this event, the streets were packed and people got their fill of delicious chili recipes! We want to shout out honorable mentions to the contestants who did not receive an award because we want them to know we are sincerely thank-
This year’s six judges worked diligently and had a great time judging all the chili recipes the contestants made! Pictured from left to right we have: City Manager Merritt Perry, City of Fortuna Mayor Tami Trent, Fortuna Police Chief Casey Day, Humboldt County Undersheriff JD Braud, Fortuna Rodeo Association President Shannon McWhorter, and Humboldt County Supervisor Michelle Bushnell, thank you Judges! Photo Credit: Mary Bullwinkel
tants! Next year’s event will be vastly improved...you won’t want to miss it! So, let’s go Fortuna and pack Main Street with chili booths in 2024!
Tuesday featured Kids Games at Redwood Village, you can read all about it in the BID update located on page 6.
ful for their participation! Without them the event would not have been as successful: Fortuna Grocery Outlet, Cornerstone Realty, City of Fortuna, Famous Amens, Humboldt County Farm Bureau, Harber’s Insurance Agency, California Conservation Corps, J&L Automotive, Fortuna ACE Hardware, Wyckoff’s Plumbing, and Recology. We hope to have you all back again next year and are calling for more contes-
Wednesday evening offered Main Street Kids Games, featuring stick horse races, penny scramble, egg toss, bounce houses and more!
Thursday was the Junior Rodeo at the rodeo grounds and the opening of the first annual Fortuna Rodeo Western Outpost held in the Fireman’s Pavilion
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Chili Cookoff Winners
Word on the street is that contestants served over 1,000 chili lovers!!
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Best Team Name, “Hopped Up Peaches” goes to Hops In Humboldt!! Judge’s thought this was super creative!
Hottest Chili award goes to Redwood Prep Charter School! Judge’s said this chili was Hot! Hot! Hot! Photo Credit: Mary Bullwinkel
And the winner of Fortuna’s Best Chili goes to Lost Coast Land Company!
Best booth goes to Redwood Capital Bank! This booth was awesome and the award was well deserved!
WOW!
Judge’s gave Nation’s Finest the Rookie of The Year award! Way to go!
Photo Credit: Mary Bullwinkel
And the winner of Judge’s Favorite Bribe is Grocery Outlet! They thank you for the bribes!
Photo Credit: Mary Bullwinkel
Ribbon Cutting for the New Basketball Courts at Rohner Park
September 5th at 5pm.
The new dual Basketball Court project has officially been completed! The project was funded by Measure E, replacing one single court with two fenced courts. New high-end Bison poly-
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21 Tom Hiller, GRI Broker/Owner DRE#01174002 | Since 1994 BENCHMARK Realty Group BenchmarkRealtyGroup.com ‘All the listings. All the time.’ (707) 496-4557 tomwhiller@gmail.com I make it happen. You make it home.
upcoming events
carbonate backboards with breakaway rims were installed, as well as professional outdoor court surfacing with striping for both basketball and pickleball. Additionally, in-ground planters and a picnic area was
installed near the court’s entrance. Come by and help Fortuna celebrate this great addition to Rohner Park.
Finished courts pictured here:
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