The Oregon Country Fair

This festival is called The Oregon Country Fair located outside of Eugene, Oregon. It is nothing like the name makes it sound. It is not a fair in the sense of a County or State fair, but more in the general sense of a fair. And the “Country” part of the name has nothing more to do with the fact that is located in the country and doesn’t reflect the type of music.

It is, as most festivals are, a place of the bizarre, and this festival takes bizarre to new level, all while maintaining a “family-friendly” atmosphere. It has been going on for 42 years, and just as all festivals with a long history, it has been modernized with all the amenities required to maintain ~45,000 people who will attend within the 3 days.

We only made a day trip, to check it out. It was a very interesting experience. Definitely something we would like to attend again. The festival ground was really cool, with the hundreds (probably 500) vendors selling every strange item you can imagine, within a labyrinth of elaborate permanent wooden market booths, giving the feeling as if you were meandering through a medieval bazaar. A fantastic display of interesting things, strange people, crazy art, and bizarre culture, all within an intricate weird wonderland (similar to that that Alice found herself in).


Oh yeah, the entertainment... There were 20 “stages” showcasing a vast array of “talents” from every possible area of the spectrum, such as: one-man bands, puppetshows, acting troupes, choirs, clowns, comedians, marching bands, dancers, actual bands, jugglers, belly dancers, gymnasts, etc, etc. And let’s not forget the random aspiring freelancing toss-a-dollar-in-my-cap musicians, the shamans, the hippies, the clowns on stilts (freaked me out a bit), the drum circles, the hulla-hoopers, the street performers, the quacks, the healers, the tarot readers, the endless variety of costumes, the trippers, the tweakers, the candlestick makers! All of this, calmly coexisting for 3 days, in place that is out of this world.

We saw many interesting things and several bands that were really good. It was fun.