NORTH BEND — What does the South Coast mean to you?

That’s the question Coos County residents are invited to answer through June 13 for the South Coast Stories — a collection of poems, photographs, illustrations and tales of the region. For those who’ve already submitted work for the project, the answer is a furious storm caught on camera or birds at Simpson Beach on a June morning.

To Oregon transplant Jon Guss, an Americorps volunteer who is facilitating the effort, his impression of the South Coast is tied to a few quintessential moments, such as during an October hike from Elk Creek Fall to Big Tree.

“I had reached the top of the ridge and I was breathing hard and there was a steady rain,” the East Coast native recalled. “Observing the walls of old growth that were surrounding me I thought, ‘this is a bit different.’”

The collection eventually will be displayed at the Coos Bay Public Library and potentially other library sites, also at the Coos Historical & Maritime Museum, where Guss works.

Guss said he won a $500 grant from the Coos County Cultural Coalition to put the project together.

He was inspired to gather locals’ stories while participating in meetings for Oregon’s sesquicentennial celebrations. While it is a nod to a similar statewide Web-based effort for Oregon 150, South Coast stories is exactly what its name implies.

“The idea was really to create a forum where different people could use different mediums to express what their local community or the area itself means to them,” Guss said.

Early submissions have included drawings, poems, short stories and photos. Most focused on authors and photographers’ connections to the Bay Area, including areas known for their natural beauty, or to a favored establishment.

One entry has already come from Coos Bay resident Jerry Baron, a former editor and publisher for The World.

While a reporter at the paper, Baron photographed the raging Columbus Day Storm on Oct. 12, 1962 in Charleston.

“It was the biggest storm to ever hit Oregon,” Baron said. “It blew down trees, tore off the roof of the Port Orford School.”

He said he chose it for submission because older people in the area will likely recognize it.

Luke Parrish, a creative writing teacher at Marshfield High School, submitted a poem about Stan McSwain, a former owner of the Egyptian Theatre.

“The Egyptian was the pyramid, of the Valley of the King, of the Kernel, the Popcorn King, of the man, and the movie marquee,” Parrish wrote of McSwain. “One day a stroke felled him. He died, and new money came to the Egyptian, but it’s still the Kernel’s pyramid to me.”

The deadline to enter is June 13. Guss emphasized that South Coast Stories is not a contest. Selections will instead focus on creating a diverse display. He said he’d like entries to come from a variety of age groups, as well as skill levels.

Coos Bay Library Director Carol Ventgen said she’s looking forward to seeing the exhibit at her library because it would be a natural fit.

“A public library is a keeper of local history,” she said. “I think that we have a shared story of who we are as Coos County, what we are.”

Once the display is up, Guss said he hopes viewers will appreciate the various ways their friends and neighbors responded.

“That might provoke people to think about different ways that this community defines itself,” he said.