looking for information about oregon county fair

[Matt Derrick]

folks have mentioned the oregon county fair here and there (and i had an ex that told me a bit about it) but i thought i'd pitch it to the StP audience and see if anyone knows more information about this event? is this something travelers go to? should i add it to our events list? I've heard some good things about it but i don't have any details.

 

[Deleted member 16034]

Honestly some travelers do but it's a hardcore hippie sort of drainbo thing. I had fun the one time I went there and they did sell gluten free pot brownies. It's not awful and they do have actual camps there. But like I said, it's very much geared towards hippies

 

[Odin]

This was a long time ago but When I was in Cali... I went to somekinda country fair in or near GrassValley. I recall it the same mix of hippie type and country/small farm.

I also saw a gigantic hog with balls bigger than a football... and drank craft beers for the firsttime/strawberry wheat. So those were
plus.

Honestly don't see it as a place to get stupid sidewalk slam drunk and raise hell and fuckery like when we were new kids wanting to break shit.

It' is fun if your looking for a nice old school way of spending a day. I always wanted to go to one back then, seeing as read Laura ingles Wilders, "Farmer Boy" and believed I was a bit of an Almonzo lol...

I don't see why it wouldn't be something to post on STP... variety and all

 

[Matt Derrick]

Honestly some travelers do but it's a hardcore hippie sort of drainbo thing. I had fun the one time I went there and they did sell gluten free pot brownies. It's not awful and they do have actual camps there. But like I said, it's very much geared towards hippies

yeah my ex that talked about it was definitely a big hippie. i just heard the real party is at night with the camps and whatnot.

 

[benton]

Is this the Country Fair just west of Eugene in Veneta?

 

[Matt Derrick]

Is this the Country Fair just west of Eugene in Veneta?

I believe so, yes.

 

[benton]

Oregonians refer to is as "Country Fair."

I haven't been myself. I was in Eugene a few years ago while it was happening. Some people told me it was all corporate compared to years past. That's heresay so ymmv.

I rode a Greyhound with a Eugene local who was traveling to Oregon from Colorado to volunteer at Country Fair. He confirmed what was posted above about the "afterhours" parties and whatnot. Merry Prankster type activities perhaps...

 

[roughdraft]

I was with some kids from Douglas County when i was in the Umpqua Valley who told me there are some offspring of the original Pranksters who even keep the original Bus running (their words not mine, only saw a photo of the interior of this Bus) and show up to the Country Fair every year. I also have heard nudity is generally acceptable there, but this too is only second-hand knowledge.

in any case I wouldn't be surprised if it was still pretty awesome, there seem to always be folk talking about how thisandthat festival used to be so much better

 

[benton]

Word. I always take those reports with a grain of salt.

I would have gone if I could have gotten on as a volunteer. Otherwise I wasn't trying to pay the money.

 

[RottonCotton]

Your 100% correct and by REAL hippies

Honestly some travelers do but it's a hardcore hippie sort of drainbo thing. I had fun the one time I went there and they did sell gluten free pot brownies. It's not awful and they do have actual camps there. But like I said, it's very much geared towards hippies

 

[danjo]

Country fair is cool. its only about 20 bucks a day, but def still possible to sneak in and a lot of friendly people to hitch from. I just made myself blend in and slipped by the gate keeper. During the day it is packed with humans which can be pretty annoying. Trash can scores are gold though. The festival actually promotes busking, and I made up a decent fund that way. Pro tip if you busk next to the kids area they get all sortsa stoked on you and make their parents give you money. It actually kind of seemed like parents will pull out dollars in advance specifically for their kids to give to buskers. At around 7pm they do 'the sweep' which is a nola stylie jazz parade where a bunch of peeps with brooms sweep out people who payed for day passes. They're pretty ruthless about it. At night the bands come back and perform. The workers describe it as a festival run by and for volunteers. Its a shit show. I think the only reason they allow people to come during the day is to take their munnny. Merry pranqster vibes are heavily present.

 

[BrianC503]

i know the fool who does the asian inspired food there.

 

[bjorkedfork]

The real country happens after hours in the camps. The rest is just a fundraiser open to the public masses...

/jk. I have friends who are in various camps and crews at the Oregon Country Fair. Internally, there is a lot of politics and drams between two factions regarding the direction and focus of the event. Most are afraid of it eventually becoming a kind of burning man event with high prices and limited accessibility. In past years there has been a lot of monitoring of the event by law enforcement mainly for drug use.

Very much a hippie themed event

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Country_Fair

Is it worth going to?

Sure, lots of vendor trash, topless woman, organic and ethnic food, skits and performances, multiple music stages of largely no name or local talent, networking potential with other like minded folk, arts and crafts, and environmental/sustainability displays, and cool structures/sculptures/art forms.

The Oregon Country Fair has always been 420 friendly with mushroom and acid tripping going on but the official stance is that it is not permitted and law enforcement have been present to enforce law at the gates in the past.

Patrons to the Oregon County Fair is all over the map in terms of demographics.

 

[jimi]

I haven't been terribly impressed, though I would give it another shot if I didn't have to pay for it. I've heard a lot about how it can be /so good/ after hours if you find the right spot to camp, which I'm sure is true, but I dunno, I cetainly didn't find that spot. I've been twice, once as a guest during the day and once as a worker and spent the night on grounds, and it seemed more like a "wook/hippie convention: than a cool place for travelers. Like, a lot of yuppies and families come to dress up and behave like hippies for one weekend and do drugs and throw money around, and some people are into that. The daytime is expensive and crowded. I ended up choosing to stay at my booth handing out snow cones for most of the day even when I could have been walking around. A lot of the locals here are burnt out on it and I mostly hear griping about how it is going downhill. You can probably have a lot of fun if you snag a cool job, are busking, are trippin face, or have cooler friends or better luck than me. The structures there are incredible, there's a lot of history, and the concept is pretty damn neat. I probably just love to hate on this kind of stuff, but that's my take.