The Yachats Ladies Club History
The Yachats Ladies Club was formed on January 25, 1927, by nine women. They met in members’ homes until 1929, at which time they were able to purchase the local dance hall for $100 with a $15 down payment. Money was raised by selling handmade quilts and by holding weekly supper-dances each Saturday. The dance hall also had to be moved. Sir Robert Perks, an English lord who owned most of the available land in Yachats, generously donated the property to the club for their newly purchased clubhouse. Members and their husbands cleared the lot and built a foundation. A loan of $200 was obtained from a local bank and the former dance hall was moved to its current location on West 3rd Street on May 31, 1929.
For many years the clubhouse was the only place in Yachats large enough to hold meetings; it was used by churches to hold services, for meetings by the Lions Club, Chamber of Commerce, the American Legion, Odd Fellows Lodge, and many other organizations.
The original purpose of the 1927 club members prevails today: To promote the welfare of the local community. The members accomplish this by organizing and holding craft bazaars, benefit dinners, and pie and ice cream socials. The majority of items sold at the craft bazaars are handcrafted or assembled by the members of the club. All pies served are homemade.
Through these events, the club has been able to contribute to local social service organizations, support improvement movements for the community, sponsor holiday parties, maintain the club’s facility and support the club’s functions. Annual scholarships are given to nursing students at Oregon Coast Community College.
A major building renovation was done in 2007/2008 and through fundraising, a grant from Siletz Charitable Contribution Fund, donations from the club members and the community all the expenses were paid when the work was completed. The community volunteered labor and supplies and worked together to further the existence of the organization.
The Yachats Ladies Club is a noteworthy organization, of which each and every woman is proud to be counted as a member.
We are many hands working together to promote the welfare of the local community.
Pie Social History
In 1999 then member Florence Whitney got an idea for a new fundraiser. She suggested the club hold a Pie and 
Ice Cream Social on the 4th of July. Yachats already had a day’s worth of events and attracted a large crowd with the annual La De Da parade and the evening fireworks so they figured a few people might stop by the club for pie. The ladies dressed in fancy hats gathered signs and marched in the parade handing out plastic wrapped cookies that had a slip of paper on the bottom that said: “come to the Ladies Club for Pie and Ice Cream”. They baked 20 pies that year. They left 3 people at the club and the rest marched in the parade. The cookies worked, by the time the ladies got back to the club the line was out the door and the three left working were swamped and chaos reigned in the clubhouse. All the pies were sold out quickly.
A new event was born and the process of baking, cutting and serving pies improved each year. The members quit marching in the parade in 2007, they were all needed at the club to work.
With the success of the 4th of July event in 1999, it was decided to add similar activities on the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends starting in 2000.
In 2008 the clubhouse was unusable due to a major renovation project. The 4th of July Pie and Ice Cream Social was held at the Commons. The event had gotten bigger each year due to demand and members ability to make more pies. The extra room at the Commons felt good so that location was used until 2016 when the event was brought back to the clubhouse. In 2009 the State of Oregon was celebrating its 150th Anniversary so the club decided to make 150 pies as a way to celebrate the State’s Sesquicentennial. That event went off well and the next couple years they made and served close to 185 pies each year. That is 185 pies (6 slices each x 185 = 1,110 slices of pie) and there were more than 20 gallons of ice cream to go with the pie.
Pie Cookbook Dedication:
We dedicate this book to the memory of those who started this club 90 years ago and to all the members that have worked over the years to make this club the success it is today. The Yachats Ladies Club has become known for their pies and annual Pie and Ice Cream Socials. We thank all the pie makers and kitchen helpers for sustaining this noteworthy reputation.
The club published cookbooks in 1986 and 2007. This is the first cookbook dedicated to pies only. Several recipes from past cookbooks have been incorporated into this book.
Time takes its toll and members come and go. We can no longer sustain the effort it takes to hold a pie and ice cream social. For a while we baked and sold whole pies several times a year. That also became too burdensome so now we sell delicious baked goods at our Crafts Bazaars including a wide variety of 5 inch mini-pies. Same delectable pies, just smaller. Enjoy!
