Weinhard Hotel owners are making lemonade out of lemons

DAYTON – Weinhard Hotel owners, Sev Jones and Christina Dingman are coming up on the completion of their first year of business at the end of next month. They opened last year over Memorial Weekend when many businesses were first allowed to open up after the initial shutdown due to COVID-19.

Jones and Dingman bought the business from Gary and Shellie McLeod in March of 2020. Jones shared, "Considering stepping right into a full-blown pandemic, we've been very fortunate with our new endeavor." They took those first couple of months to covert the front of the hotel that was formerly a coffee shop into Jacob's Public House. They updated the interior of that space and later added an outdoor seating area "which is especially attractive during a pandemic," stated Jones.

The space continues to offer coffee, but as Jacob's now serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, including wine and beer. It can also be booked for private functions. Because of opening Jacob's, hotel guests are pampered with complimentary house-made breakfast.

Another noticeable change is the new neon sign installed in February. In addition to drawing attention to the hotel business, it includes signage for the public house. Jones said, "The exterior neon sign was designed and installed by friends of ours who own a sign business in Bellingham, Wash. We love it. We feel the style fits with the hotel architecture and adds to the whole Main Street experience."

When asked about business during the pandemic, Jones offered, "While our occupancy rates are about 50% where they typically are, we remain patient and optimistic. This lull in business has allowed us to make some exciting improvements to the business including opening Jacob's Public House and completing light refresh updates to the rooms...We've installed a commercial water softener to help with the hard water we have locally which has worked really well. We've replaced almost all of the mattresses and updated all of the TVs. We've also installed three electric charging stations in our parking lot which was funded through a Pacific Power grant. The wonderful rooftop garden is under a major update including a new iron railing, exterior lighting, steel fire pit, new flooring, and patio furniture. We're hoping to reopen the rooftop garden by the first of May. We're planning on resurfacing and striping the parking lot soon. We've also instituted an internal recycle program where nearly 90% of recycled materials are kept out of the landfill."

The hotel currently has four part-time employees, but a full-time position is now open. Additional staff will be added when the business returns to normal. Some additional services the hotel offers include the rental of tables, chairs and linens as well as booking for special functions whether it be the rooftop garden, the indoor conference space which can accommodate up to 15 people, or even the whole 15-room hotel.

Future plans include updates to the website once the rooftop garden is complete, which is anticipated to be by the first of May. After that time, the owners are planning to offer special events open to the community. Jones said, "We've heard various suggestions such as Mimosas and Yoga, Movie Night, and Live Music events."

Jones spoke of community support for their business this past year. "The Dayton community has been amazing to us. We're so thankful for the ongoing support that we've received from various organizations (Port of Columbia, Chamber of Commerce, Columbia County Health District to name just a few). The community members have also been very welcoming and supportive to us since we opened our doors."