Blue River

The Problem: Blue River was the central retail and service hub for the area.  

A vibrant Blue River is important to the entire upper McKenzie Community

Blue River Died

On Labor Day, 2020, the Holiday Farm Fire ravaged our communities, taking out hundreds of homes and businesses.  

The town of Blue River was incinerated – turned to dust in a matter of hours.

Before the fire, the town was already struggling from a number of issues: 

• Decades of land use laws designed to strangle rural Oregon, 
• An economy moving away from timber harvesting 
• Highway changes that bypassed the downtown businesses 

Businesses have been lost.  Scant resources had been made available for business recovery.

3 years later, there has been some rebuilding started with some homes and services like the post office, fire station, medical clinic and library.  Only one other business has broken ground to rebuild. 

This recovery project is designed to Help 

• businesses reopen – especially those impacted by the fire.  
• Provide more services and food options to the community
• Support Tourism in the region by providing much needed food, shopping and attraction options.

McKenzie Community Partnership is working to help small businesses recover. 

Problem

New  restaurants require a tremendous investment and also require the ability to handle a lot of sewage.  This is a huge problem for our area.

• Septic Capacity is Limited
• Small town population and seasonal tourism means lower volume business
• Cost to build standard restaurant could easily hit $500 a sq ft.

Solution

Quick Solution: Food Carts

• They are inexpensive to build
• Require few employees to operate
• Can operate seasonally

Long Term Solution: Brick and Mortar Establishments

More Options means More Success

The town needs a collection of healthy businesses to create synergy and drive traffic.  More variety is better.

Problem

Downtown businesses need highway signage and a tight business loop to help divert traffic from the highway.  

Solution: 

Tight Business Loop

Rebuilding a western entrance to town on new, larger River St. to create a tight business loop will help divert traffic from the highway ensuring better access to down town.

Signage 

We’re working to get entry signage at the business loop entrances that offer signage for all downtown retail businesses.