It Was a Faire Week

Another year, and another Oregon Country Faire has come and gone. I never get tired of my favorite art, music and food extravaganza every July on the banks of the Long Tom River, but this year was special because I got to camp out overnight for the first time as a volunteer. I even got my partner to dress up in a lime green polyester leisure suit to celebrate the occasion.

(Photo by Marc Bugbey)

Corey inducted me into the motley crew of traffic camp, and for the mere service of standing in the middle of an intersection in my fabulous lime green costume and directing cars full of Faire-goers (stopping traffic is a favorite pastime), I got the privilege of going into the Faire after hours, which was a whole lot of fun.

 As always, one of my favorite parts of Faire were the creative costumes people came up with. My daughter and her best friend dressed up as split personas of the superhero, Ace, and their friend wore one of my old vintage dresses I had handed down to her mom a few years back.

I’m not really sure what my son was supposed to be, but it involved a top hat, blonde wig and a mask. Villain? Masked Avenger? We will never know.

Some folks dressed up as loud as they could, in bold, day-glo fabulousness.

 (Photo by Marc Bugbey)

And some folks, just dressed down. Raccoon man has become an annual sighting at the Faire, and made his appearance right on cue as we were pondering his whereabouts.

Super Botany Woman even made an appearance this year. (Look like a mountain woman we all know?)

She arrived just in time to save the day with her powers of taxonomy, and bring peace and prosperity through the hierarchy of vascular plants to the citizens of Chela Mela Meadow.

It was a lot of work having that much fun for that many days, so after
my first full 5-day Country Faire experience, I’d had about all the fun
a person could have, dressed up in all the costumes I could handle and was ready to head back to the homestead. So, with three clicks of our heels, we were headed back upriver in the Subaru.

There’s no place like Faire, and there’s no place like home.