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The Oregon Country Fair is an event that started in 1969, and continued as an annual event up until 2020, when COVID shut down mass gatherings. After a two year hiatus, it took place again this year over the weekend of July 8-10, in the town of Veneta, OR, just west of Eugene. It’s a fair that features hippie culture and priorities. Entertainment features a diverse array of musical genres (we heard reggae, klezmer, Zimbabwean marimba music, latino, and other genres), as well as acrobatics and juggling (under the influence of the Flying Karamazov Brothers). However, attendees often make for unscheduled entertainment by dressing in attention-getting, outrageous costumes. Those see-through harem pants with the belt full of bangles? The tie-dyed sarong? The spangled disco shorts? That wedding dress you have hanging in your closet? Wear any of these, and you’d fit right in. (A Utilikilt, at this point, is considered pretty tame in this environment.) I’ve been to a handful of these fairs in previous years, going back to 1992, but this was our first visit in over a decade.
Each day of the fair started with the resident marching band parading though the fair grounds. This is the Fighting Instruments of Karma Marching Band:
Unfortunately, I missed the jugglers who precede the band in the video, but I have a still.
Much more below the fold...
The paths are lined with booths selling wares of various sorts: clothing, food and drink, art, etc. (I bought hand-made toys for my great nieces and nephew, including a pair of wings for the 6-year-old.) But you never know who or what you might encounter as you walk on these paths…
A parade of people dressed in lime green.
...or would you prefer pink?
How about dragonflies and daisies?
Then there was this:
The young woman in a very tall hat:
The big bad wolf:
I didn’t video-record any performances (save the ones above) so as not to violate the fair policy, but I did take some photos. One performance that is always must-see is the Royal Famille du Caniveaux (Translation: the royal family of the gutters—it sounds much more sophisticated in French). Their shows are generally wildly imaginative pastiches of funny nonsense, and they always come up with a surprising visual trick of some kind. This year, it was simulating a Zoom meeting with real live people (and, yes, they threw in a mute error and a freeze). Still not quite sure how they pulled this off.
Royal Famille du Canveaux
Just one additional photo from their performance to demonstrate how odd they can get:
Royal Famille du Canveaux
One of our favorite music acts was Julia Chigamba and the Chiyakare Ensemble, playing Zimbabwean marimba music at the dance tent (of course).
Julia Chigamba and the Chiyakare Ensemble
As I mentioned before, a lot of the acts are acrobatic. We saw a performance by a troupe that calls itself Girl Circus. Unfortunately, only one of my shots of their performance was in focus, but we were deeply impressed with the strength and grace displayed in their feats:
Girl Circus
Also, there were a few open areas where kids could run around and people could learn and practice juggling. This event is very kid friendly.
Juggle practice.
Bubbles.
And there was also some arresting environmental art scattered here and there:
We greatly enjoyed our weekend, and reconnected with some great friends of ours. Hope you enjoyed the photos. Comments are below the bubble.
Top Comments (August 18, 2022):
From elfling:
This reply, by TSinSF, to my comment thanking Hunter for using a picture of an egret in his diary (with an egret-related pun) rather than a picture of TFG made my day.
And that’s not just a snowy egret, that’s a great egret. Some say it’s the greatest egret in history. I’ve had important birders say — with tears in their eyes — “sir, that’s the greatest egret, and probably the greatest bird, ever encountered in the history of birds.”
From ericlewis0:
Two comments from ericlewis0’s diary today, this comment from FiredUpInCA, and Glen The Plumber’s funny response.
From Denise Oliver Velez:
This comment by AVeng in my Panama canal diary explores in depth similar exploitation of Indian laborers and segregation of imported labor by race/ethnicity under British colonial rule.
Top Mojo (August 17, 2022):
Top Mojo is courtesy of mik! Click here for more on how Top Mojo works.
Top Photos (August 17, 2022):
Thanks to jotter (RIP) for creating it and elfling for restoring it.
