Biz Beat

EWEB meeting rooms that have been open to community and nonprofit groups for years may no longer be available starting next October if EWEB goes through with leasing out the second floor of its North Building. EWEB spokesman Lance Robertson did not disclose who would be leasing the offices but it is “highly possible” that meeting rooms at EWEB will be part of the lease agreement. Dozens of groups use the meeting rooms and those that have booked rooms through the year have been notified. 

H&H Veterinary Care is a new animal clinic at 354 W. 6th Ave. in Eugene, site of the former City Center Cat & Bird Clinic. Sharleen Henery, DVM, is the new vet and Carolee Horning is her practice manager. Both worked previously at Banfield Pet Hospital. The new clinic cares for dogs, cats, pot-bellied pigs and even goats and other farm animals, says Henery, whose family has a farm in the Lorane area. Call 343-3419.

• Lane County Commissioner Sid Leiken and Sheriff Tom Turner will be at the Springfield City Club to discuss the levy to fund the jail and the Serbu Youth Campus at noon Thursday, April 18, at the Willamalane Center, 250 S. 32nd St. $10 for non-members. See springfieldcityclub.org or call 736-4544.

• A free lecture on “Putting Hypersexuality to Work: Black Women and Illicit Eroticism in Pornography” by Mireille Miller-Young of UC-Santa Barbara will be at 10 am Thursday, April 18, at the Knight Library Browsing Room on campus. 

Eugene Bicycle Works is a new nonprofit community bike shop in Eugene. It partners with local retail bike stores to collect used bike parts as part of the Bucket Full O’ Parts project at the Center for Appropriate Transport. Donated parts are used to build affordable bikes for youth and people with limited resources. The public can drop off used bike parts at any of the participating shops, such as Arriving by Bike, Collins Cycle Shop, Hutch’s Bicycles, Life Cycle Bike Shop, Paul’s Bicycle Way of Life, REI, Simply Cycle or 10/10 Cycles.

Eugene Coffee Company has been in business for five years and is having an all-day celebration Saturday, March 9, at the store at 18th and Chambers, across from BiMart. Owner Sue Harnly was picked by EW readers as Best Barista in 2011. Harnly started the business with Alicia Hays and Adelka Shawn in 2008. Since then the store has sold 22,000 pounds of Café Mam coffee, 246,000 drinks and 56,000 donuts, bagels and pastries.

Sam Adato’s Drum Shop is packing up its huge inventory of new, used and rental percussion instruments and associated accessories in San Francisco and moving to 1755 W. 11th Ave. in Eugene, a location previously occupied by the Reptile Kingdom pet shop. The new store hopes to open March 1. Why the move? Adato closed his doors in San Francisco in late December and is quoted in the East Bay Express saying he likes Eugene and he’s ready for a change. “It’s a beautiful place to live,” he says. “I went from L.A. to Santa Cruz to San Francisco.

Biz Beat has been running nearly every week for more than a year now. It’s a humble effort to give some attention to small businesses, nonprofits and the people behind them who are vitally important to our community but don’t always get media attention. Our thanks to the many people who have sent us suggestions. Keep ’em coming.

The Fun with Fermentation Festival is from 11 am to 4 pm Saturday, Jan. 12, at the WOW Hall, 291 W. 8th Ave. in Eugene. The fourth annual event is a fundraiser for FOOD for Lane County and the Willamette Valley Sustainable Foods Alliance. Admission is on a sliding scale, $10-$20 per person or $5 with two cans of food. Kids 12 and under are free. The event focuses on the many ways fermentation is used in making foods and drinks.

Anybody want to buy a weekly newspaper? Not this rag, of course, but The Jefferson Review and the Scio News are currently on the block cheap in order to “avoid imminent closure,” according to a notice from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. Cash only and the deadline for inquiries is Friday, Dec. 21. Call the owner at 971-3217. Contrary to conventional wisdom, print publications still have a lot of life left in them and not all are shrinking to oblivion.

We wrote about The Barn Light in this column back in August and its plans to open a new bar and coffee shop in September. The classy new watering hole finally opened the evening of Thanksgiving Day at 924 Willamette, in the newly rebuilt Broadway Commerce Center. Owners are Thomas Pettus-Czar and Dustin Kinsey, who met and worked together at a popular bar and coffee shop in Lawrence, Kan. “We look forward to participating in the rebirth of a thriving, vibrant center of commerce and community in downtown Eugene,” says Kinsey.

Holiday Market, an extension of Saturday Market that includes fine arts and crafts from around the region, plus food and music, kicks off from 10 am to 6 pm Saturday, Nov. 17, at the Fairgrounds. The market runs weekends through Dec. 24. See holidaymarket.org

Dutch Bros. Coffee is planning to open its first Cottage Grove location at 1534 N. Gateway Blvd. at a date in November to be announced. The coffee chain gives away free drinks when it opens new stores, always leading to long lines.

Two Eugene businesses, Cousin Jack’s Pasty Company and Vanilla Jill’s, have teamed up to create “Jack & Jill’s Courtyard” located on 3rd and Blair across from the back of Ninkasi in the Whiteaker. We hear it’s a great food destination with meat and vegetable pasties available from Cousin Jack’s cart and frozen yogurt, ice cream, vegan treats, soups, salads and more available at Vanilla Jill’s.