Good morning, Grants Pass.

The Grants Pass & Josephine County Chamber of Commerce will host Lemonade Day tomorrow from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., featuring over 65 stands run by nearly 250 local kids who have developed business plans, creative themes, and unique lemonade flavors to launch their first businesses.

Hidden Valley High School’s summer food box program began five years ago with teacher Dennis Decasas and now delivers over 130 boxes weekly that feed about 750 people—helped by a $30,000 donation from AllCare Health.

Local volunteers, including students, deliver the boxes and use school garden produce to offer balanced meals to families in need.

The Maslow Project has launched a mobile outreach van to help youth and families near homelessness in remote parts of Jackson and Josephine counties.

The van was purchased in December with community and foundation grants and now includes air conditioning, solar panels — and Starlink internet for connectivity on over a dozen trips by its two-person outreach team.

JOCO VITA—now an independent nonprofit—will expand free tax services to low-income and senior residents in Josephine County.

The organization filed 1,455 returns last season and saved over $327,000 in fees as it plans to add financial education programs and recruit more volunteers to meet community needs.

Composer-lyricist Jesse J.

Sanchez launched Letters From Almeda: A Song Cycle to gather personal stories from those in the Rogue Valley affected by the 2020 Almeda Fire—he began interviews today with lyricist Sami Horneff and director Dalia Ashurina.

Norman Huynh (renowned American conductor) has been named the new Music Director of the Britt Festival Orchestra, beginning his three-year term this month and becoming the fifth leader in its 62-year history.

He will conduct up to nine summer performances (while also guiding community outreach initiatives) at the Britt Pavilion in Jacksonville as he shapes future programming.

After months of legal wrangling, the Grants Pass City Council approved a settlement with Disability Rights Oregon that ends the federal lawsuit for now—over the next 12 months, the city must provide ADA-compliant shelter for at least 150 individuals within the urban growth boundary and issue a $60,000 grant for homeless services. Questions remain about where displaced residents will go as current shelter capacity is already stretched and future shelter plans have not been announced.

Grants Pass drivers will face two road projects next week—an overnight closure at Fire Mountain Way and NE E Street from 11:00 p.m. Tuesday to 5:00 a.m. Wednesday and intermittent lane closures on G Street between 3rd and 4th Streets beginning Monday for fire vault work throughout August; city officials urge motorists to plan alternate routes to ease delays.

Blue Mountain Group at eXp Realty will host a two-day open house at the historic Ogle House on August 9 and 10 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM at 1449 NW Lawnridge Avenue—visitors are invited to join guided tours and drop off aluminum cans to support local housing funds through the Rogue Valley Association of REALTORS® Community Housing Foundation.

Doom Scroll Concert

8-11:30 p.m. — Our Studio — Free venue parking — Enjoy an energizing night with Doom Scroll and supporting acts RawkWater and Hard 2 Market.