FERNDALE, CALIFORNIA

'Ferndale' is a city in Humboldt County, California, United States. The population was 1,382 at the 2000 census.
Ferndale is known for well-preserved Victorian buildings. In fact, the complete town is California Historical Landmark No. 883 [1], in part due to the Victorian structures, along with its dairy industry.
Ferndale is also the endpoint of the annual Kinetic sculpture race as well as being the town where the first race began when [2] Hobart Brown was challenged to race his odd-looking five-wheeled bike down Main Street on Mother's Day, 1969 by local sculptor Jack Mays.
Ferndale is a popular film location and is featured in movies like ''The Majestic'' with Jim Carrey, ''Outbreak'' starring Dustin Hoffman and Salem’s Lot starring David Soul and James Mason as well as a 5 second shot in Joe Dirt with David Spade.
The Humboldt County Fair is held every August at the county fairgrounds on the edge of Ferndale, and feature the only horse-racing events in the county along with the standard fare of agricultural, pastoral and artistic contests, carnival games and commercial or non-profit booths.

Contents

Geography

Demographics

Politics

Media

External links

Geography

Ferndale is located at (40.579066, -124.263219). It's location south of US 101, is very close to the mouth of the Eel River as it enters the Pacific Ocean. By car, Ferndale is 265 miles north of San Francisco and just 12 miles south of Eureka. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.7 km² (1.0 mi²), all land.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,382 people, 611 households, and 392 families residing in the city. The population density was 518.1/km² (1,343.2/mi²). There were 663 housing units at an average density of 248.5/km² (644.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 93.34% White, 0.29% Black or African American, 0.51% Native American, 0.58% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 1.30% from other races, and 3.91% from two or more races. 4.27% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 611 households out of which 25.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.0% were married couples living together, 9.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.8% were non-families. 30.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.83.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.8% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 24.2% from 25 to 44, 29.5% from 45 to 64, and 16.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 86.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $37,955, and the median income for a family was $49,706. Males had a median income of $32,404 versus $29,808 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,727. About 4.5% of families and 7.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.9% of those under age 18 and 3.6% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Ferndale was incorporated in 1893 and is governed by a four-member City Council and a Mayor, all of whom serve four-year terms chosen in the general election of even-numbered years. The current Mayor is Jeff Farley, Elected in November of 2006. Councilmembers include Carlos Benemann, Ken Mierzwa and Stuart Titus.
In 2004 the City Council placed Measure O on the municipal ballot to eliminate the elective office of Mayor, which would have then reverted to an appointive office to be chosen by the City Council from amongst its own members. The measure was resoundingly defeated, with 78.8% voting against. Interestingly, when the Mayor's seat came back up for grabs in 2006, all mayoral canidates were write in, and Jeff Farley won the position, and now holds office as Mayor for the second time in Ferndale history.

Media

Ferndale is home to the longest living newspaper under a single name in Humboldt County, the Ferndale Enterprise. Weekly contributors include cartoonist/illustrator Jack Mays and "From the Back Pew" columnist Wendy (Reid Crisp) Lestina. Commercial radio station KHUM also calls Ferndale home, and operates in a joint studio with KSLG and KWPT under the ownership of Lost Coast Communications.

External links

★ City of Ferndale The official city website.

★ Ferndale Chamber of Commerce site has an event calendar, history of town and much more information

★ Ferndale History Museum An active research institution, hosts the oldest working seismograph in California, room exhibits, farm history and blacksmithing exhibits and a working crank-operated telephone. Closed in the dead of winter, the museum is open to the public for a tiny donation the rest of the year.

★ Ferndale's Carnegie Library

★ Virtual Walk on Main Street A building-by-building description of Historic Main Street

★ The 1906 Earthquake More famous for its devastation of San Francisco, California - the "great shake-and-bake of 1906" damaged Ferndale's buildings too. The difference is, you can go back in time in Ferndale - only four buildings were demolished since 1906 - the rest look remarkably similar to how they were on that fateful day - even the lightposts are in the same place 101 years later.