Appeal Tribune Wednesday, September 6, 2017 3A
Oktoberfest Facts
Festival
39,000: 1966 Attendance
400,00: 2015 Attendance
7,500: Volunteers needed
262: Events Scheduled in
2017
12: members of Board of
Directors in 1966
25: members and associates
of Board of Directors 2017
1967: Year Marlene Meissner
started playing her accordion
(she hasn’t missed a year)
$100: Amount borrowed to
start
$14,240: Charitable giving in
1969
$130,200: Largest charitable
giving (2003)
$70,000: Charitable giving
2016
$3,198,406.75: Cumulative
charitable giving in 51 years
7-10: food booths 1966
50: food booths 2017
Continued from Page 1A
Additionally,
there
were two gas stations in
town, and those were the
only public restrooms – at
a beer fest populated with
that many folks!
Adjustments
pulled
the gala through, and
learning began immedi-
ately following as the first
Oktoberfest in this region
was off the ground. That
planning process became
standard.
“Not only does Okto-
berfest have a history of
great attendance, there’s
a history of great problem
solving,” Bochsler said.
That attendance mark
has grown over the dec-
ades, hitting a crescendo
in 2015 when Oktoberfest
celebrated its 50-year an-
niversary and drew an es-
timated 400,000. For a city
with a current population
in the area of 3,500, host-
ing that many visitors is a
well-planned ordeal.
Chris Bischoff, a con-
struction business owner
and operator by day, is at
the crux of that planning
as he is the current Okto-
berfest board president.
The fest begins on a
Thursday, runs through
Sunday, and the following
Thursday there is a meet-
ing for evaluation of what
worked well, what went
not so well, and planning
begins anew.
“Basically, we start
setting a path for the next
year,” Bischoff said.
By August’s end, Bis-
choff, Lauzon and Boch-
sler, whose day job in-
volves health-care plan-
ning, were all hitting
stride in planning for the
2017 Oktoberfest, which
takes place Thursday
through Sunday, Sept. 14.-
17. The event schedule
also includes affiliated
events, like the Saturday,
Sept. 9 peddle-tractor
race and a kickoff party,
along with a Wednesday,
Sept. 13, cross country
race at Silver Falls State
Park.
To muster up the ener-
gy for this celebration of
German culture, a slew of
volunteers is necessary,
generally to the tune of
7,500, according to Lau-
zon.
“You can’t find a festi-
val half our size that
doesn’t have some paid
staff,” Lauzon asserted.
It’s a testimonial to the
thousands who step up to
serve in roles as varied as
Fire
Continued from Page 1A
Elkhorns or Wallowas.
Cascade Crest
There’s no way around
it: there are a ton of wild-
fires burning between
Mount Jefferson and the
Three Sisters.
Any trip in this area, in-
cluding Santiam Pass or
the Cascade Lakes near
Bend, will be impacted by
smoke and places closed
to outdoor adventure.
There are at least 20
fires actively burning in
the Cascade Crest. The
largest includes Milli and
Whitewater.
But even the small
fires are causing trouble,
such as Scorpion , which
spurred Breitenbush Hot
Springs to close, and Pota-
to Hill, which has slowed
traffic over U.S. Highway
20.
As a result, there is no
shortage of closures.
Here’s a list of the most
up-to-date numbers on
areas closed as of Aug. 30,
keeping in mind this could
change any time.
Milli Fire / Three Sis-
ters fires (Bend / Sisters
area): 183,646 acres
Whitewater
Fire
(Mount Jefferson area):
116,228 acres
Rebel Fire (Cougar
Reservoir area): 67,392
acres
Jones Fire (Eugene /
Lowell area): 57,120 acres
Staley Closure (Oak-
ridge area): 51, 680 acres
Headed to Crater
Lake? Expect smoke
Crater Lake has been
blanketed in smoke, mak-
ing it a challenge to see or
photograph the lake’s
asm radiates most when
the conversation broach-
es German traditions. He
spent many of his military
years stationed in Germa-
ny, and a fair amount of
his stateside duties train-
ing Germans.
