Greenwood/Elk
Elk Cautiously Reopens
This past holiday weekend in Elk proved busy but felt safe, which was the main concern of all the local business owners. Ironically, this was probably the busiest Elk has ever been on the Fourth of July, because the annual Mendocino parade was canceled due to the pandemic.
With Queenie’s reopening, all the “downtown” businesses are up and running again with county safety guidelines and limitations firmly in place. The Elk Store, Elk Garage and post office have remained open throughout the pandemic under their “essential business” status.
Matson Mercantile was next to come “online” in late April followed by the Artists’ Collective Gallery at the end of May. The visitors’ center remains closed.
As one local business owner put it, “All the locals understand that wearing a mask is necessary, it is the tourists thinking we don’t have the virus here that make us trepidatious.” Most visitors in Elk on Saturday proved to be compliant and polite from my vantage point at the Mercantile.
The few who did not don a mask coming to our door were not resistant when we handed them a free one. Lynn Derrick seemed equally impressed
with her customers’ respect and compliance when patronizing Queenie’s.
In a letter sent out last week to Elk residents from the Elk Volunteer Fire Department, Chief Bob Matson, advised the community to keep up the good work and not let our guard down.
He stated, “I strongly encourage you to adhere to State and County health guidelines … the community of Elk has done an outstanding job with no cases reported. As our town begins to emerge from and our businesses move into Phase 3, the risk of contamination from outside the County increases. I am concerned that strict guidelines for Airbnb and other overnight lodging facilities as well as businesses serving food be observed.”
With that said — and heard! — the Artists’ Collective would like to announce that Rachel Lahn is this month’s featured artist. This is what Rachel says about her work:
“I like my work to speak for itself… not too many words. I build abstract relief constructions out of canvas, plaster, wire, wood, and other mixed media. I paint them with acrylic paint. Once started, they take on a life of their own, one form inspiring the next. When I need shape and color inspiration for a piece, I go outside and absorb the life and light in the plants, redwood trees, mountains, ocean, and sunlight that surround me. I paint, draw and build the energies and shapes of nature.”
Please “mask-up” and drop by the gallery to take in Rachel’s incredible work.