#McKenzieStrong – Sarah – Serendipity Coffee

Sarah Slowick came to the McKenzie valley in search of a sense of community, and she was not disappointed.

“I was living in Hawaii, in this cabin by myself in the middle of the jungle, and was really isolated,” she says, recalling that when she saw the coffee cart for sale in Blue River it felt… rather serendipitous.

She moved to Oregon in April, and opened Serendipity Coffee Cart in July 2020.

“I immediately thought that was the place for me,” Sarah recalls. “In the short couple of months I lived there, it really showed me how the community values each other, and I was welcomed very warmly.”

Things were going very well, in spite of the fact that the raging Coronavirus pandemic made operating a business “interesting,” to say the least. The response from the community surpassed all her expectations, and other businesses reached out to form partnerships — and vice-versa.

Iron Forest, A local venue put her in touch with a bride that booked Serendipity to do the catering for a wedding in October, and when Sarah spotted Honey Paddle’s McKenzie River Blossom honey advertised on the Blue River Bulletin Board, she used it in some of her desserts, and incorporated it into a signature honey vanilla latte bursting with those local flavors.

Signature Vanilla Honey Latte made with local McKenzie River Blossom Honey

As a Blue River resident myself, I was lucky enough to try one of those, along with many delicious tarts, sandwiches, smoothies and cold brew coffee, so refreshing in those record-breaking hot days which sadly set the stage for the catastrophic fire that struck in September.

She was woken up at around midnight on Labor Day, with a neighbor banging on the side of her camper, saying “we’re leaving now, we’ve got to go.” One look outside made it clear why; the sky was red, and the fire was very close indeed.

“All I did was put the leashes on the dogs, get in the car and go. I did not have time to grab anything. It was a very long ride into town with sparks flying overhead. You could see the whole mountainside on fire.”

When she first came back to check on the cart, afterwards, to see whether it was still there, she actually missed the turning from the highway, because everything looked entirely different.

“All the green was gone, you could see right through to the highway, and everything feels so exposed. I miss that feeling that this was a little hideaway, my little spot. I’m hoping that feeling of homeliness will come back over time.”

Luckily the fires did not take Serendipity, there was some smoke damage, a little leak in the roof, the equipment will need checking, but overall it should only take a relatively small investment to get it back up and running, and Sarah is currently exploring her options to make that happen.

“If it had been up to me, I would have reopened the next day,” she says, dreaming of the day when she might be able to fix up her cart and start serving customers once again.

The hope is that partnerships such as the one that had already started with Iron Forest will support that. Having recently spoken to their owners — Janice and Art Myers, who are moving forward with plans to open a brewery on the site of the cabins that burned down on their property — this seems likely, as businesses look for ways to help and support each other so that everyone can succeed together.

“Because right now I can’t work on reopening, it’s been very difficult, but that’s all that I’m thinking of doing. I’m working on my cooking, coming up with new menus. I’d love to see what people have to offer and to change the menu based on what’s out there and available. Anything that’s available locally I want to put in and make changes so that it can go in.”

I remember that about Sarah, the way she was interested in trying out things, and providing what people wanted to have in the café. One day, as my dog Watson waited in the car while she prepared my order, we got chatting about how she needed to set up her Google business profile so I could give her a well-deserved five-star review, and saying that if she put “puppuccinos” on the menu, Watson, Missy and Holmes would also become regular customers (Sarah and I share a love of ginger dogs). She said she would definitely do it, and was even considering baking special doggy biscuits to go with them. I still have a rain-check on those, which perhaps can be cashed when Serendipity opens back up. Here’s hoping.

My dogs and Sarah’s dogs — One can NEVER have too many ginger dogs

“I think that the river community is going to rebuild, and from what I can see it is going to rebuild stronger than it was before. I see huge opportunity and that’s something that I’d love to be there to see and be a part of.”

For the latest information on the recovery and rebuilding of the McKenzie Valley, and to contribute to those efforts, visit McKenzie Recovery and follow @CdcKenzie on Twitter.

About the author: Alice Bonasio is a journalist, writer, and proud McKenzie Valley resident. She is Director of Communications at the McKenzie Community Development Corporation. If you have a great local story to tell, drop her a line on alice@mckenzierecovery.org