BHHS students work on one of many mechanical creations in Alan Chirinian’s robotics class. The Pilot/Lorna Rodriguez

The Brookings-Harbor High School robotics team will be able to enter an advanced robotics competition as the result of receiving $13,000 in grants from the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) and NASA.

Both highly competitive grants allowed Robotic Sciences Instructor Alan Chirinian to purchase new equipment and to enter the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (FRC). 

Without new equipment such as a computer numerically controlled (CNC) vertical mill, a CNC plasma cutter and prototyping machines, the program wouldn’t have been competitive enough to receive the NASA grant, which helped fund the $6,000 entry fee. 

Hundreds of thousands of colored lights are adorning trees, bushes, sidewalks and sculptures at Azalea Park for the 15th annual Nature’s Coastal Holiday show open nightly through Christmas Eve.

The three-week-long show, one of the largest light displays on the Oregon Coast, is scheduled to light the park from 5 to 9 every evening. Admission is $1. Children 12 and younger are admitted free. Cookies and hot apple cider are served at the Snack Shack. The show usually attracts thousands of visitors.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Dec. 22, 23 and 24, Santa will make an appearance at the park.

Thirty-eight vendors will participate in the second annual Artisans Holiday Market and Food drive from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 10 and 11 at Seascape Regional Center, 98158 W. Benham Lane. 

“It was so well-received last year, that I doubled the venue,” organizer and glass artist Chip Moore said.

Doris Keevil Woolley feels at home at Brookings’ Sporthaven Beach. The Pilot/Submitted Photo

Doris Keevil Woolley broke the news to her children shortly after a hurricane on the East Coast cut power to their town this year.

“We were sitting in the dark with candles, just talking,” she said.

That’s when the 92-year-old woman, a longtime resident of Eatontown, N.J., told two sons she was moving across the continent to begin a new life in Oregon.

The Pilot/Bill Schlichting

Brookings’ Nature’s Coastal Holiday, one of the largest light shows on the Oregon Coast, will begin its three-week show tonight (Dec. 3).

The 450,000 lights, set up by volunteers, have transformed Azalea Park in Brookings into a holiday wonderland of toy soldiers, candy canes, ice skaters, elk, sea creatures, flowers and more.

The show will be open from 5 to 9 p.m. daily through Dec. 24. The cost is $1 for general admission and free for children younger than 12. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Dec. 22, 23 and 24, Santa will make an appearance at the park.

Nature’s Coastal Holiday began in 1997 with 50,000 lights; then quickly grew to nearly a quarter of a million. It is now approaching half a million lights, making it one of the biggest light shows on the Oregon Coast.