Salem Creative Network

2011 Cherry City Music Festival
More than 100 bands descend on the hospitality zone to entertain in 13 venues over the three day event. Most performances are free. We will be broadcasting live from downtown on Comcast Channel 22 for 12 hours during the festival. Watch us online at livestream.com/dougsworld.
We need volunteers for band hospitality. Help us out and volunteer here.

Noise ordinance
On Monday April 11, the Salem City Council will conduct the first hearing for the proposed noise ordinance, which will consider the downtown parking district as commercial and set the decibel level at 65 between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. We think 65 dB is a step in the right direction. There are others, however, that adamantly oppose this and want the levels set at 45dB! Show up at 6:30 to show your support for a hospitality zone.

Creative Pub Crawl – Saturday Night Fever Friday April 15
Get down tonight! We have two new stops on the crawl this month, Magoo’s and Cherry City Cafe. And we’ll see what Half Time’s got for us, too. Bring your disco balls and platform shoes!
6:00 Venti’s cafe and Basement Bar
6:45 Copperjohn’s
7:30 Magoo’s
8:15 Pete’s
9:00 Cherry City Cafe
9:45 HalfTime
10:30 FlipSide!

Clean Energy Rally and Lobby Day
We’re celebrating Earth Day on Friday April 22 with a Clean Energy Rally and Lobby Day at the State Capitol. Please volunteer to talk to your elected officials about the importance of Oregon-produced power for Oregonians.
Friday April 22
9:30 Training at Local Government Center 1201 Court St NE
11:00 Rally on Capitol Steps
12-4 Lobby your elected officials

Reply if you’re interested and email jamie@climatesolutions.org to coordinate the lobbying effort.

See you downtown!

Wear some green or expect some pinching.

6;00 Venti’s Cafe and Basement Bar
6:45 Copperjohn’s
7:30 Downtown Market and Deli
8:15 Crawler’s Choice
9:00 Pete’s Place
10:00 Flipside!

It seems that changes are happening faster than ever and we’re doing what we can to keep up! This Salem Creative Network update will cover:

1) Salem Downtown
2) Megawatt Project
3) social engagements
4) volunteer opportunities
5) board meeting

Downtown
We recently hosted the Responsible Hospitality Institute for a Sociable City seminar. More than 20 downtown and city leaders attended to discuss the process of developing a hospitality economy downtown that would address the inter-generational and inter-cultural need for a third place to socialize outside of home and work. With the current Economic Improvement District structure in question, it may become necessary to develop and implement our plan independently.
We will have a follow up meeting in mid-March to discuss our options.

Megawatt
The Megawatt Project is off to a surprisingly good start. We submitted our first project (Magoo’s!) to the Department of Energy for the Business Energy Tax Credit. It’s a lottery process, so we’ll know soon if we are moving forward. We have 266 kW of renewable energy projects and 7 businesses interested in energy upgrades for lighting, HVAC and refrigeration. Contact us if you are interested in the program.

Upcoming Events
February 24-26 8th Mid-Valley Video Festival at Northern Lights Theatre Pub, F-stop Fitzgerald’s and CCTV.
March 18 Creative Pub Crawl – Leprechauns
April 7, 8, 9 Cherry City Music Festival

Volunteer Opportunities
We are looking for volunteers for Salem Downtown programs, Megawatt Project, Doug’s World television production and Cherry City Music Festival. Email ross@salemdowntown.net.

Board Meeting
Our next board meeting is 4:30 p.m., Thursday, March 3 at F-stop-Fitzgerald’s. We’re working on a few housekeeping issues including changing the nonprofit from a member to a non-member organization. We are also looking to build the board, so attend if you’re interested.

Hey you Wild and Crazy guys! The schedule has been finalized for tonight’s Saturday Night Live pub crawl. We have a new venue, Coffee House Cafe. They just got their license and are creating a happy hour just for us – $2 Caldera IPA, Bear Republic Red Rocket and Racer 5 PLUS $1 off all beer and wine. Let’s show them some love, Pub Crawl style.

