Krista Bingham

Published 5:00 pm Tuesday, August 31, 2010

When you first meet Krista Bingham, proprietor of the popular Serendipity Cafe in downtown Warrenton, things that might immediately strike you about her include her intelligence, her calm, level gaze, and her genuine interest in other people.

In a few short moments before our interview, Bingham excused herself from a friendly conversation with a table full of customers (members of the local fire department), then walked behind the counter and began joking in Spanish with a staff member as she grabbed a cup of coffee.

Bingham is a respected member of the community here and not just for her work at the cafe. She’s equally well known in Warrenton for her efforts in the emergency services realm, as an EMT and firefighter on call with the city’s fire department. And that’s not counting her community service in the business realm locally.

She moved to Warrenton from Sacramento, Calif., in 2002, but Bingham’s roots in the state and community go way back. She’s a native Oregonian, born and raised in Oregon City. Her parents lived in Warrenton for many years while her dad was police chief and he also served in the fire department.

Bingham had a career in the hotel and restaurant industry in California that took her around the country. She spent time in Arizona and Mexico and learned Spanish there.

In the course of her career, Bingham also got involved in 911 dispatch work, partly because, she said, being tied solely to a desk job would bore her silly. With her broad range of skills she moved to Warrenton expecting to find work quickly, but it took her about nine months to find a job that paid more than minimum wage. She ultimately opened the cafe as a way to make a living that fit her lifestyle needs. But first she did her homework.

Pointing to the street outside the cafe, Bingham described some her research methods, as she tried to determine whether her business idea would work.

“I sat out there and counted cars for a week and then counted restaurants – I’m sure they [other residents] thought I was a stalker,” she said, smiling.

She ultimately decided there was a need for a local cafe, and opened Serendipity across the street from its present location. Later as demand grew, she moved into her current space, a former bank building, where the eatery has become a permanent fixture in the landscape of downtown Warrenton.

Putting her emergency experience to good use, Bingham became an emergency medical technician (EMT) and joined the Warrenton Fire Department. She spent six months taking firefighter training there, thinking in the back of her mind that she would likely never use it. Bingham was surprised to find that house fires happen frequently in the area, and she is often called out on a moment’s notice to handle such emergencies.

Emergency work is not for the faint of heart. How does Bingham handle situations that would make many people want to run and hide, or faint?

“You do the best you can for people and that’s all you can do,” she said resolutely. Her pragmatic approach means she can keep going out there doing this challenging work, helping citizens in need.

Bingham’s commitment to family is reflected in her approach to meals at home. She doesn’t open the restaurant for dinner because she believes that her family, including husband David Yuill and four kids, should sit down and eat together every day. She grew up in a family of seven children, and Bingham has fond memories of dinnertime and its importance.

“My mother would ask each of us about our day,” she said. “She’d ask us ‘what would you do differently tomorrow?'”

Bingham is also very active in the Warrenton business community, and is now host of a weekly radio show on KAST 1370 AM, called “What’s Happening in Warrenton?” The show airs twice on Fridays: 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m., and 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

She credits her ability to handle such a busy life with the network of support around her, including her family, loyal cafe staff and fire department kin.

Bingham said the restaurant and community service realms sometimes intersect out in the field, when she goes on a fire or rescue call and realizes the victim is a regular customer in crisis. At times like that, she’s exceptionally glad to be able to offer comfort to people trying to get through an emergency.

“When you’re having a heart attack, the scariest moment of your life,” she said as an example, “it’s good to see a familiar face.”