July 4th
Happy July! My small charming beach town is getting ready for our big holiday—July 4th! Our big event is the small town parade where anyone can register the morning of the parade and will include everything from our fire trucks to our emergency volunteer team to everyone’s favorite, the Chair Brigade which is some of the families who all live on one street that walk in the parade opening and closing lawn chairs in a rhythmic and musical fashion.
But what we don’t have is fireworks. It’s not so unusual anymore to have towns ban fireworks in the Pacific Northwest. Too many hot and dry summers and out of control fires started by fireworks. But our reason for banning fireworks is a little unique.
We have nesting tufted puffins on Haystack Rock! (Photo Credit: Friends of Haystack Rock)
Every year from July 1 to July 4, the Friends of Haystack Rock sets up telescopes and binoculars for people to view the puffins nesting in their burrow. This year we have twenty pairs nesting. The tufted puffins nest on Haystack Rock from April to August every year. And like the humans who return to their beach cottages, the puffins also return to the same burrow to have their pufflins.
I enjoy volunteering during the event and will usually take the July 4th morning shift. It’s fun to talk to people who are visiting from the East Coast and realize how different our Oregon Coast is from the East Coast.
After the parade, things quiet down and by early evening, the town gets very quiet—something those of us with pets love because there are no fireworks. No personal fireworks and no professional display. I attend a back yard potluck BBQ with a lot of the families on my street. We each bring a dish, and there are a lot of great cooks so it’s a fun potluck, and as we settle in, I’m also grateful to those nesting puffins who give us a quiet holiday!
The Friends of Haystack Rock is a non-profit and a great organization to support. They have a newsletter to sign up for as well as an online store with some great merchandise including puffin bags!
The mission of The Friends of Haystack Rock: Our mission is to promote the preservation and protection of the intertidal life and birds that inhabit the Marine Garden and Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge at Haystack Rock. We do this in cooperation with the Haystack Rock Awareness Program (HRAP), other partners, and the community.