GORGE LOCAL - IN BUSINESS

Confluence Café creates community space in Lyle

Story by Laurel Brown

Paige Munyan at work crafting an espresso drink at Confluence Cafe Photo by: Kelly Turso

Community is created through local connection and shared spaces, but what do neighborhoods without the opportunity to gather do to mingle? Lyle is a town residents might consider limiting in this way, lacking in spaces to gather and create friendships.
Ali Hamerstadt and Matt Bynum are here to change that. Together they collaborated to open Confluence Café just off SR-14 in Lyle on Nov. 17.
“The café was born of a need. Ali was bummed that she had to drive so far for a good cup of coffee,” Bynum said.
On her treks to get caffeine, Hamerstadt would pass the tenantless building where the café now resides, wondering day after day if she should do something about it. Her vision for the café went through many iterations, but serious planning started in early 2021.
By the end of 2023, the co-owners were excited to rent their space from owners Mary Kleihege and John Streur, who remodeled shortly after buying the building. Bynum described the space as the single most beautiful location in the Gorge that is open to the public. They split the main floor of the building with Domaine Pouillon’s new tasting room.
Featuring natural wood from Kleihege and Streur’s farm, the café has a grandiose yet minimalist feel. They attained the wood through wildfire risk reduction work and chose to reuse it for everything from tables to counters to trim and paneling.
The wooden floors and deck were strategically laid to draw viewers’ eyes down to the Gorge and the sunset. The railings and table bases, too, are work of Future Folk Supply, a metal company in Parkdale.
With countless windows and great natural light, Confluence Café is a great birdwatching destination. Bald eagles, golden eagles, and all sorts of water fowl circle the building and binoculars sit atop Pacific Northwest birdwatching books for customers.
Hamerstadt’s goal for the café really involved providing a public gathering space for Lyle, which is a key cultural cornerstone of any community. “There’s a reason the right to assemble is in our Constitution, and we need a place to do that,” Bynum said.
Simply put, Lyle was lacking a gathering space; the community was in need of a place for neighbors to meet and hang out. “Too often I meet people and the conversation goes, ‘You live in Lyle too?’ because you’d just never know. I wanted to fix that,” Hamerstadt said.
Together Hamerstadt and Bynum have a combined history of 50 years in front of house service all over the nation, so they feel well-equipped to provide a warm and welcoming space to their neighborhood. Seeing worldly faces and younger generations alike frequenting the café instills nostalgia for the pair.
Customers are a generous mix of people from all over the Gorge: Hood River, White Salmon, to High Prairie, Appleton, and Murdock. Confluence Café is just the beginning of fostering sense of pride and ownership for the Lyle neighborhood.
Their menu offers a variety of local delights and visitors often praise the quality of their product. Confluence uses coffee roasted by Coava in Portland and offers housemade pastries and breakfast sandwiches, such as the Confluence Muffin. They also have pastries from White Salmon Bakery and Edeske Patisserie as well as burritos from Min’s, made-to-order food from a local in Husum.
Hamerstadt herself spent many years working at White Salmon Bakery and uses their high-quality products and community-building energy as a model for Confluence Café. “I hope that we can create something similar to the bakery, something that’s its own little community with regulars who use the space for connection,” said Hamerstadt.
Looking ahead, they have plans to get more engaged with the community and be good neighbors for the folks in the area. “We intend to be in Lyle for a very, very long time,” Bynum said. For example, their proximity to the sandbar lends a common interest in what happens with it and Bynum mentioned possibly sponsoring a public sandbar cleanup.
The couple feels encouraged since their opening, especially choosing to open during the slower winter months and see what locals like and where the café might need attention. They said they are learning the ropes of both busy and slow days in preparation for spring and summer.
For the time being, Confluence Café welcomes the community and those passing through alike, Wednesday through Monday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Pastries, muffins, and burritos are available for purchase at the cafe. Photo by Laurel Brown