Changing for the Better
The Umpqua Valley looks a little different than when this California transplant visited as a child.
By Sarah Stacey
I am a recent transplant to Roseburg from, yes, you guessed it, California. But although I am a new resident, I was no stranger to Roseburg before moving here.
I grew up visiting Roseburg every summer for as long as I can remember. My mother is from Glide, so I have spent countless summers crawdad fishing, hiking and swimming along Little River. My grandmother would teach me how to spin wool and tend her garden, and my uncle would take me on crazy adventures up and down the river.
As a child, I knew Roseburg as the land of endless forests, coffee kiosks, a slightly awkward (but also charming) mall, While Away Books and The Bagel Tree—my all-time childhood favorite.
As an outsider and sometime visitor, I watched Roseburg change over the years. That outdated mall has been upgraded dramatically with new tenants like Planet Fitness, Ulta, Marshall’s and Sportsman’s Warehouse. The winery industry has grown impressively, and there are now excellent specialty coffee shops in town, vibrant breweries and great restaurants.
In my early visits to Roseburg, my mom and I would always lament our 5 a.m. family fishing trips because there was no Starbucks to help us wake up. That situation would soon change as well. (Interestingly, the first Starbucks opened here not long after Mom wrote the corporation asking it to make it so. Coincidence? We still aren’t sure.)
The best part about all the changes I have seen is they haven’t changed the character of my new hometown. Roseburg may not be the small town it was when I was a child, but it hasn’t lost any of its charm.
In other words, Roseburg is still a rare jewel. I cherish the moments I spend with my friends and family here. I like that, almost anywhere I go, I will see someone I know. I like that on my way home, I get to see acre after acre of vineyards.
I like seeing people dance like no one is watching at Music on the Half Shell, and I will certainly miss that one-of-a-kind community event this summer. I like packing into Lighthouse Bakery on a Sunday with what seems like half of Roseburg’s population.
All these things and many others are quintessentially Roseburg to me.
I feel very fortunate that I get to raise my daughter here. She will get to know all of Roseburg as an insider instead of the bits and pieces that I experienced as a visitor. The summers on the Umpqua River, the winters nestled in a cozy coffee shop with family and friends, will help define her childhood and create beautiful lifetime memories.
I am so proud to now be living here and to be a full-time resident of this wonderful community. I thought I would miss California and my city lifestyle. But once I got here, I never looked back.
