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FEATURE NEWS | |
SKY VALLEY TOWN HAS
NEW ESPRESSO BAR,
COMMUNITY SPACE
The River House breathes
new life into Index.
Sky Valley Chronicle Exclusive
March 08, 2010
 Cathy Corson pulls a shot of espresso in front of the river rock wall behind the renovated tavern bar. SVC Staff photo. CLICK TO ENLARGE  Interior shot of the River House. SVC Staff photo. CLICK TO ENLARGE  Interior shot of the River House. SVC Staff photo. CLICK TO ENLARGE  THOM BOULLIOUN editor of the website Mt. Index Reporter (http://mtindexreporter.com) hard at work in the River House. SVC Staff photo. CLICK TO ENLARGE  : Old oak wine barrel from winery in Eastern Washington is part of the rustic Northwest décor. SVC Staff photo. CLICK TO ENLARGE  Interior shot of the River House. Showing river rock wall. SVC Staff photo. CLICK TO ENLARGE  Wide screen HD TV screen showing old black and white photograohs of the area. Images from the Lee Pickett museum in Index. SVC Staff photo. CLICK TO ENLARGE  Looking outside through the french front doors. Just to the right of this scene a stone’s throw away is the Index river bridge into town. SVC Staff photo. CLICK TO ENLARGE  Corson crew -- Left to right, front row: Robbie Pittman, Blair Corson, Bill & Karen Corson (Blair’s parents). Right to left in back row: Justin Corson, Erica Morris, Jared Corson, DanValasco. CLLICK TO ENLARGE
So when a new business does open within the confines of Index’s tiny 0.25 acres of land, it is big news in Index and throughout the upper Sky Valley.
The first thing a visitor to the new River House Coffee Shop in Index notices is that someone went to a lot of work to make this formerly broken down old time tavern into a showplace espresso parlor and public meeting house.
The second thing is, whoever went to all that trouble did a bang up job.
The whoever in this case happens to be the Corson family, a tribe of young, energetic, forward looking purveyors of outdoor adventure sports such as open sea kayaking and running the Skykomish in rafts and kayaks as well as other white water and back country adventures.
The Corson family – Kathy, husband Blair and kids – bought the old Index tavern building almost four years ago for its potential as a community hub and an adventure center. The family has been running raft and kayak trips from the property since 2006.
The River House, located just across the Index bridge on the left as you enter town, serves not only all manner of espresso drinks but also features freshly baked pastries and free WI-FI for those who want to surf the Internet while sipping their latte.
But perhaps equally important is that the River House is the new and only public meeting area in the small town.
There is no library, no dance halls, no bars, no taverns, no restaurants, no movie theaters, no gambling joints, opium dens or other houses of ill (or decent) repute that could double as a public gathering spot so, other than the small park across the street and the school, the River House is it.
“It was kind of a community request that we open something,” said Cathy Corson of the old tavern portion of the building. Prior to the River House opening there was no place else in town for community members to meet, chat, have a cup of coffee and exchange news, views and concerns of the day.
In short, the River House is now to Index what the venerable neighborhood pub is to any town in Ireland.
“It’s a wonderful thing the Corsons have done for the community in opening this space,” said Index local Thom Boullion, editor of the website Mt. Index Reporter (http://mtindexreporter.com) who was hard at work editing his web site when a Sky Valley Chronicle reporter stopped in recently.
THE WORK INVOLVED
And the work the family put into renovating the space was considerable. The old wooden tavern floors needed to be sanded and refinished, the original bar needed the same TLC, old wooden wine barrels needed to be carted in from an Eastern Washington winery, antiques of the era needed to be bought and positioned just so in the space, a river rock wall facing the revitalized bar needed to be created and installed and other decorating and accessorizing needed to be finished before the current rustic, Northwest-mountain flavored coffee house could open.
The entire Corson family kicked in to help in the renovation of the space including Blair’s brothers and parents, Karen and Bill Corson.
“It took about six to eight months of work, all the sanding and finishing,” said Kathy Corson. “Jared and Blair became quite the rock installers, they put all the rock stuff in and the sanding and cleaning was sort of everyone’s project,” she added.
Jared Corson is one of Blair’s brothers who helped in the project along with brother Justin.
And the finishing touch was the installation of a wide, HD screen at one end of the room that displays a slide show of old black & white photographs of the Index and Sky Valley areas from the Lee Pickett museum. These are rare images dating back to the region’s historic beginnings as a logging and mining center.
A LIFE SPACE WORTH SEEING
It is a space and experience well worth a short weekend drive for folks “down below”, as in the lower Sky Valley and beyond. (That means you city folks in Everett and Seattle.)
The new River House is as good as any first class coffee emporium and community space you’ll find in Seattle or San Francisco.
And for you out of state tourists planning a trip to the Sky Valley this spring or summer, put in on your list of things to see.
There’s nothing quite like taking a hot cup of good coffee and wandering out the front door of a space like the River House in the early evening hours, turning left, walking a few feet down to the banks of the mighty Skykomish and, as the sweet sounds of the river gently roll over the senses, watching the sun set on a clear night over gorgeous Mt. Index.
Seriously now, does life get any better than that?
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