Celebrating Art, Books, Food and Fashion

If you like art, books, food and fashion, then you should make a trip or two south to Cottage Grove this week. The fun starts at 7:30 pm on Thursday, April 24, with the Cottage Grove Trashion Show, where local models take to the catwalk in outfits fashioned from recycled materials. The Trashion Show — also happening Friday and Saturday nights — started 17 years ago at the Opal Center for Arts & Education and has since featured the work of more than 40 designers. On Friday, April 25, Cottage Grove Art Walk’s annual season kicks off at 6 pm in the small city’s historic downtown. Headlining this month’s festivities will be a bash at The Bookmine, an independent bookstore (that also sells plants and art and serves as a community gathering spot) celebrating 50 years. Friday night’s party will feature live music, an author, an artist and refreshments. The Bookmine’s half-a-century celebration will continue from 11 am to 5 pm on Saturday, April 26 — the actual day in 1975 that sisters Gail Hoelzle-Lee and Birdy Hoelzle opened their bookstore in a building across the street from its current location. “Gail and Birdy’s particular blend of community building, and love for literature, plants and all things beautiful is what has kept this going,” says Miriam Sisson, who works weekends at the downtown bookstore. The Hoelzle sisters invite everyone to come by and to share their favorite Bookmine memories. Also on Saturday, April 26, there will be a free all-ages Spring Fun Festival from 10 am to 3 pm at the Cottage Grove Public Market, and later, at 5:30 pm a fundraising dinner for Twinberry Commons, a nonprofit working to create a dedicated space for a public market, food co-op and business incubator where community members can access healthy, sustainably grown and produced foods as well as gain knowledge, learn new skills and connect with others.

The Cottage Grove Trashion Show is 7:30 pm Thursday through Saturday at the Opal Center for Arts & Education, 513 East Main Street. Tickets are $20 at the door or online at OpalCenterCG.org. Cottage Grove Art Walk runs from 6 pm to 8 pm the last Friday of each month from April through November in downtown Cottage Grove. Free. The Bookmine is located at 702 East Main Street. Spring Fun Festival at Cottage Grove Public Market, 926 East Main Street, 10 am to 3 pm. Free. Tickets for the Twinberry Commons & Coast Fork Farm Stand Spring Fundraising Dinner, also at Cottage Grove Public Market, are $65; Twinberrycommons.com. All events are in Cottage Grove.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

That’s because of you!

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Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.

We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.

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None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.

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Thank you for standing with us!