Oregon Country Fair

The Oregon Country Fair (OCF), which occurred last weekend, was the 40th incarnation of this annual gathering of the tribes. The first fair in 1969 was a benefit for an alternative school and held a few months after Woodstock. It has been held every year since. Fairgoers say it is a “psycho-spiritual rejuvenation” which “nourishes the spirit, exploring living artfully and authentically on earth, and transforming culture in magical, joyous and healthy ways.” Each year the OCF gets bigger and has evolved to become an accepted and anticipated community event in the rural town of Veneta, Oregon (15 miles west of Eugene.)

An excellent new book was published just in time for this year’s fair, by a retired newspaper journalist and fair family member. Author Suzi Prozanski’s new book, Fruit of the Sixties, documents the first decade of the OCF and it was selling briskly at this year’s fair. From Prozanski’s web site she states, “The story also features legendary icons of the counterculture, including Oregon author Ken Kesey, the Grateful Dead band, and pioneers of the New Vaudeville movement. These intertwined short stories weave a larger tapestry showing the fair’s substantial contribution to building a West Coast community that embraced an emerging, alternative culture.” I learned a lot of facts and info about the OCF’s first ten years when I was not a part of the festivities.

During the 1970’s, law enforcement and county government tried their best to shut down the event. They passed ordinances demanding large monetary bonds and other undue burdens and demands on organizers to put on the event. The OCF filled a lawsuit in Federal Court and won monetary damages. The OCF used the damages as a down payment on the land that the OCF is currently held on. These five hundred acres are now totally owned outright by the OCF. The OCF features over 500 artists and craftspeople’s booths and over 50 food booths. Everything must be handmade. Along with 17 stages of music and vaudeville, it is too much to take in one day. Many visitors attend for all three days.

I have been fortunate to have been involved in the OCF since 1980. Actually, my first fair was in 1978 when I attended as a day visitor. Since 1980, I have been part of the Nearly Normal’s restaurant food booth at the fair. Normal’s is a world famous vegetarian restaurant in Corvallis, Oregon known for its gonzo cuisine. For many years we served falafels at the fair but at this year’s fair we served the Sunburger which is now available in retail four packs at natural foods stores in Eugene, Salem, Corvallis and soon in Portland.

The people who work the fair, either on a crew, in entertainment or in a craft or food booth, are know as “the fair family.” Within the general fair family, it is broken down even further with smaller sub “families” formed around the booths, crews or entertainers. These are the people who camp at the fair in tents (some in recreational vehicles and campers but most are in tents) which form “neighborhoods.” The Nearly Normal’s neighborhood encompassed 26 tents wall to wall this year.

Outside the OCF grounds, private campgrounds have sprung up on the rural neighboring private property with thousands of people camping there who are day visitors to the fair and are without wristbands allowing overnight camping on the OCF property site.

What is amazing about the fair is that for the three day weekend, combining the day visitors and the campers both on the fairgrounds and on the private campgrounds, it is the sixth largest city in Oregon. Yet unlike the permanent cities, there is hardly any crime. Everybody lives and parties in peace and cooperation despite the population density being more than most cities anywhere.

Usually, the weather is hot (80’s, 90’s and sometimes 100’s). This year it was cloudy and cooler than normal with low 70’s earlier in the week and high 70’s on the first two days of the fair. On Sunday however, something that has rarely happened,  happened… it rained! It poured with lightning and immediate thunder for hours, turning the dry, dust paths into slippery, slimy mud with brown, ankle deep lakes in some low lying areas of the path (like in front of our booth.) Still, 14,000 people had advanced tickets for Sunday and showed up anyway, weather be damned. I was amazed how mainstream people in their nice, casual clothes were getting soaking wet and muddied yet didn’t complain. It was warm enough so nobody was cold but it was still wet and muddy. Everyone took it in stride and even without the usual entertainment all had a great time. Everyone who was there will remember the 40th Oregon Country Fair.

I highly (no pun intended) recommend everybody experience the OCF at least once in their lifetime. Not as wild, with anything goes, like Burning Man but it is truly a magical event. The pictures below only convey a small slice sample of what people call “the fair magic.”

The photos below are “pre-fair” on Wednesday July 8th when only fair family with wristbands can be on the property. Each year it gets more crowded with people “pre-fair.”

The gates have opened and the day visitors are roaming the paths.
The Nearly Normals food booth below is near the entrance of the fiar so it is a 1st stop for many:

A competing burger booth below offering buffalo burgers and a special hemp burger for $13! And it doesn’t even get you a buzz on????

Each day there are numerous parades:

Main stage; just one of the 17 stages of music and vaudeville, with many other smaller stages at food booths:

The sauna and shower area where dusty folks get cleaned up. The hot water is supplied by a wood fired boiler:

A future main stage entertainer:

Most people didn’t mind the mud and some even played in it…

This vid was before the rains came and it was drier…

And for all the Flickr.com photostreams of the 2009 Oregon Country Fair.

Tagged as: Locavore