The Oregon Country Fair feels like stepping into a storybook or back in time. For three days, an enchanted village materializes in the forest, setting the scene for the most unique festival in Oregon.
Craftspeople peddle their wares from treehouse-like booths lining a woodland pathway. Five people sit in a semicircle learning how to weave baskets from tule reeds. A band of brass musicians strikes up a tune at the edge of a meadow. Fairgoers drop off cell phones at a charging station powered by a solar panel. A guy in a wide-brimmed hat plays a grand piano under a maple tree, while nearby a father and son play chess at a giant chessboard. A dragon with human legs walks by. The smell of fresh-baked cookies wafts over from a baker’s stand. Fair staff greet visitors with a simple “Welcome home.”
This was the first time at the Oregon Country Fair for Bryan and me. Needless to say, it was totally bizarre, a sort of feast for the imagination. We’ll definitely be back.
In this post I’ll share the highlights and tips to help other Oregon Country Fair first-timers. I’d love to have a video to share with you, but video cameras aren’t allowed at the fair. I’ll do my best to bring it to life with photos and words.
The Oregon Country Fair in a Nutshell
We first heard of the Oregon Country Fair from the bartender at a friend’s wedding four years ago. On hearing the name, a typical state fair surfaced in my memory—there might be fried candy bars, a Ferris wheel, and perhaps…rabbits. She clarified that no, the Oregon Country Fair was more like the Burning Man of Oregon.
I would say the latter is probably closer, but after attending the Oregon Country Fair, I think it’s something entirely its own.
The Oregon Country Fair has been an annual festival since 1969, but due to the pandemic the 2020 and 2021 events were canceled. In 2022, we were excited to check it out.
Place-Making at the Oregon Country Fair
The place-making at the Oregon Country Fair fascinated me the most. A veritable fairytale village springs to life in the forest. The village has winding pathway streets that are even named. Wooden sign posts mark whimsical lanes like “Sun Path” and “Moon Path” alongside the totally standard “East 13th.”
Along the streets, wooden booths form shops for craftspeople, selling everything from handmade leather journals to surreal paintings to fairy figurines. It’s like Diagon Alley in the forest. Some of the booths are more like treehouses or Ewok towers, with second stories overlooking the village below. One of them resembles a pirate ship, complete with a pirate flag. Another looks like a moss-covered eagle’s head, the beak forming a shady overhang for people to gather.
Now and again a whimsical piece of art materializes along the pathways. We passed five-foot-tall mushrooms, larger-than-life puppets, and an enormous snail whose shell was open on one side to reveal a lounge of cozy mismatched cushions. Parades of costumed people playing instruments or walking on stilts periodically weave through the crowd.
18 stages for music, dance, and other performances are scattered throughout the village. There are puppet shows and jugglers, dancing and yoga, folk songs and rock bands.
There’s even a spa in the middle of the forest, playfully called the Ritz.
It was sunny and in the 80s, but the shade of the Oregon Country Fair’s woodland setting helps with the heat. Now and then there were stations spraying mists of water over the fairgoers. Straw bales kept water bottle refilling stations cold, so we were always able to get fresh chilled water.
With attendance at the Oregon Country Fair estimated at 30,000 people by the fair organizers, I thought it might be hard to find seating, but the village is full of delightfully creative lounge spaces. While wandering the pathways is a must, after several hours I was happy to rest on a bench next to a giant cloth mushroom and take everything in.
Costumes at the Oregon Country Fair
It doesn’t take much imagination to picture fairies wandering through the enchanted village, because the paths are full of plenty of people wearing wings, elaborate headdresses, glittering capes, and just about anything else that can be dreamed up. If you forgot your costume at home and want to join in, there’s face-painting and vendors selling costume pieces.
We were decidedly not up to speed on the costume front, but here’s an example of the creative costumes we sighted at the fair.
Music at the Oregon Country Fair
Bryan is a music aficionado, so he was quick to study the fair’s musical calendar. His music list guided our wanderings through the fair village. We navigated from stage to stage with the newspaper-sized fair map, taking in all the sights in between.
Crafts at the Oregon Country Fair
I took a break from the music to attend one of the Oregon Country Fair’s craft workshops. I spent an hour or two learning to weave a basket from a woman whose tribe has woven baskets for centuries. It felt very special to be able to learn from her and to visit with her and the other fairgoers.
