Culture: Page 190

It’s All About the Ice

A discussion with OCF's new general manager Tom Gannon

Culture

Looking back over his first year as general manager (GM) for the Oregon Country Fair, Tom Gannon says the thing that’s surprised him the most is “how incredibly important ice is.”  It might sound strange, but realize that the frosty lemonade you’re enjoying, or that tasty burrito with extra sour cream, or your gluten-free hemp seed salad with extra hemp seeds, were all made off the grid. No one operating a food booth has a fridge to plug in — there are no plugs. Continue reading →

You Should Be Dancing

New pavilion invites Fair-goers to take off their shoes and shake it up

Culture
New pavilion invites Fair-goers to take off their shoes and shake it up

As you’re cruising around the loops at the Oregon Country Fair, be sure to stop by the new Dance Pavilion, featuring movement performances and workshops for all.   “The dance space is for the exploration of dance and the movement arts,” says volunteer site coordinator Shawn Kahl.  The Dance Pavilion stage and an adjacent outdoor studio, the “WorkIt Shop,” have concurrent but separate programming throughout the weekend. Both areas welcome and encourage participation.   Continue reading →

Variety, the Spice of Life

OCF Lineup Keeps Vintage Performance Arts Alive

Culture
Wanderlust Circus

Like sunburns and fannypacks, vaudeville-style comedy and variety shows are a part of the Oregon Country Fair experience. In fact, OCF devotes entire stages to all sorts of popular entertainment from the age of daguerreotypes like tap dancing, puppetry and poetry readings. Fair favorite Artis the Spoonman performs four times this year, kicking off 1:30 pm Friday, July 8, at the Daredevil Vaudeville Palace. Artis heads over to the Kesey Stage at 3:15 pm Sunday, July 10. See oregoncountryfair.org for a full list of Artis’ performances.  Continue reading →

Ring Around the Rosés

Pretty pink wines go well with summer

Drink

In our lab, Mole was vigorously pulling corks and polishing rimless glasses: Time for our annual “Rosé Report.” In the last few years, rosés have really come out of the closet. Well, they never actually went into the deep closet; they just got buried (in U.S. markets anyway) under the flood of white zinfandels, sweet pink (“blush”) wines mass-produced and marketed by Cali vintners. Continue reading →

Eat Eugene

Grab a bite to eat at these spots

Culture

Many breweries, restaurants and food carts in Eugene deserve to be on this list of top-notch eats, but these are the limitations of print. In no particular order, the following locales are highly recommended places to grab a bite to eat or plunk down for a microbrew. Want more? Go to eugeneweekly.com/chow for EW’s delicious quarterly restaurant guide.   Kun Fusion Facebook.com/KunFusionGrill Continue reading →

Beer Beat

Drink some tasty brews

Drink

The Falling Sky Pizzeria & Public House officially opened its doors June 20 at the newly renovated Erb Memorial Union on the University of Oregon campus. Falling Sky’s newest location sells “falling pies,” which includes The Firebird, with roasted chicken, pickled peppers, fried garlic, mozzarella, spicy marinara and hot sauce. Subs, soups, salads and pasta are also on the menu, along with Falling Sky’s tasty brews. Among the current beers on tap: Daywalker Irish Red, Hard Rain American Stout and Make American Wheat Again. Head over to fallingskybrewing.com for the full menu. Continue reading →

All About That Barrel

A lesson in barrel-aged beers from the new Alesong Brewing & Blending

Drink
Doug and Brian Coombs with Matt Van Wyk

One of Eugene’s newest breweries features some familiar faces: Matt Van Wyk and Brian Coombs, formerly of acclaimed local brewery Oakshire. In 2015, Van Wyk and Coombs, along with Coomb’s brother Doug, struck out on their own, launching Alesong Brewing & Blending, a company with a unique emphasis on barrel-aged beer. Van Wyk tells EW that Alesong, located in west Eugene, is an artisan brewery “that’s going to mainly focus on barrel-aged beer and Belgian-inspired beers.”  Continue reading →