“This wonderful event
brings people together to
celebrate the folk tradi-
tions of Germany,” he
said. “There is more Ger-
man culture here in Mt.
Angel that weekend than
in any one concentrated
area of Germany.”
He further illustrates
the German environs
pointing to architectural
icons, such as the Glock-
enspiel and the late gothic
DANIELLE PETERSON | STATESMAN JOURNAL
Kathryn Beyer and her brother, Brian Beyer, dance in front of a crowd at the 50th celebration of
the Mount Angel Oktoberfest on Sept. 20, 2015, in Mount Angel.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK
Smoke covers Crater Lake National Park on Aug. 3.
famously blue waters at
Oregon’s only national
park.
“Look, we’re open and
excited to welcome peo-
ple to Crater Lake,” park
spokeswoman
Marsha
McCabe said. “And there
are times when you can
get a decent view of the
lake. It just depends on
how the wind is blowing
and what the fires are do-
ing.”
Crater Lake has been
surrounded by fires this
summer. The Spruce Lake
Fire is burning just west
of the park’s West Rim
Road — you often see
flames and smoke from
the road, McCabe said.
To the south, the Blan-
ket Creek Fire is about
four miles from the park’s
campground, cabins, res-
taurant, and store. That
area, called Mazama Vil-
lage, is under a precau-
tionary level 1 evacuation
warning.
Even so, it’s mostly
business as usual at Cra-
ter Lake. The trolley and
boat tours are still run-
ning. Most of the park’s
most popular trails re-
main open.
It’s just a matter of
what you’ll see, and
whether you’re sensitive
to smoke.
“If you have a medical
condition, you should
probably consider com-
ing
another
time,”
McCabe said. “But if
you’re coming from a long
distance, we’re open.”
North Umpqua River
canyon
Bill Blodgett’s clients
on the North Umpqua Riv-
er have looked a bit differ-
ent than normal.
Instead of welcoming
families clad in shorts and
sunglasses, the owner of
North Umpqua Outfitters
has filled his rafts with
firefighters wearing no-
mex and hardhats while
wielding Pulaskis.
Such is life in this sum-
mer recreation paradise
east of Roseburg that’s
been transformed by 14
wildfires burning as part
of the 23,501-acre Ump-
qua North Complex.
Ever since the fires
broke out in early August,
a place that would normal-
ly be filled with hikers,
rafters and anglers has
been dominated by the
organizing food vendors,
orchestrating the 30-plus
musical combos, staffing
security or simply shuck-
ing corn.
There are many bene-
ficial spinoffs as well,
such as the 50 non-profit
food booths that benefit a
variety of causes, and the
$3.2 million in grants
awarded by the Oktober-
fest Board of Directors
over the years.
While Lauzon applauds
the “giant charitable im-
pact,” his festive enthusi-
1,000-plus firefighters at-
tacking multiple blazes
along State Highway 138.
The highway is closed
for 7 miles from milepost
47 to 54, and numerous
trails and campgrounds
have been shuttered as
well.
Most importantly to
Blodgett, the North Ump-
qua River has also been
closed to rafts due to fires
dropping
burned-over
logs into the typically
idyllic stream.
“I was on pace for a
record-setting season,”
Blodgett said. “We had an
outstanding July and it
looked like that would
continue in August.”
But instead of being
stuck on the sidelines,
Blodgett was drafted into
action ferrying firefight-
ers across the river and
providing
emergency
evacuation capabilities to
those on the line.
“We’ve become a ferry
service for the firefight-
ers, to get them across the
river so they could access
the fire by foot,” he said.
“They also needed a safe-
ty plan to mitigate danger
to the firefighters, by hav-
ing a way to get them out
and across the river
quickly.”
