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6 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2025 I grew up in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, which I still call home. In my early years, the region's econ- omy was fueled by forestry, agriculture, and fish- eries. Tektronix ruled the economic landscape, of course, and Nike was just emerging from the Uni- versity of Oregon track and field program. Intel wouldn't remake my hometown of Hillsboro, Ore- gon, for a few more years, so my upbringing was mostly farmland and fishing boats. My dad worked at Tektronix with a side gig operating a commercial fishing boat in the summer. In the early ʼ70s, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was filmed in Oregon, and a scene where N O L A N 'S N OT ES Finding Your Sweet Spot by Nolan J ohnson, I-C onne ct0 07 the inmates at the mental hospital go AWOL for a day of fishing was filmed in Depoe Bay. This tiny, picturesque town, not much more than a pass- through on Oregon's two-lane Highway 101, also has another claim to fame: the world's smallest nat- ural harbor. While my dad's usual fishing base of operations was north, about 30 miles, if the salmon were biting down that way, he would trailer the boat, and we'd fish from the harbor in Depoe Bay. When I was around 10 years old, fishing was an adventure, but the days were grueling. As you might expect, I quite anticipated a visit to one of the taffy shops in town. There, the sticky candy was made on worktables aptly sta- tioned in full display in the store's large windows, where anyone walking by could stop and watch. When you walked inside the store, you instantly were hit with the sweet aroma, and a child's eyes like mine bulged out at the rows and rows of candy, ready for anyone to reach in and grab. Candy was sold by the pound, and with the available white paper sacks, it was easy to fill them up with all your favorite flavors. The store didn't sell any- thing else and it didn't need to. It had found the exact formula to its success. My visits to Depoe Bay simply weren't complete without a bag of taffy on the bench seat as we drove out of town, my dad and I taking turns scrab- bling around in the bag to find our favorite flavors. The taffy shop is still there, almost entirely unchanged in all my years. Sometimes, when you find a niche that works, you just stick with it. Taffy is a staple in Depoe Bay and remains so today. But in Hillsboro, where I grew up, it has completely transformed from