N
othing in this life is certain but
death, taxes and the Oregon
Country Fair. Here in Eugene,
the Fair is part of our very
atmosphere; it is the air we
breathe. You can feel it coming
weeks before it opens, wafting
in the breeze like some hippie hurricane
about to unleash its (not quite free) love
on our stomping grounds. You can see it
on the streets, with the increase of young
seekers sporting ragged backpacks and
dreadlocks and bare feet padding on
broiling pavement. Excitement builds,
mellow-yellowly, among the faithful,
while some old-timers bitch that the Fair
ain’t what it used to be — it’s all ‘bout
money now, so git out and let us party in
the woods.
And yet the tradition goes on,
undiminished, unbowed, proud in its
ability to maintain the spectacle of itself,
to plant its annual freak flag in the soil
of the eternal sixties. Despite the
tragedy shadowing this year’s event —
the loss of four Fair volunteers (Jerome
“Roch” Delbosc D’Auzon, Robyn Leigh
Weir, Christopher Robin Kent and Erin
Thomas Frank Noble) in the June 23
crash of a privately rented plane —OCF
general manager Charlie Ruff has
promised “an amazing celebration of life
and remembrance.”
With a spirit of survival and
celebration, the Oregon Country Fair
carries on, of the people and for the
people. A new loop (p. 16) debuts this
time around, and around and around it
goes, as the old is made new like fresh
green buds on a 43-year-old tree of life.
Through
the Looking
Glass
EYEING THIS
WEEKEND’S
OREGON
COUNTRY
FAIR
PHOTO BY CLAIRE FLINT LAST • PAPERMOONPHOTOSTUDOS.COM
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EUGENE WEEKLY JULY 12, 2012 13