The jobs have allowed
Blodgett, who’s been run-
ning trips on the North
Umpqua since 1992, a way
to keep his guides em-
ployed during the river
shutdown.
Zach Urness has been
an outdoors writer, pho-
tographer and videogra-
pher in Oregon for nine
years. He is the author of
the book “Hiking South-
ern Oregon” and can be
reached
at
zurness
@StatesmanJournal.com
or (503) 399-6801. Find
him on Twitter at @Zach-
sORoutdoors.
style of St. Mary’s Catho-
lic Church, perhaps the
most
notable
icon
throughout that region of
the mid-Willamette Val-
ley.
From the lederhosen
and Alpine fedoras to the
fondue and schnitzel to
the nuanced polka styles,
the event is rife with Ger-
man traditions. But there
are also some new ele-
ments each year, such as
this year’s official event
beverage,
Volksbier
brewed by Hopworks Ur-
ban Brewery (HUB) in
Portland. The fest orga-
nizers said that brew be-
gan selling in local Roth’s
market by Sept. 1.
“The last several years
we’ve teamed up with a lot
of different breweries,”
Bischoff said.
That is one key ele-
ment to the cultural event
pivoting on food, music
and merriment. All those
elements come together
as the community awaits
the waning summer days
to bring its usual crowds.
“Labor Day weekend is
when the whole communi-
ty comes together and
works toward (hosting)
Oktoberfest,” Bochsler
said. “The Wednesday be-
fore, (the festival) liter-
ally takes over the
streets.”
And the next day Mt.
Angel opens its doors.
jmuch@Statesman-
Journal.com or cell 503-
508-8157 or follow at twit-
ter.com/justinmuch
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Amazon
Continued from Page 1A
Ness Commercial Advi-
sors, agreed. “The land is
generating nothing right
now, and has generated
nothing for years, so I
look at something like en-
terprise zone benefits as a
great recruitment tool
that genuinely costs us
nothing,” he said in an
email.
“It takes nothing out of
our pockets as a city or a
county because we don’t
receive any revenue from
it, and haven’t for dec-
ades,” Arthur said. “It
simply delays the timing
on when the benefits be-
gin to come in.”
Arthur estimated the
center’s annual payroll
could exceed $30 million.
That’s figuring that, with
1,000 full-time employees,
900 of them could earn av-
erage wages of $13.75 an
hour, 50 supervisors could
make $20 hourly and 50 in
management could make
$35 an hour.
“That’s a lot of tax rev-
enue,” he said.
Employees will then
buy homes, pay property
taxes, shop, buy insur-
ance, groceries, need doc-
tors and dentists, and so
forth, Arthur said.
“It’s a trickle-down ef-
fect that has substantial
benefits for the entire
business community,” he
said.
Amazon coming to Sa-
lem won’t likely entice a
bunch of residents to shop
online more than they al-
ready do, “so I think the
overall impact through-
out our community by
adding 1,000 jobs far out-
weighs three years of
property tax abatement
or any threat against ex-
isting businesses,” Arthur
said.
It is “bombarding the
radio waves with adver-
tisements for labor,” said
Michael of the University
of the Pacific.
Amazon’s
shipping
centers in northern Cali-
fornia have created more
jobs than what the compa-
ny first announced, he
said.
There’s a significant
impact on the market for
labor, and local business-
es might see new sales be-
cause of Amazon employ-
ees. Some could see them-
selves competing with
Amazon for workers, Mi-
chael said.
E-commerce and Ama-
zon are affecting tradi-
tional retailers all over,
wiping out retail posi-
tions, he said.
“The fulfillment cen-
ter will probably displace
a lot more retail jobs in
Portland than around Sa-
lem, so it is most likely a
net employment gain in
Salem,” Michael said.
Reach Jonathan Bach
by email at jbach
@statesmanjournal.com
or by phone at 503-399-
6714. Follow him on Twit-
ter @JonathanMBach and
Facebook at https://www.
facebook.com/jonathan
bachjournalist/.
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