So many features of the Oregon Country Fair set it apart from what you may envision for a festival. One scene that encapsulates its differences: the marching band.

Twice a day, a 40-piece band (named the Fighting Instruments of Karma Marching Chamber Band/Orchestra) parades down the dusty paths of the fair, performing off-beat interpretations of John Philip Sousa classics, along with their own original tunes.

Like so many things in this 56-year-old counterculture celebration of the arts, the marching band has become a fair institution, and helps create its annual fairyland splendor each July.

The Oregon Country Fair takes place in Veneta on July 11-13 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information, visit oregoncountryfair.org.

Here are five more things that help give the fair its distinctive twist.

1. How it all works, by the numbers

100+: ambiance entertainment performers who wander the fair, helping create unexpected fun.

11: full-time staff. They work year-round doing marketing, event production and site management.

10,000 (approximately): volunteers who do most of the work to make the fair happen, serving on more than 60 crews like Water, Path Planning, Craft Inventory and Security. Some crews, like Security and Traffic, are as large as 400 people. Others such as Banners and Signs are as small as four.

23 tons: amount of landfill created at the fair in 2024.

30 tons: amount of compost created from fair waste in 2024. The Recycling Crew hand sorts and processes all that compost on-site.

1969: the year the fair began.

2. History

The Chela Mela band of the Kalapuya people lived and harvested food over 4,000 years ago in the area where the fair now takes place. Kalapuyan people still live in Oregon and are mostly enrolled in the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and Confederated Tribe of Siletz Indians.

The very first fair was a fundraiser for an alternative school called Children’s House. They raised enough money to help keep it going for a while longer.

In 1969 and 1970, people had such a good time that the fair happened twice a year.

In 1982, working with Ken Kesey (celebrated author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion), the fair convinced the Grateful Dead to play a benefit concert on the fair site. The money they raised helped the fair purchase the land that it’s on today.

Listen to Oregon Country Fair documentary and Oregon Art Beat producer Eric Slade discuss the fair with OPB “Weekend Edition” host Lillian Karabaic:

3. Food

There are more than 80 food booths at the fair, serving nearly any kind of cuisine you can imagine. (But you won’t find a beer garden; the fair is officially a drug and alcohol-free event for all ages).

In 2023 Saman Hansongkram was about to retire his booth Bangkok Grill, after 37 years. But his son Richard decided to take it over, to keep the legacy going.

The Springfield Creamery (maker of Nancy’s Yogurt) only sells ice cream once a year, at the fair – they don’t serve it anywhere else. They’ve been offering their dairy delicacies at the fair since 1972.

4. Performers

There are 17 stages, scattered throughout the fair, hosting music, spoken word, theatre and vaudeville. Each year the fair books nearly 200 musicians (plus jugglers, poets, dancers and more) to help fill those stages.

The Flying Karamazov Brothers started juggling at the fair in 1972. They went on to have five hit Broadway shows and a run at Lincoln Center. Founding member Paul Magid still returns to the fair each year to juggle.

The California Honeydrops (who’ve toured with Bonnie Raitt and B.B. King) say the Oregon Country Fair is their favorite place in the world to play. (And they play a lot of places).

John Mambira’s band first played the fair in 2009. He liked it so much he moved from Zimbabwe to Oregon.

5. Crafts

There are over 250 craft booths at the fair. Crafters go through a rigorous jury process and can only sell handmade or hand-gathered work. And the person who made the crafts – they’ll be right there in the booth to tell you all about it.

Elaine Falbo-Lowe makes tiny fairy furniture out of twigs, leaves and dried flowers. She’s been selling them at the fair since the early 80s.

Suzi Prozanski has written two 400+ page books on the history of the fair. They are: Fruit of the Sixties: The Founding of the Oregon Country Fair and Brigadoon of the Sixties: Revelry & Kerfuffles at the Oregon Country Fair. Prozanski has many more stories to tell – she’s even considered a third book.

Marcy Middleton helped start the Eugene Native American Arts & Crafts Market in 2013. Last year she worked with the fair to create the Native American Craft Market space, gathering seven Native artists together in one area at the fair for the first time.

The Oregon Country Fair is happening July 11-13 near Veneta, Oregon (about 12 miles west of Eugene). To find out more, head over to oregoncountryfair.org

This story was written and reported by Eric Slade, edited by Jessica Martin and digitally produced by Meagan Cuthill, with photos by Eric Slade, Jeff Kastner, Brooke Herbert and Dan Evans.

Since 1969, the Oregon Country Fair has been a tradition in Oregon. This week, OPB presents a five-part look at the fair’s history, art, environmentalism, music and overall unique legacy.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/06/27/oregon-country-fair-documentary/