Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
A covered bridge specialist will arrive in Sweet Home this week to develop recommendations for restoring Weddle Bridge.
The Oregon Jamboree and Spoletto’s restaurant are paying to fly Phil Pierce of Albany, N.Y., to Oregon. Pierce will stay with Ben Dahlenburg while in Sweet Home.
As a donation, Pierce will meet with the Weddle Bridge technical team at the bridge on Friday. On Sunday, community supporters and members of the technical team will have a potluck at Sankey Park from 1 to 3 p.m.
Anyone who wishes to attend should RSVP with Mikayla Rossiter at 367-4554. Zach Driscol & Three Quarter Time, who are on the 2006 Jamboree roster, will play during the potluck. The Jamboree has committed $250 of the $400 to pay the band.
“They do bluegrass the old-fashioned way,” Jamboree Event Manager Peter LaPonte said. “Great singing, great playing.”
During the potluck, people will be able to share stories and ideas with Pierce about Weddle Bridge, Rossiter said.
The city closed the bridge to the public last fall after structural problems were discovered on the bridge. The Save Weddle Bridge committee grew out of an effort to replace the bridge’s roof, which was deteriorating and allowing rain onto the structure of the bridge.
“The key thing is he’s going to review the condition of the bridge,” Rossiter said. Pierce will meet with the technical committee and go over his findings.
“It’s not realistic for our community to come up with all the money at once,” Rossiter said, so Pierce will try to break down repairs into stages for the community.
In the meantime, the Save Weddle Bridge committee will work on getting as much volunteer help as possible, Rossiter said. The bridge was brought to Sweet Home and reconstructed by volunteers, and as much as possible, those working on the bridge want to continue that tradition.
The bridge project will probably require some paid labor, Rossiter said. The President’s Club is handling the funds for the project. It will also use donated materials for the project.
Recently, the city of Sweet Home received spare bridge parts from the city of Albany, Rossiter said. Those parts apparently come from the Bohemian Hall Bridge from Crabtree, although officials are not 100 percent certain. The parts are believed to have had been in storage in Albany for some 20 years, although the bridge may have been disassembled as recently as the early 1990s.
Among the parts is planking, Rossiter said, but she doesn’t believe that any big timbers survive.
A number of community sources are working on this week’s bridge activities, Rossiter said. Among them, Gina Tiel and Oregon Clinical Research, Inc., are donating a roasted pig. Dawn Nichols has volunteered to carve the pig. Thriftway and Safeway are providing refreshments, including drinks, hot dogs and buns.