The Great Oregon Steam-Up takes place this weekend and next. (courtesy Lena Prine)
Powerland Heritage Park has an entire campus of museums showcasing Oregon’s agricultural heritage and all of that and more will be on display this weekend during the Great Oregon Steam-Up.
Visitors to the weekend event –held on July 27 and 28 and August 3 and 4 — will witness how farm equipment like tractors and mills worked a century ago.
“What I think is so great about the Steam-Up, it’s preserving our part of state history,” said Marketing Coordinator Lena Prine.
Some of that history includes a steam-powered sawmill, which will run 15 to 30 minutes after the parade of vintage tractors, trucks and cars ends. The parade starts at 1:30 p.m. and last about an hour.
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“Even if it’s not your thing, you can’t help but have an appreciation for it,” Prine said.
Prine said the physical effort just to get the machinery running — there’s no start button — gives a new perspective.
“When you step back and you pause and you think about ‘that’s how it was in 1918.’ It’s just you can’t help but appreciate the history of it,” Prine said.
She said her family has been coming to the event for 40 years and that many others return year after year.
An average of 22,000 people attend the event, which is almost strictly volunteer-run, Prine said. Seven hundred volunteers come together to make the Steam-Up happen.
“It’s definitely an impressive display of what it looks like when a community comes together with a passion for a cause,” Prine said.
The event features a miniature railroad and trolley rides that Prine said is fun for families. She also recommended visitors try an ice cream cone generated by a steam-powered tractor.
“There’s a little bit of something that can appeal to everyone,” she said.
The park’s mission is to educate the public about the history of machines and the role they played in modern technology and quality of life.
Admission costs $15 for the day or $25 for the weekend, kids 13 to 18 cost $10 a day or $15 for the weekend. Kids 12 and under are free. 3995 Brooklake Rd. N.E. Info can be found on the Antique Powerland website.
Have a tip? Contact reporter Saphara Harrell at 503-549-6250, [email protected] or @daisysaphara.
