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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 19, 2017)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL JULY 19, 2017 3B A FOOD CRAWL THROUGH BMD A four-day journey through all the food BMD has to offer The Miners Dinner of steak, beans and cornbread Ribs, fries, mac and cheese and cornbread Slabtown wins! Zach Silva Smoked mac and cheese with bacon in a bread bowl I really zsilva@cgsentinel.com like carrots. It was close but Slabtown is taking home Caitlyn May bragging rights for a year after beating out cmay@cgsentinel.com Lemati in the 58th Annual Bohemia Mining Days (BMD) Feud Contest. Modeled after the storied feud of the city's origin, the feud contests have been a staple in BMD culture for decades. The story goes that Slabtown formed on the west side of the Coast Fork of the river and enjoyed fi r planks as sidewalks which also served as the originator of its name. Lemati did not enjoy such luxuries and was a muddy mess of fl ooding where today's Main St. is located. That is, until, the railroad came to town. Now the proud owners of the newest technology in transpor- tation, Lemati now had access to travelers more readily than their rivals in Slabtown. The east side group, however, had the post offi ce. That is, until it was hoisted up and stolen to cross the border and settle in Lemati. Every year for BMD, the feud is taken up again with beard growing contests, cherry-pit spitting games, candlestick races and other old-time contests. According to festival coordinator Cindy Weeldreyer, it has become diffi cult for the festival to keep track of how many times each team has won but this year's champion is Slabtown with 145 points to Lemati's 117. To take home the victory, Slabtown scored wins in the Dig- ging in the Dark contest, pie eating competition, the kids' cher- ry-pit spitting contest as well as the men's and the 20 mile by wheelbarrow test. The other day I accidentally ate a pound. I also like salad. And apples. And blueberries. And cheese and crackers, too. These are essen- tially the staples of my diet. Yet for some reason, none of these foods are around at festivals. This was very apparent as last weekend at the Bohemia Min- ing Days (BMD) when I, with the help of my editor, decided that I was going to try all of the food that this celebration has to offer. Festivals and food go hand in hand and so in this American tradition of excess amounts of fried food and meat, I was on a journey to try what BMD has to offer. Here is my journey: I began this adventure of eat- ing on Thursday night. The fi rst meal came from the BMD board and featured steak and beans. This meal which is made to mir- ror what the miners ate after a long hard day on the job was less fi tting for someone who had been sitting at a comput- er all day. Regardless of a dif- ference in occupation with the miners, I quickly devoured this meal, and its sides: a cornbread muffi n, cookies and lemonade, with reckless abandon. It was a delight and I was ready for ev- erything else that was to come. Friday at the festival I scanned through the food items and set- tled on my favorite option: ribs. This meal from H&H Barbe- que was the meal of the week- end: a half rack of ribs, a corn- bread muffi n, fries and mac and cheese. This near perfection on a plate was overwhelming. My taste buds cheered with every bite of the ribs that were doused in BBQ sauce and the fresh cut fries. While the mac and cheese was a little too mushy, every- thing else on the plate compen- sated for this one downside. This meal that kept me full deep into the day was a true treasure. Saturday was full of food and required assistance from some accomplices. With the help of The Bohemia burger my friends Hunter and Eric, I was able to try my heart’s con- tent without having to eat every- thing. And they got fed. A win- win-win. We started the day with the Chuckwagon breakfast of bis- cuits and gravy, scrambled eggs and sausage links; a good meal that would be hard to mess up. After watching the parade we were back to eating. There was the Bohemia Burger that had pulled pork on it that was just fi ne. Then there was smoked macaroni and cheese with bacon served in a bread bowl which was a strange show of excessive carbohydrates. There was also a deep-fried Twinkie with straw- berries and whip cream which seemed like a soggier version of strawberries on a waffl e. And then there was the 32nd An- nual Chicken BBQ which was an overfl owing plate of BBQ chicken, baked beans, coleslaw, a roll and a cookie which was just tasty and reminded me of the joy of a summer picnic. Through teamwork and being three 22-year-old males who can generally just eat, we were able to make our way through this food. The journey of food ended Sunday with the Miners Breakfast at Bohemia Saddle Camp with a course of pan- cakes, ham and fried eggs. Ultimately the food wavered from passable to delicious to good. It was exciting to be able to see the joy that the food was prepared with and how food really works to bring people together especially at a festival like this. While my stomach has recov- ered from eating Ron Swanson levels of meat, I just hope that next year there is a booth full of nothing but carrots and apples. BMD's annual 5K run Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Post a picture of your garden (vegetable, fruit or fl ower garden) on our Facebook page and earn the chance to WIN A $200 GIFT CERTIFICATE CONTEST RULES: Visit the Cottage Grove Senti- nel Facebook page at https://www. facebook.com/ pages/Cottage-Grove-Sentinel/ and upload a picture of your vegetable, fruit orfl ower garden to the photo album section of the page. In the comment space, de- scribe what makes you so proud of your garden. The person who receives the most “likes” by July 31, 2017 will win the $200 in gift certifi cates valid at the participating businesses. The name of the winner will be posted on our Facebook page on August 9, 2017. Participants must be 18 years old or more. Previous winners, employees of this newspaper and participat- ing businesses and their immediate family members are not eligible to participate in this contest. FRESH PRODUCE LOTS OF VARIETY Patton’s Country Gardens We have the equipment to help keep your garden looking great. Apricots, Peaches, Berries, Dahlias Variety of Other Fruits & Veggies Available Open Tuesday - Saturday 10 - 5 • Sunday 12 - 5 • Closed Monday 80432 Delight Valley School Rd. 541-942-7672 As the sun began to set in Cottage Grove, the 53 runners and walkers of the Gold Rusk 5K hosted by the group Run CG Run came out to race last Fri- day night. The twilight race that started at 9 p.m. is in its 5th year of existence and has become an- other tradition of the Bohemia Mining Days celebration. “This is my fi rst night race and the weather was magnifi - cent; couldn’t ask for anything better,” said Cottage Grove na- tive Matt Davis who was attend- ing his fi rst Bohemia Mining Days in a decade. “The course was beautiful they put on a re- ally good race… I couldn’t have asked for a better run.” A man dressed as a miner, complete with a long fl owing wig and beard in addition to a sweat band across his forehead, was on a bike that led the fi eld of runners through the course that started on 6th and Washing- ton street and made two loops of mile a mile and a half before fi nishing up where it started. On the women’s side of the race, Amelia Slama-Catron won in a time of 22:37. The men’s side saw Jarrett Forrest being named winner with a time of 18:08 but Alex Dickinson run- ning a time of 17:07. Dickinson, who did not start the race on time because he got lost during the warm up which led him to not cross fi rst, had no qualms about not being named champi- on. As is generally the case with these races, the participants are there for the community and not as much for the competition. “It’s fun to see the race com- munity here and with such good camaraderie and see familiar faces,” said Jim Markus who has run the race each year since its inception. “It’s always just a personal challenge for me as I’m getting older.” Markus was also quick to note that he holds the title as “the fastest Luther pastor in Cottage Grove, and the only one of course.” Jim Settelmeyer, who helped organize the event and was charge of race day operations, saw this race as a success. “Feels wonderful, seemed liked people had a good time,” said Settelmeyer. “[We’re] try- ing to have our little connec- tions four times a year.” Also notable at the race was National Football League Hall of Fame member and former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy and his wife Lau- ren, who reside in Eugene, ran in the race with a pair of their friends.