Here’s this month’s list:

6:00 p.m. Venti’s Basement Bar

6:45 p.m. Copperjohn’s

7:30 p.m. Coffee House Cafe

8:15 p.m. Pete’s Place

9:15 p.m. Brown’s Towne Lounge

10:15 p.m. FlipSide!

Here we are at the end of a whirlwind year making Salem a better place to live. Join us 6:00 p.m. Friday, December 10 at Coffee house Cafe for a Salem Creative Network holiday party! The all-ages event will offer an opportunity to reflect on the old year and plan for the future. Let’s celebrate!

Here’s a run down of what’s going on with the Salem Creative Network:

Upcoming dates:
Monday, December 6 – Noise ordinance 1st reading
6:30 City Council Chambers
The staff re-write of the noise ordinance has a first reading tomorrow night. We hope this is approved quickly so we can begin to develop the hospitality zone downtown. It allows a commercial noise level of 65 dB  everywhere downtown until 10 p.m. Please attend the council meeting to watch the action.

Thursday, December 9 – Megawatt Project Launch
11:45 a.m. SEDCOR luncheon  Mission Mill Museum Spinning Room
Salem Creative Network will present the Megawatt Project at the monthly SEDCOR luncheon this week. We’ve arranged for some electric vehicle manufacturers (Brammo, BugE, RYNO) to bring their eye candy so people can get a glimpse of the future while learning about biomass, smart grid, financing and Megawatt.
Please attend and support the Network at the area’s largest business luncheon.

Register here

Friday, December 10 – Willamette Valley Wine Walk – Network Holiday Party
6:00 p.m. Coffee House Cafe

Our final wine walk of 2010 will feature hot-spiced wine at downtown’s newest watering hole – Coffee House Cafe. Lari DeLapp is excited to finally receive his OLCC credentials and will host us for a soft launch beer and wine service at Coffee House Cafe. We will be there until 9:00 p.m. and then move on to DaVinci’s, Orupa and Bentley’s. Minors allowed until 8:00 p.m. at CHC.

Tuesday, December 14 Cherry City Music Festival planning meeting
7:00 p.m. Coffee House Cafe
We are organizing the 2011 Cherry City Music Festival with Mid-Valley Video Festival. They received a $7500 grant from the city and need help planning and hosting the festival. Please attend if you’re interested in volunteering.

Friday, December 17 Creative Pub Crawl – Naughty Elves in Fugly Sweaters
6:00 Venti’s Cafe and Basement Bar
Whew! Has it been a year already? Wear a fugly sweater and/or bring your naughty elf gear for another night of economic development downtown.

2011 volunteer opportunities:
Tuesday, January 11 Salem Creative Network board meeting
Thursday, February 10 Ignite Salem 5 – Global Ignite Week
April 7, 8, 9 – Cherry City Music Festival
2010 program summaries

Greening Salem

Solarize Salem
Solarize Salem wrapped up on October 31. The bulk solar installation program attracted more than 400 interested homeowners with workshops, events and the lowest price for Oregon-made solar systems. The program was featured on 1A of the Statesman Journal twice, KATU-TV, KGW-TV and nationally on page 3 of USA Today

During the three-month program, 52 homeowners installed 165 mW of renewable energy on their roofs. In 2009, just 10 systems were installed in Salem. Our contractors, Solar City and RS Energy, were very satisfied with the program and other communities (Seattle, Beaverton) are using our program modifications in their current efforts. Also, Adam Stephens Middle School will receive the donation of a 3 kW system ($17,000) from the contractors for educational purposes.

Thanks to all the volunteers, partners and participants that made this  program so successful!

Megawatt Project

Our newest program for Greening Salem is the Megawatt Project, a renewable energy and resource management program for commercial, institutional and nonprofit clients. We are partnering with Sanyo Solar of Oregon and local contractors to offer bulk pricing for solar installations and energy efficiency retrofits. We are also creating a workforce development training module with Chemeketa Community College to prepare for the anticipated demand for services. We need volunteers for the advisory committee and program implementation.

Salem Green Professionals

Salem Green Professionals meets every two month at sustainable businesses in the Salem area. We are meeting this week to discuss the future of this program.

Salem Downtown
Creative Pub Crawl
We are planning themes for 2011. Send ‘em if you have them!

