<I>RON MALAST photo</I><BR>Port of Ilwaco Manager Mack Funk discusses the new pier replacement project.

For many years the Port of Ilwaco was nothing to write home about and maybe not even a place that you would care to visit. It’s facilities, shops, restaurants, streets and general atmosphere was depressing. Yes, its fishing, both commercial and recreational, carried on, but it really was not a place you cared to linger.

The restoration of the Port of Ilwaco is a joint effort of port commissioners, the City of Ilwaco, state and federal grants and Port Manager Mack Funk.

Funk was born in Pomona, Calif., and was a 21-year resident of that state. He attended high school in Sacramento, college at the University of California-Santa Cruz and studied agriculture at Cal Davis.

In 1977 while working in Luling, La., with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he witnessed the aftermath of the collision between the Norwegian tanker George Prince and the ferryboat Frista on the Mississippi River. The Frista went down with the loss of 77 lives.

On another occasion in Westwego, La., on Dec.22, 1977 a big grain elevator, filled with grain dust, was ignited by a spark causing the deaths of 35 people. These experiences instilled in him a deep respect for issues of safety, which remain with him to this day.

He took his first port job as director of industrial development at the Port of Pasco in 1984. The port managed 25 miles of rail lines and dealt in hides, hay and frozen french-fries. From 1996 to 1999 Funk was port manager in Clarkston, Idaho.

In August 1999, he assumed the position of port manager at the Port of Ilwaco.

In 1979, Mack met and married his lovely wife, Debi, who went to high school in Billings, Mont. You would never know it from looking at Mack, but he says that she is a gourmet baker; apparently he does not eat much of her baking. Every time I see Mack, I envision him with that long, lean look, and slow drawl, dressed up as a cowboy in a western movie, he’d be a natural.

After moving to Ilwaco, the family purchased a house built in 1931 by “Boomie” Westerlawn.

All indications are that the family enjoys their Ilwaco surroundings; their son William, 18, just graduated from Ilwaco High School where he was head tech for drama production and is now turning his interests to Clatsop Community College. His older sister Sarah Kay, 24, is an accountant in Bellevue.

It’s ironic that after taking the job in Ilwaco, the first charter boat the family fished for salmon on, was the Sarah Kay, owned by Milt Gudgill.

Mack has always enjoyed collecting baseball cards; he is a longtime N.Y. Giants fan, but takes a keen interest in the Seattle Mariners.

When questioned about the health of the Port of Ilwaco, the first thing Mack said was, “the fishing been great.” From a port manager’s position it spells 100 percent dock occupancy during the summer months, drawing substantially more visitors, stable private investment and a 60 percent increase in operating revenue.

The Port of Ilwaco leases property to four full-time restaurants and a total of 24 businesses, in addition to housing three major charter offices, 24 charter boats, 50 crab boats, 40 tuna boats and numerous recreation boats, to fill out the 737-slip marina. The “working yard” (self-service boatyard) hosts vessels from Westport, Garibaldi and Tillamook, Ore., and the Columbia River; it hosts a 50-ton travel lift. The port also has two fuel docks, a boat storage yard, boat launch, boat hoist and public showers and restrooms.

A crew of eight full-time employees manages and maintains the largest class “C” port in the state.

This year’s objectives are to continue dredging the Ilwaco Harbor, which is already two-thirds complete, and thanks to a federal grant, start dock reconstruction. Mack said, “The pilings on the older docks are rotten and broken, and hopefully, we can purchase a pile-driver and start pounding steel pilings. The restoration will start with F, D and C docks and the project will be ongoing.”

Art, events brighten horizonA bronze statue of a condor, a replica of the one found by Lewis and Clark during their journey from Chinook to Cape Disappointment will be placed south of the current boat launch, just outside the harbor.

The sculptor, Bart Kenworthy is at work on the bird, which will have a 9.5- foot wingspan. The $70,000 project was made possible by regional and local funding.

The port will hold its Fourth of July fireworks display on July 3, to avoid conflict with the Long Beach display, according to Mack.

In 2005, the port will see continued dredging, a focus on improved safety issues and an upgrade of the port’s electrical system. Rebuilding of the docks will also continue throughout the year.

Mack stressed, “We realize that the port is very important to the local community and that development can only succeed with coordinated planning between the city council and port commissioners, we have things going in the right direction and want to keep it on track.”

Through combined efforts of many agencies, Mack’s interaction with state and federal committees and officials, the Port of Ilwaco has taken tremendous strides toward the dream everyone hopes it can become. During the past couple of years, the new paved Lewis and Clark trail between the docks and shops, the rejuvenation of port buildings, the upgrading of tenants and businesses, new streets, streetlights, parking lots, and the Saturday Market have combined to elevate Ilwaco to a jewel of a port.

It’s Mack Funk’s job to keep it shining!