• EW Asks! It’s Best of Eugene season! And the OG (30 years baby, it’s like we’re adults) Best of Eugene wants to know: What are your fav things about Lane County? Head on over to EW Asks! or straight to Vote.EugeneWeekly.com!
• In case you missed it, Monday, August 17, was the annual “Burning of the Butte.” Kidding, not kidding. As climate change makes Eugene more and more dry, the city has closed the parking lot at the top of Skinner Butte since 2024 to cut down on fires caused by fireworks and cigarettes. There were reports of fireworks that day, and the two-acre fire is being investigated as arson. There were several fires on the butte in 2024, and at least one in 2022. It’s a hot reminder to be careful and vote this fall for people who fight climate change.
• Also in case you missed it — Eugene has crowned its new SLUG queen! The annual rain of the leader of the Society for the Legitimation of the Ubiquitous Gastropod is underway! All slime Queen Mugzy W. Slugzy (aka Margarita O’Brien)! Read about the coronation at EugeneWeekly.com and let’s bug the city about bringing back the Eugene Celebration — or a SlugFest! For now, we are excited that the Eugene BRiGHT Parade returns to downtown Saturday, Sept. 26 — we’ll be there.
• This week in news the Weekly didn’t cover because everyone else did: The first Furthur bus of Ken Kesey Kool-Aid fame is heading to San Francisco (the New York Times had it first), Eugene will host the 2028 Olympic trials for track and field, and the YMCA was closed Friday, August 14, due to concerning comments by a staff member.
• This week online at EugeneWeekly.com: Catalyst writer Grace Mangali interviewed longtime journalist Steve Law about his new book, Peddlers of Hate, on the history of the Ku Klux Klan in Oregon. EW reporter Eve Weston talked to local environmental advocates about the Trump administration’s attack on the Roadless Rule and the possible effects on our public federal forests.
• On a naked note: Please congratulate the Weekly’s “What’s Happening” calendar editor and staff writer, Savannah Brown, on her latest win! (And yes, we have a real live person doing our calendar, not AI.) Her story “Thriving Willies,” about the Willamettans, received the 2026 Art Schumann Award for “best nudist reporting in a non-nudist publication” from the American Association for Nude Recreation.
• A former Eugenean reached out and asked if anyone has a photo and the name of the artist who painted the Jerry Garcia mural on the Circle K on 13th Avenue. The mural, which was painted when the Grateful Dead musician died in 1995, has been painted over, and it’s now a 7-Eleven — but the memory stands. Send tips to Editor@EugeneWeekly.com.