The Astoria-set movie turns 40 this year, and the town is going appropriately big, with a four-day party featuring a cast-and-crew panel, bus tours to filming locations, a scavenger hunt, a costume contest, and an ’80s-themed prom.

Regrettably, not a race among crabs. Instead, at 9am, 26 tagged crabs get released into Nehalem Bay; derby entrants pay $10 and catch as many as they can for a chance to win $1,000. Also: an oyster eating contest.

It’s back to Astoria, now for Icelandic horses, a midsummer pole raising and dance, armor-making demonstrations at the “Viking Encampment,” and the coronation of Miss Scandinavia 2025. Also: meatball and æbleskiver eating contests.

Back in 1964, an enormous earthquake in Alaska triggered tsunamis down the West Coast. Cannon Beach flooded, and the water knocked out a critical bridge. Stuck in relative isolation, locals built sandcastles to keep themselves entertained. Sixty-one years later, they’re still building.

Oregon has many rodeos. (The most famous, the Pendleton Round-Up, runs Sept 10–13.) This one, in the tiny Willamette Valley town of St. Paul, is under an hour from Portland and draws nearly 1,000 competitors for bull riding, barrel racing, and the like. New as of last year is women’s breakaway roping, in which winning times are less than two (!) seconds.

Founded by Eugene hippies in 1969 as a Renaissance faire and fundraiser for a local alternative school, the rollicking weekend campout in the woods retains its counterculture roots: extravagant costumes, giant puppets, and a tofu palace.

The biggest attraction at Toledo’s summer fest is the logging show, an all-amateur timber skills competition. Think axe throwing and a chainsaw race, with an all-around champion crowned “Bull of the Woods.”

Oregon’s state nut gets the star treatment in the Marion County town of Donald. On deck: a parade, a classic car show, live music, and hazelnut treats in abundance.

The flat-bottomed, beach-launched fishing boats known as dories have been a staple of Pacific City since the early 1900s, and since 1959 they’ve been at the center of a weekend-long fete. Catch them decked out for the parade, this year themed “Christmas in July.”

In the late 1800s, gold turned this Eastern Oregon settlement into a bustling hub; by 1900, it was the third-largest city in the state. This summer fest pays homage to that history, with mining demos and gold panning contests for both kids and adults. Plus, a parade, sidewalk fair, and rodeo events.

There’s no better way to take in jazz than in July, on a blanket on the grass, under the swooping arches of the St. Johns Bridge, for free. The venerable fest turns 45 this year; arrive early and leave the umbrellas and tents at home.

Since its ’90s origins in a school gym, this annual gathering has grown into three days of song and dance that serve as a reunion for descendants of the Nez Perce, the first inhabitants of the area. The event, open to the public, culminates on Sunday in a walasit worship service in the longhouse and a potluck.

Human-powered contraptions—very DIY, and decorated in all sorts of fanciful ways—take on an all-terrain course in this two-day race, with prizes awarded for engineering, art, speed, and pageantry. Recommended for fans of the PDX Adult Soapbox Derby (see below).

This newish fest, now in its third year, puts an emphasis on participation; workshops include Celtic knot-tying and beginning tinwhistle. And, of course, lots of live music and dancing, all centered around downtown Corvallis’s Central Park.

Get your body paint ready: After a year’s hiatus, one of the biggest events on the cycling calendar returns. It’s a protest against oil dependence, a celebration of bodies, and a quintessential Portland experience, even if that just means getting stuck waiting for thousands of your naked, smiling neighbors to pass.

Sometimes, a KBOO fundraiser grows up to be one of the country’s most beloved music festivals. Find stages set among trees, hammocks strung up for lounging, and a bill featuring Portugal. The Man, Taj Mahal, Reyna Tropical, and Haley Heynderickx.

Many county fairs have 4-H exhibits, carnival rides, and demolition derbies. But only Tillamook has Pig-N-Ford races, a 100-year-old tradition in which competitors drive Model Ts while holding pigs. Or, well, try to.

The sand will fly as teams from around the world convene in Seaside for this tourney, one of the largest beach volleyball events anywhere; 2024 drew more than 2,000 teams on more than 200 courts.

Garlic ice cream, anyone? Both elephant garlic, a leek-like member of the onion family, and true varieties of garlic get the spotlight in Portland’s northwest outskirts. Make sure to say hi to Stinkee, the fest’s elephant-eared, bulbous-bodied mascot.

The Eastern Oregon town grows some of the best melons in the country, renowned for their high sugar content. During peak season, residents celebrate the bounty with bathtub races, a costume contest, and (duh) a seed spitting competition.

Every August, an absolute menagerie of homemade derby cars, operated by costumed Portlanders, tear down the extinct cinder cone that is Mount Tabor. It’s goofy and joyous and terribly crowded, and it must be experienced at least once.

Say farewell to summer with this sprawling affair, where you’ll find carnival rides, monster trucks, horse shows, rodeo events, hypnotists and magicians, music on numerous stages, and obviously fried food galore.