Willamette Valley Wine Walk
The wine walk is over a year old now and we’re looking to expand the program to First Wesdnedays. We’ll keep you updated.

Downtown Hospitality Zone
We are working with the Responsible Hospitality Institute, downtown venues, entertainers, patrons and the City of Salem to establish a hospitality zone downtown. RHI was instrumental in crafting policy in Austin, Seattle, Phoenix and other cities to improve the nighttime economy of downtowns. Our mentoring city is Lexington, KY where they just transitioned through similar circumstances involving noise issues and expanding retail opportunities.

Creative Culture

Ignite Salem
We are in the process of facilitating the administration of cultural programming from Mid-Valley Video Festival. Ignite Salem 5 will be held during Global Ignite Week with 100 other cities in all seven continents and antarctica. We need presenters. Sign up at ignitesalem.com.

Cherry City Music Festival
The 5th Cherry City Music Festival occurs April 7-9 in downtown Salem. More than 100 bands will perform in 15 venues.

Creative Pub Crawl White T-shirt
Friday, August 13
Wear a t-shirt we can write on and bring some WATER-SOLUBLE markers to share.
6:00 Venti’s
6:45 Copperjohn’s
7:30 Magoo’s
8:15 Pete’s Place
9:00 Brown’s Towne
9:45 Jonathan’s
10:30 FlipSide!

Willamette Valley Wine Walk – Rosé
Friday August 20

6:00 pm Coffee House Cafe

Solarize Salem
Since August 2, 219 people have registered for more information, 140 attended workshops and it looks like there will be 25 co-op members by today, Friday August 13.

Here are the upcoming free workshops:
7 pm Aug 16
Nuts and Bolts
Sean Larkin, SolarCity
South Salem Senior Center
6450 Fairway Av. SE

6:30 Aug 17
Net-metering
PGE Auditorium
4245 Kale St. NE
Bruce Barney
Manager of Dispatchable Generation for Portland General Electric

6:30 Aug 24
Financial Workshop
Lizzie Rubado Energy Trust of Oregon Residential Program
Salem Public Library Loucks Auditorium
585 Liberty St NE

Aug 26
Nuts and Bolts
David Richards – RS Energy
633 7th Street NW

Making friends at the pub crawl.

Creative Pub Crawl ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY – Life’s a Beach

YooHoo! The Creative Pub Crawl turns one year old this Friday, July 23 with Life’s a Beach. So slip on your beach clothes and enjoy some live music while you meet new people, network and vibrantify downtown. Here’s hte schedule:
6:00 Venti’s – Jewelia Owens
6:45 Copperjohn’s – Shy Seasons
7:30 Magoo’s – Foxtrot
8:15 Pete’s Place – Potatoe Famine
9:00 Brown’s Towne – Matthew Price Band
9:45 Jonathan’s – Bold Riley
10:30 Flipside – House DJ

Live music schedule subject to change.
RSVP here

Willamette Valley Wine Walk – Sparkling Wine edition at Rivers Condominiums
Friday, July 30
The format last month seemed to work well with visiting wineries at Coffee House Cafe Backspace, Blind Wine Tasting at a downtown residence and a relaxed walk to Allessandro’s and Bentley’s Grill.
Bring a bottle of your favorite bubbly for the blind wine tasting.

Friday July 30
6:00 Laurel Ridge Winery and Van Duzer Vineyards pour complimentary tastes at Coffee House Cafe
7:00 Sparkling Wine BLIND WINE TASTING and tours at Rivers Condominiums
9:00 Allessandro’s Ristorante
10:00 Bentley’s grill
11:00 Flipside!

RSVP here

Solarize Salem launch at Oregon State Capitol steps
12:00 pm, Monday, August 2
Salem Creative Network’s newest project, Solarize Salem, brings solar installation bulk pricing to Salem residents, businesses and institutions. Learn more about the project meet the selected contractors 12:00 pm, Monday, August 2.
Monday, August 2. A tour of the State Capitol solar installation will follow the presentation.

We are still looking for volunteers to help spread the word about solar energy to neighbors and businesses. Contact ross@solarizesalem.org or call 503-551-2818.

Until August, stay cool!