Expo-nents

Filling sails, in a giving sense, and Full Sail, the company, could reach a confluence of sorts on the Hood River waterfront.
The meeting point is the Expo Center, a Port of Hood River-owned building that is both beloved for its versatility and belittled for its homeliness.

The Expo Center will once again be home base for the Hood River Christmas Project, which gathers community donations for needy families and seniors; the building will be used Dec. 14-15 as the Christmas basket assembly and distribution location.

Meanwhile, Full Sail Brewery has expressed interest in the Expo Center as a warehouse. (A tentative deal between the Port and Dakine fell through last month.)

Full Sail’s commitment would, of course, be a private business decision but one involving a public building; the Port should look at any agreement with due scrutiny. However, the employee-owned brewing company has proven its dedication to the community. Given the building’s proximity to where the beer is made, it looks to be a logical use of the building.

The port has stated that it plans to find a tenant for the building, and will no longer engage in event management at the site.

So, with a tenant deal brewing, pun intended, the Christmas Project event might be the final public event in the building. For the purpose of collating and sending forth food, toys and other donations, the Expo Center has always had a cavernous feel, but as the donation drive expanded there has never been a lack of space to prepare the Christmas baskets. There is no larger building in the county, but alternative locations could provide three advantages: intimacy, access, and convenience.

Basing the Christmas Project out of the high school itself might be one idea, given the huge volume of canned goods the students collect and store there. (The students compete as classes for who can collect the most, so expect energetic outreach by HRVHS kids to start around Dec. 1.)

Rather than load up the goods again and convoy them to the Expo Center or other location, the program might just as well bring the rest of the goods to the high school. It is a more central location for the entire county, as would be the fairgrounds, another potential Christmas Project location in the absence of the Expo Center.

Such a change would require teamwork and coordination by more than one community group. The fact that the Christmas Project has always been so heavily supported by county residents is one proof that it is an effort highly deserving of a new accommodation.