Fate of Evergreen Museum, Spruce Goose in doubt - update

That's too bad. I liked going there when I lived in Portland. Maybe EAA or some other museum can swing a deal with the museum and creditors to buy some of their planes.
 
I guess they need to raise the ticket price at the water park.

Evergreens been moribund for a while. A friend who is a 747 captain for them has been wondering if the paychecks would bounce. He (and a lot of others) were recently let go.
 
I hope the Spruce Goose lands in a better place. The display in Long Beach was better than McMinnville.
 
kgruber said:
I hope the Spruce Goose lands in a better place. The display in Long Beach was better than McMinnville.
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Actually, I like McMinnville. I saw it at both places. In Long Beach you never got an idea how large it was. With all the things parked under it at McMinville you get a better sense of scale. Great view from the cockpit there as well.
 
kgruber said:
I hope the Spruce Goose lands in a better place. The display in Long Beach was better than McMinnville.
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I'm going to go there next week. I'll make sure the trailer hitch is on the SUV.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Wow....a Space Shuttle involved in all this... I would think that NASA is loaning the Shuttles out... maybe the NASM is a gift, but others I would think are on loan. At least I hope so...:confused:
 
flyingron said:
Actually, I like McMinnville. I saw it at both places. In Long Beach you never got an idea how large it was. With all the things parked under it at McMinville you get a better sense of scale. Great view from the cockpit there as well.
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It was certainly a dramatic setting in the dome at Long Beach. Kind of a one-trick-pony attraction, though. The Queen Mary next door helped to bring the non-aviation crowd in, but few saw any reason for a return trip. Carnival Cruises uses that building for their Long Beach cruise terminal now.

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flyingron said:
Actually, I like McMinnville. I saw it at both places. In Long Beach you never got an idea how large it was. With all the things parked under it at McMinville you get a better sense of scale. Great view from the cockpit there as well.
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In Long Beach you could go IN the cockpit.
 
The one thing I think Evergreen should change-

Take that yellow Piper Cub out from under the Spruce Goose and park it on top of one of the horizontal stabilizers. The Cub would take a small section of it, and really show the immense size of the HK-1.
 
I enjoyed the museum , was a great tour. Have a captain who was let go from evergreen .did not know they where in trouble. Too bad. Hope some one can save the museum.
 
Guess I better make another visit before they cook the Goose or burn the Spruce as firewood.

In the mean time, sounds like title to it is muddied and it would be a legal tussle to extract it from the museum - nevermind the cost of dismantling it and moving it someplace else.
 
If they are in trouble I wonder if they will sell me this
 

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flyingcheesehead said:
For the low, low price of $80 extra (when I was there). So I didn't go up there.
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I got a friend who's a docent. :)

Does seem steep. Seattle's Museum of Flight only charges $35 to go inside the Shuttle trainer.

Ron Wanttaja
 
kgruber said:
In Long Beach you could go IN the cockpit.
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You can go in the cockpit at McMinnville. I've got pictures of Margy in the left seat taken from the right seat and another of her head sticking out the hatch over the pilot's seat.

We also got a nice photo taken by the director of the museum (professional courtesy extended to Margy).
 
wanttaja said:
I got a friend who's a docent. :)

Does seem steep. Seattle's Museum of Flight only charges $35 to go inside the Shuttle trainer.
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You've got a friend, I've got a sister - And this ain't no museum! :D

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That's the full-size shuttle mockup they had at JSC. Pretty sure I could have at least operated the audio panel...
 

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That's a bummer. I was there a few years back at a CAP competition. Amazing place.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
It seems to me, although I have never been there, that the museum is probably somewhat of a tourist draw to the area. Why does not the surrounding community, or the state (Chamber of Commerce?) step up to the plate and do what they can to keep the place up and running?

-John
 
Because there is nothing else there. The benefit to the community is a lot more traffic on the highway outside.

It's just a burb WAY outside Portland with a rich guy's playground.

Not every economy is driven by tourist trade.
 
According to local media there are only a few display aircraft that are owned by Evergreen. The HK-1 and the majority of the other aircraft are held by the Museum's operating trust and are 100% legally isolated from the assets of the Evergreen Corp. and not attachable in the bankruptcy proceedings.
 
Is the museum making enough money to pay the guy who cleans the toilets? Without Evergreen, is the museum self sufficient?

-John
 
MAKG1 said:
Because there is nothing else there. The benefit to the community is a lot more traffic on the highway outside.

It's just a burb WAY outside Portland with a rich guy's playground.

Not every economy is driven by tourist trade.
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I agree. When there in June I was wondering why it wasn't closer to I-5 where there would be more traffic.
 
John Baker said:
It seems to me, although I have never been there, that the museum is probably somewhat of a tourist draw to the area. Why does not the surrounding community, or the state (Chamber of Commerce?) step up to the plate and do what they can to keep the place up and running?
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We were in Oregon for other reasons (conference in Portland), but since we were there we spent 3 days in McMinnville (one at the museum, and two hitting some of the wineries in the area), we also went out to Tillamook to do the aviation museum and cheese factory (two separate attractions).
 
I enjoyed the visit and appreciated the $25.00 ticket price that included the museum and big screen movie in a separate building.
 
I've don't pay to get into museums as long as I follow closely to Margy. Here's her in the Spruce Goose ...
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They sold a pretty extensive machinegun collection a year or so back. That brought in a fairly good amount......at least what most of us would consider a fairly good amount. Probably not a drop in the bucket for them.....

Frank
 
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