Mobility Chair Events Coming to Washington Coast, S. Oregon Coast; Newport Celebrates Theirs

Published 3/21/24 at 5:55 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Brookings, Oregon) – Several Oregon coast towns now have specialized, all-terrain wheelchairs to lend out to those with mobility issues, thanks to the group David's Chair. They have brought more accessibility to Gold Beach, Newport, Seaside, Rockaway Beach, Manzanita, Netarts, Florence and Pacific City with the Action Trackchair motorized chairs, available to borrow in various time slots. Use is free.

Now, David's Chair may be branching out into the Washington coast, with excursion days set in Westport on April 5 and 6, as well as excursion days down in Brookings on March 29 and 30. These are special events where a trackchair is brought for the day, and those in need get to arrange a time slot and hit the sands as they likely could not before.

In Westport, they happen at various time slots on April 5 and 6 at the Westport by the Sea Condos, 16099 W Ocean Ave. See the events page at David's Chair.

In Brookings, it's all at Harris Beach State Park on March 29-30.

CEO and founder Steven Furst said spots are still available at the scenic attraction on the south Oregon coast. It's the 7th year and longest-running annual excursion event the nonprofit has been doing.

The group is named after David Hatrick, who passed away after a bout with ALS, and at one point was able to get hold of a track chair that enabled him to resume some outdoor adventures. Not long after he passed, the group and Furst began their run of helping other individuals.

Westport

“We chose Harris Beach for our first ever excursion back in 2018 just a little over two months after David passed,” Furst said. “Harris Beach was one of his favorite places to visit and his birthday always falls within spring break. We decided that this is a great way to honor his legacy and kick off each year with an excursion. We will be set up at the day use area on the grass by the restrooms. Although we suggest you sign up for a time slot, we will do our best to accommodate anyone that shows up and wants to get out on the sand.”

Gold Beach, Newport and Florence were the latest burghs to get the chair, available for reservations online, just as all David's Chairs are.

“We will have multiple track chairs at this event and are partnering with the Gold Beach Visitor center where we have two track chairs for people to use throughput the year,” Furst said.

Brookings does not have a regular chair to reserve as other towns do, and neither does Westport up on the Washington coast. The group did not indicate there were plans in the works for regular chairs in either towns.

Harris Beach, courtesy Oregon State Parks

“We have two track chairs at the Gold Beach Visitor Center,” Furst said. “One is to be used at the beach access from the Visitor Center and the other is a Tow and Go that can be taken to another location. We want to remind people that we do not charge to use the track chairs.”

Lincoln City and Seaside also have mobi-mats on the beach, which allows more mobility for standard wheelchairs. N. Oregon Coast's Seaside Gets Mobi-Mats for Wheelchair Access

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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