Oregon Country Fair’s Rainbow Connection was founded as Rainbow Village in 2021 during Fair’s second virtual version, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, organizers have been working tirelessly to improve the space and provide a relaxing, community environment to LGBTQIA+ folks visiting the Fair.
River McKenzie, a queer non-binary organizer who founded Rainbow Connection, says when they entered the Fair space 20 years ago, there just wasn’t the amount of LGBTQIA+ inclusivity as there could have been. “We knew that we needed those spaces,” they say. “People were yearning for that.”
Rainbow Connection is an affinity space for LGBTQIA+ fairgoers looking for a place to relax and be around their peers. The space has four sections: a teen space, an adult space, a library and the lounge. All ages are welcome in the lounge area. McKenzie says that Rainbow Connection also features a gender-affirming photo booth, where fairgoers can “get a photo taken of them in the way that they are maybe wanting to explore or not quite sure how to create.”
McKenzie says that Rainbow Connection has received overwhelmingly positive feedback during the five years it’s been running. “We’ve had some pretty big moments,” they say. “There was a mom whose queer son had died by suicide and she came to spread his ashes in the space.”
McKenzie says that events like this one reinforced the idea that Rainbow Connection is a necessary part of Fair — and it’s here to stay.
Just this year, President Donald Trump’s administration has gone after LGBTQIA+ rights in more ways than one. From his numerous executive orders to the recent Supreme Court decision on health care for trans youth, McKenzie says, “Life’s pretty rough, especially this year, so coming and being with each other just builds resiliency.”
This year, Rainbow Connection will host three workshops a day, for a total of nine. “We have way more workshops actually this year offered,” McKenzie says. “From queer spirituality to safer binding and tucking… there’s a little bit of everything.”
At 1 pm each day, Rainbow Connection will also feature allyship discussions, where allies can meet right outside of the space and discuss how to better support their LGBTQIA+ loved ones and community members. Discussion themes will shift each day.
Rainbow Connection isn’t the only queer-themed event at Fair this year. “There’s going to be a new teen drag show,” McKenzie says, “So that’s never happened at a Fair before.”
McKenzie says after so many years of going to and helping organize Fair, the community and fun it brings still excites them. They say their favorite part is, “the break that I get from such a fast-paced and not very whimsical reality.”
When asked what their message to someone who’s debating whether they’d be accepted in the Rainbow Connection space, McKenzie says, “the answer is, yes, you do belong with us.”