Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of Figures
- Introduction: Art, Environment and Metaphor
- 1 Environmental Activism, Arts and the Land of Eden Landscape One: High Desert Basin and Range
- Landscape One High Desert Basin and Range
- Landscape Two Columbia Gorge and Plateau
- Landscape Three Cascade Range
- Landscape Four The Willamette Valley
- Landscape Five Rogue River Valley
- Landscape Six Oregon Coast and Coast Range
- Index
9 - Eugene and the Oregon Country Fair
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2023
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of Figures
- Introduction: Art, Environment and Metaphor
- 1 Environmental Activism, Arts and the Land of Eden Landscape One: High Desert Basin and Range
- Landscape One High Desert Basin and Range
- Landscape Two Columbia Gorge and Plateau
- Landscape Three Cascade Range
- Landscape Four The Willamette Valley
- Landscape Five Rogue River Valley
- Landscape Six Oregon Coast and Coast Range
- Index
Summary
The Country Fair channels the communal, carnivalesque spirit of the Age of Aquarius, but over the years it has evolved and developed into something a bit more mainstream, a bit less narcotic and yet an event unique unto itself: a distinctly Northwest dream of utopia, a self-sustaining alternative village gripped by a kind of kaleidoscopic Renaissance spirit, where folks give free reign to their artsy-craftsy eccentric selves. The Fair, in this sense, is not only kid-friendly; it brings out the kid in us all—playful, awestruck, devious, voracious, a bit dirty behind the ears and full of boundless curiosity.
Eugene WeeklyOregon State and Lane County Fairs
The Oregon Country Fair is often described as a new cultural event of the late twentieth century. Yet as historian Lila Perl notes, “In their oldest and simplest form, fairs were a means of bringing people together to trade, by bartering or by buying and selling. Commerce and communication sprang from the primitive fairs of prehistory.” Fairs have been a way of life in the United States since King George II advocated in 1745 that the town of Trenton, New Jersey, hold one to promote its agricultural products. In fact, beginning in 1860, the big event in the life of those living in Oregon was the State Fair sponsored by the Oregon State Agricultural Society and held in Salem, the capital city. The art-rich Oregon Country Fair is a reflection not only of this centuries-old fair tradition but integrates a specific aesthetic twist and focus on sustainability that has been integral to the cultural history of Eugene.
In the late nineteenth century, families traveled by wagon and train to the Oregon State Fair for the opportunity to spend a week camping outside the State Fair's grounds and visiting with distant friends and relatives. “Fair-goers carried with them everything they would need for the entire week of camping. Flour, sugar, rice, coffee, with dried fruit for pies and home-made jams and jellies, home-based bread, fried and roasted chickens, baked ham, cakes and always the big coffee pot and the syrup keg.” Participation at early State Fairs was based on gender. Men visited farm and stock exhibits, machine sheds and farm equipment and later in the day the race track.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Artists Activating SustainabilityThe Oregon Story, pp. 149 - 162Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2022