Other craft workshops included shell bead-making, natural dyes, and…making paper out of peach pits! The fair mascot seems to be a peach, though I couldn’t find any clues about the history. Let us know in the comments if you know the reason!
Food at the Oregon Country Fair
There were food vendors galore at the Oregon Country Fair, but most of them were accompanied by enormous lines of customers. Next time I’ll be more patient, but this time around we opted for the few vendors with no line or a minimal line…and I suspect there’s a reason for the long lines at the other vendors! We did have some delicious cookies from the Phoenix Rising booth.
If you’d also rather not wait in line for food, outside food is allowed, so you’re welcome to bring in snacks. The fair organizers just asked that people not bring in glass containers, alcohol, or drugs. I had forgotten about the glass rule, so I brought an enormous glass container of raspberries we’d picked from the garden. We’ve never eaten so many raspberries at once as we did in the parking lot!
History of the Oregon Country Fair
One of the lounges had a delightful series of timelines telling the fair’s history. It turns out that the precursor to the Oregon Country Fair as we know it was a Renaissance Fair held all the way back in 1969 as a school fundraiser! That year the fair was in Eugene, but beginning the very next year, the fair was held at the same place it is today.
The fair’s focus on sustainability goes all the way back to these roots. In the 1970s, recycling efforts were rolled out and solar water heating was introduced.
In the 1980s, the Oregon Country Fair became an official non-profit and purchased the land, which they had previously been leasing. The state had planned to build a highway through the land, but they changed plans when archaeological remains from the Kalapuya tribe were found on site.
Tips for Your Visit to the Oregon Country Fair
Getting There
The Oregon Country Fair is in Veneta, Oregon, which is near Eugene. We drove this year because we’re still avoiding indoor group situations in light of COVID, but the fair organized shuttle bus service from Veneta and Eugene that we would otherwise have used.
I’d recommend arriving a little early. We went on two of the three days (Friday and Saturday). The first day we arrived around the opening time, 11am, and found the traffic to be pretty backed up at the entrance. The second day we arrived about 30 minutes early and got in much more easily. The parking area is in huge fields near the fair entrance, and it takes 20-30 minutes to park and walk over to the entrance anyway.
If you drive, I’d recommend saving your parking location on your phone so you can find your car! It would definitely be a needle-in-a-haystack situation otherwise.
What to Bring to the Oregon Country Fair
I’d recommend bringing a water bottle, and snacks if you’d prefer not to wait in line for food. Glass, alcohol, and drugs aren’t allowed. There are water bottle refilling stations throughout the fair, so as long as you have a bottle you’ll be fine.
Sunglasses and sunscreen (or a sun hat and loose-fitting long-sleeved shirt) are also essential. Although a lot of the fair is wooded, there are also meadows with open sun.
Places to Stay near the Oregon Country Fair
Per the historical posters, there were originally challenges between fairgoers and neighbors, since some fairgoers would try to camp illegally on neighboring properties. Since then, efforts have been made to improve relations and many neighbors have opened official campgrounds for Oregon Country Fair attendees, creating a win-win situation.
We’ve heard these campgrounds are a lot of fun (and they’re very close to the fair!). They seemed to be pretty expensive (in the range of $70-100 per person), so we opted for a motel in nearby Junction City instead. The camping pricing sometimes covers multiple nights, so if you’re staying more than one night, it could start to be reasonable on the cost side. The Oregon Country Fair website organizes the camping and other lodging options here.
Sustainability at the Oregon Country Fair
The fair organizers are making a strong effort on the sustainability front. A few highlights:
Waste Reduction
The food vendors all provide metal utensils, which are collected centrally in buckets at the waste stations. The plates and cups are compostable.
Emissions Reduction
The fair organizers have set up bus shuttles from Veneta and Eugene and charge $15/day for parking to reduce vehicle travel. There’s a lot of solar in use throughout the festival to power the event. More broadly, per the fair history posters provided on site, in 2019 the Oregon Country Fair established a goal of carbon neutrality by 2025!
Other Adventures in the Pacific Northwest
Thanks for joining us at the Oregon Country Fair! As everyone kept saying, “Happy fair!”
For more adventure ideas in the Pacific Northwest, check out our PNW Trip Planner. You can find adventures near you and filter by season and difficulty level. There are weird and wonderful things to explore any time of year. The trip planner links to blog posts to help you plan your next adventure.
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