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Out of the shade Longtime Shady Cove businesses like Bel Di's restaurant are making room for newcomers like Taco Bell. Little Shady Cove starts to shine -- but the growth worries some By BETH QUINN T hree numbers tell the story of how Shady Cove has grown since 1990: single family homes up 44 percent, population up 71 percent and market value of real property up 223 percent. But a fourth number explains why Paul Petersen and other entrepreneurs have decided to set up shop in this tiny riverfront community: 700,000 cars roll through town on Highway 62 each year. "They've always driven by with $100 bills in their pocket to spend them in Bend," said the owner of Cascade Adventure Center, a rafting and fishing outfitter now in his second season. New age businesses -- an espresso stand and a computer shop among them -- are joining more traditional tourist stops such as a gallery of rustic furniture and riverfront motel in a commercial renaissance that hopes to persuade some of those passers-by to pull over in this town of 2,315. Many local business owners think the 30-room Edgewater Inn could help lure people to linger. "It gives us an image in town as people drive through to stop and stay," says Petersen, who offers fishing trips on the Rogue, Williamson and Wood rivers. "A customer can stay and do three different rivers." Local diners have enjoyed riverfront meals at Bel Di's for years but the '90s have brought a proliferation of new choices, including grill favorites at Mac's Diner and barbecue at Two Pines. And fast food arrived in Shady Cove in September with the addition of a Taco Bell Express at the BP gas station. "Most people here have been very happy to see it," says owner Mary Gardner. "And they're a lot of working moms who are very happy to see us." Not the least of those happy people are local merchants. "Once you have places for people to stay and restaurants for people to eat in, then merchants have an opportunity for walk-in sales," says Dan Burda. That's one reason his High Country Arts opened a retail store when he relocated his shipping depot and 10 employees from the 20-year-old business's original location in Trail. Burda sells rustic furniture and wildlife art through catalogues and seven wholesale showrooms across the country, and after considering locations in Medford and White City, he decided to keep his growing business in the Upper Rogue. "I saw the slab when they poured it," he says. "Nobody had claimed it, so I did." Since Burda moved in early this year, a mini-storage and car wash have opened next door and he's leased a second building at the same location. "When I moved up in the Upper Rogue here it was kind of like a dying town, a lot of empty businesses," he says. "Times are changing where it's not just that everybody goes into Medford to shop or have services done." One merchant aiming for the shop-at-home business -- both commercial and residential -- is Kent Cohee, who leased and reopened Shady Cove Hardware in May after an 18-month hiatus. "We determined that the Shady Cove market had a chance to sustain a hardware store because it's 20 miles from the nearest shopping district," he says. "It burns a half a day to make a trip in and get your supplies and come back out." In five months, his shop's real-life business has matched his expectations. "Winter has slowed down a little bit, but we're still maintaining our projections," he says. With two new subdivisions under construction and the rumored arrival of Shady Cove's second fast-food franchise -- Subway -- in yet another commercial development now under construction on the south side of town, many local business owners project a rosy future. Over at City Hall, Planning Department secretary Gretchen Meloth hears mostly good things about new commercial development from residents. "They're doing quality things and people are appreciating it," she says. "If you want your city to live, some of these things have to happen." Even the town's banker, often the most cautious member of the business community, says there's a new energy in town. "There was a time when Shady Cove didn't have that excitement," says Cindy MacDonald, branch manager of Western Bank. "But I do get excited about Shady Cove." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA