Posted inArts + Scene

Beer Fest at Blue Ox this Saturday

History meets hops at Humboldt’s newest summer celebration. The Humboldt County Historical Society and Blue Ox Millworks are teaming up to host the inaugural Beer Fest at Blue Ox on Saturday, July 27 from noon to 5 p.m. ($45, $6 VIP, $25 non-drinker). This 21+ event offers a taste of Humboldt’s finest brews, including offerings […]

Posted inArts + Scene

The Craftsman Series to Star Blue Ox’s Eric Hollenbeck

It appears the restoration will be televised. Magnolia Network, a media venture by Discovery and celebrity house rehabbers Chip and Joanna Gaines, has announced it will air nine half-hour episodes of The Craftsman, starring Eric Hollenbeck of Eureka’s Blue Ox Millworks.  A press release from the network describes the series: “Master craftsman and woodworker Eric […]

Posted inNews

NCJ Archive: The Journey of Radioman

Editor’s Note: On this Veterans Day, as the nation pauses to honor those who have served this country, here is a November of 2017 story about the journey of Eric Hollenbeck, a Eureka-born Vietnam veteran and co-owner of Blue Ox Millworks and Historic Park with his wife Viviana, whose poems about his experiences during a […]

Posted inNews

Redwood Reborn

At 18-inches tall, the delicate sapling looks almost vulnerable as Blue Ox Millworks and Historic Park co-founder Eric Hollenbeck and Freshwater resident Steve D’Agati hold it aloft on a recent morning in front of a massive cross-section of the ancient tree from which it was cloned. The moment was, in many ways, a homecoming for […]

Posted inArts + Scene

Back in Time

Ring in spring with the crafty folks at Blue Ox Millworks during the May Day Artisan Festival on Saturday, May 5 and Sunday, May 6 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ($12, $8 ages 9-15, free for kids 8 and under). It’s a weekend of history, music, food and fun, harkening back to simpler times. […]

Posted inSpecial Sections

Many Hats (and Roller Skates)

From government to the environment to music and the military in Humboldt, Natalie Arroyo has her foot in it or on it — figuratively and literally. One place that has special significance to her is the Eureka Waterfront Trail, the newly completed 6.3-mile contiguous trail that runs north from Herrick Avenue to Tydd Street. “Since […]

Posted inStories

Many Hats (and Roller Skates)

From government to the environment to music and the military in Humboldt, Natalie Arroyo has her foot in it or on it — figuratively and literally. One place that has special significance to her is the Eureka Waterfront Trail, the newly completed 6.3-mile contiguous trail that runs north from Herrick Avenue to Tydd Street. “Since […]

Posted inNews

‘In the Interest of Justice’

I’m driving in the Safety Corridor when Eric Hollenbeck calls. “Are you in Eureka?” his voice gravels from the car speakers. “I got something I wanna show you.” A short while later, I navigate my Subaru down the Blue Ox Millworks driveway; around potholes the size of hot tubs. I dodge a couple of cats […]

Posted inStories

The Craftsman

“Here’s a cool thing. I just figured it out,” confides Eric Hollenbeck, sitting on a worn chair next to a scavenged 1960s Double Star potbelly stove. “You know that saying, ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?’ Well, what does that mean?” He coughs a deep, smoky cough and continues. “Does it make you physically […]

Posted inNews

Building Lincoln’s Hearse

Some of the cats are sacked out in the sunshine and others inside the Blue Ox Millworks office by crackling wood stoves. Bluto, the golden-eyed, bear-faced dog, flops like a giant, piled-up rug on some unevenly stacked timbers in the yard. Birds are talking, the air is still, it’s an early spring in early February. […]

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