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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 20, 2000)
Head out to the Country Fa’* for fun By Rebecca Newell Oregon Daily Emerald “It’s about the human high, the real human experience. And it’s human experience with an art form,” owner of Chez Ray’s restaurant in downtown Eugene Ray Sewell said, describing the Oregon Country Fair, which cele brates its 31st anniversary this year. Themed “The Fair of the Drag on,” the event kicks off this year on July 7 in Veneta, 13 miles west of Eugene. Boasting over 300 booths with homemade arts, crafts and incredible food, as well as acoustic entertainment, main stage and vaudeville acts, the three-day affair is an experience that is relived anew each year. Many of the previous vendors are returning, and new additions include Eugene’s Ring of Fire restaurant. Along with the return ing features is the Friday Night Feast, which has been a Country Fair tradition since 1972. A mix ture of food, fun and entertain ment, the event is organized by Sewell, a registered French chef. Sewell, who toured with the Grateful Dead as a chef, is no stranger to the combination of good food and good music. Emerald archive The Oregon Country Fair means wild costumes, such as the ones above and the perennial favorite, Silver Man (below). “We try to nourish with equal portions of spirit and humor,” said Sewell, who said he expects to serve more than 500 people at the feast. “It’s my job to nourish the people that come out here. We want to provide the public with this experience.” This year’s theme for the Friday Night Feast is based on a mystical legend of a king, and only by suf ficient sacrifice of food and chant ing will the great king “appear.” Tickets for the event are $12, and Emerald archive can be purchased at Chez Ray’s, 44 W. 10th Ave. Gates for the rest of the fair open each day at 11 a.m. and close each night at 7 p.m. “We’re really previous fairs, there will be im provisational performances along the many paths winding through the fair area. No radios or elec tronic instruments are allowed on-site, as all mu e in y n d b i z, l ii g vaudeville this year,” OCF ad ministrative as sistant Norma Sax said, refer ring to the on stage entertain ment, which is a major part of the Country Fair. Performances are continual during the fair hours at five lo cations, the Main Stage, Shady Grove, Blue Moon, Vaudeville and Country Fair facts Tickets are on sale at all Fastixx outlets in Oregon and Washington (1-800-992-8499) with a $1 service charge; Fred Meyer and the Uni versity Ticket Office. The price of tickets bought in advance is $10 Friday, $15 Saturday and $10 Sun day. Tickets purchased on the days of the events will be $12 Friday, $17 Saturday and $12 Sunday. Tickets are necessary to enter the fair site or to ride the free LTD bus from Eugene, and will not be avail able at the fair. Parking on-site is $5, and there is no camping, ex cept for the fair crew. sic is live and natural. Keeping with the theme, a new addition of the fair will be a 100 foot diameter earthen labyrinth, based on a medieval de sign inlaid in the floor of the Chartes Cathe dral. The labyrinth is de signed as an area of meditation. Another im portant, but less well-known facet Hoarse Hhorale stages. Performances include the Sug ar Beets, a psychedelic bluegrass band based in Eugene, playing the Main Stage on Friday at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Deep Banana Blackout, a high-energy funk jam band based out of Hartford, Conn., will be playing on the Main Stage at 3 p.m. Mare Wakefield, another Eu gene performer, will be showcas ing her acoustic folk-rock sound Friday at 6 p.m. on the Shady Grove stage. “It’s a pretty magical place,” she said, referring to her perform ance in 1998 at Shady Grove. The Fair is “a good place to perform, because people are very support ive and appreciative of the mu sic.” “Music is my passion. The hard part is making a living,” she said. Wakefield will also be perform ing at the Friday Night Feast, and at 4 p.m. on Saturday with her band at the Blue Moon Stage. A full schedule of the per formers can be found at the OCF’s Web site, www.oregoncountry fair.com. And in the tradition of of the fair is the Jill Heiman Vi sion fund. Started in 1996 by the Fair Elders, the fund recognizes the efforts of Jill Heiman, the fair’s first attorney, who has been in strumental in protecting the rights of the fair and its location. Donations collected during the event are matched by the Fair up to a total of $10,000 and are awarded to deserving applicants. This year’s chosen category was “environmental protection and recovery,” and was awarded to three non-profit organizations. Recipients of the awards this year include the Northwest Trails Archive and Restoration Project of the League of Wilderness De fenders, and the Northwest Coali tion for Alternatives to Pesticides. Donations are accepted at drop boxes throughout the Fair. Once again, the Oregon Coun try Fair remains with tradition in providing an assortment of mu sic, sights, people and experi ence. “It’s really tribal, you interact with all kinds of people,” Wake field said. “It’s a different kind of reality.” Mental health advocates protest ‘Me, Myself & Irene’ LOS ANGELES — A coalition of mental health advocacy groups sees nothing funny about Jim Carrey’s new movie, “Me, Myself & Irene,” and wants some changes in its advertising. Carrey plays a Rhode Island police officer who has two per sonalities, one of them violent. That appears to be a negative portrayal of the mentally ill, says the head of the National Mental Health Association, which repre sents about 350 organizations na tionwide. The movie’s distributor, Twen tieth Century Fox, declined to comment. Carrey’s character is incorrect ly identified as having schizo phrenia instead of multiple per sonality disorder, said Michael Faenza, the coalition’s president and CEO. Most sufferers are non violent and many can control their symptoms through medica tion, according to the associa tion. "Having a famous, gifted movie star make fun and portray schizophrenia in ways that are inaccurate, funny, and then spooky is a big step backward,” Faenza said Friday. The association wants Fox to re move the line “From Gentle to Mental” and the word “schizo” from advertising before the movie’s June 23 release. It also wants pub lic service announcements telling moviegoers where they can get help for mental illness. “I hope they find creative ways to give back to the commu nity that helps people with men tal illness, instead of making fun of them,” Faenza said. 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