Maddy McKee of Calliope Circus greets visitors as they enter the Oregon Country Fair on July 13 2024. Video still frame by Brooke Herbert.
Brooke Herbert / OPB
At the Oregon Country Fair, there are fairies and gnomes walking around in colorful costumes. A 40-person marching band also bursts out of nowhere and plays down a path.
“Feels like you stepped into a wonderland or something magical,” one fairgoer told OPB in 2024.
The fair grew out of a 1960s vision of a better world: a paradise for hippies. But the history of the fair is complex. It takes place on a native ancestral gathering site.
“I think there’s a part of hippie culture that thinks that they can take any culture from any part of the world and make whatever they want of it,” said David Lewis, PhD, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Indigenous Studies at Oregon State University and a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
In this week’s episode, we sit down with OPB’s Oregon Art Beat producer Eric Slade and freelance producer Kunu Bearchum to talk about the Oregon Country Fair and how it houses hundreds of artists every year — and its history, from hippies to Native belonging.
Since 1969, the Oregon Country Fair has been a tradition in Oregon. Read OPB’s five-part look at the fair’s history, art, environmentalism, music and overall unique legacy. Watch the full documentary “The Oregon Country Fair: Magic in the Woods” on our YouTube channel.
Listen to all episodes of The Evergreen podcast here.