Category Community

PHOTOS: New basketball team debuts in Salem with win
Salem Capitals center Vincent Boumann dunks against the Vancouver Volcanoes during the Salem Capitals inaugural home game on Friday, March 4. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) The Salem Capitals kicked off their inaugural season at the Salem Armory on Friday night with a 116-100 win over the…

PHOTOS: As war rages in Ukraine, Salem residents show solidarity
Demonstrators gather in downtown Salem on Sunday, March 6, to protest the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter) Demonstrators brought the war in Ukraine home to Salem on Sunday, March 6. They gathered at a downtown Salem intersection, waving at passing vehicles and waving…

Salem family in Ukraine takes in dozens as refugees flee from Russian invasion
The Johnson family and residents living at their homes for children and adults with disabilities in Ukraine. (Courtesy/Johnson Family) Jed Johnson on Thursday felt his family’s house shake after hearing the first missile hit an airfield 20 minutes away from their home two hours west…

Once at risk of fading away, Salem’s oldest neighborhood association celebrates 50th birthday
A woman walks through Northgate Park on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Salem’s oldest neighborhood association was at risk of fading away without enough members to keep it going in 2020. Then Bayard Mentrum and his wife, Kaethe, decided to step up. Bayard…

Salem restaurant owner semifinalist for James Beard “Best Chef: Northwest” award
Jonathan Jones, co-owner of Epilogue Kitchen and Cocktails on Jan. 18, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) When the Instagram account for Salem’s Epilogue Kitchen and Cocktails got a congratulatory direct message on Feb. 23, owner Jonathan Jones didn’t know what it was for. Jones was soon…

McKay strings take center stage with Saturday “Four Seasons” fundraiser concert
Senior Gabriel Jurado, 17, rehearses Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” with the McKay High School orchestra on Feb. 23, 2022 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) As Alex Figueroa’s students returned to full-time school in the fall, he knew many felt disengaged from orchestra after a year of classes online. …

City park reservations point to a more exciting summer in Salem
People gathered in Riverfront Park to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day on Monday, Oct. 11, 2021. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter) Salem residents and event organizers are booking reservations at city parks at the highest rates since the pandemic began. Those include both commercial events and smaller gatherings…

With tow yards full, Salem could see more abandoned RVs on its streets
A trailer with a towing warning on it in the Mega Foods parking lot on Devonshire Avenue on Friday, Jan. 28, 2022. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) When Suzanne Reynolds recently saw an RV parked by South Salem High School, she thought, “I’m going to get 100…

Salem couple in Ukraine prepares to take in families as Russian troops mass near border
The Johnson family and residents living at their homes for children and adults with disabilities in Ukraine. (Courtesy/Johnson Family) Jed Johnson got a call from an employee of the U.S. State Department Friday around 9:45 p.m. asking him and his family to leave Ukraine. “They…

