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 (Weird Al, Clint Black, BigXThaPlug, Jo Dee Messina, and Twisted Sister with Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach on lead vocals), and all the fried food you could ever want.

Canby's family-owned Swan Island Dahlias counts more than 375 varieties in its 50 acres of fields, which open to the public in 9am–5:30pm Wednesday–Sunday August and September (plus Labor Day) for strolls, picnics, and plein air painting sessions. Also on offer: food carts, classes on dahlia care, and weekend live music.

Oregon has its fair share of brewfests, but this third annual gathering at TopWire Hop Project celebrates the state-grown cones that give our beers their bite, with two full days of beer tastings, hayrides, guided tours through the fields of Crosby Hop Farm (with touching! and smelling!), live music, and food vendors. Tickets are $25 and include a commemorative glass and four drink samples; ages 21 and under are free. 

Since 2005, Indigenous communities in the area around Coos Bay have opened up this traditional festival to the public. The two-day event, which celebrates reciprocity between humans and their environment, includes tribal canoe races, song and dance, vendors and craft demos, and an open-pit salmon bake.

Dress-up parades, pageants, rodeos, concerts: For 116 years, the Pendleton Round-Up has been the festival for celebrating western heritage in Oregon. Expect roping, barrel racing, Happy Canyon night shows, a Junior American Indian beauty contest, outdoor cowboy breakfasts, and more. So strap on your boots, fix your bolo tie, and dust off that 10-gallon hat, pilgrim. We’re headin’ to the rodeo.

This Wallowa County event bills itself as Swiss-Bavarian, with more yodeling and alphorn playing than you’ll find in Mt. Angel, not to mention more mountain views of the area known as Oregon’s Alps. It’s a much longer drive than to Mt. Angel, too—if you want to embark on a beer road trip, here are two taverns to hit in the region.

Catch concerts (including from Austrian "international party band" Pech and Schwefel), car shows, dance troupes, kiddie rides, Oktoberfest Olympics feats of strength, wiener dog races, and more folk fest activities at this Bavarian-style village’s main annual attraction. Much of the festival is free, but wristbands ($15–20 for a single day, $50 for the whole fest) are required for anyone 21 and over in the Biergarten, Weingarten, and Alpengarten. Shuttles will run from Portland, Stayton, Woodburn, and Silverton on Friday and Saturday, and from Salem on Saturday. Shuttle tickets are required, and organizers warn that "the coveted last ride out of Oktoberfest fills quickly." 

Since the ’80s, thousands of community members in Oregon and Washington have joined Cascade AIDS Project on an annual walk to reduce stigma, raise awareness, and remember and celebrate the lives of those lost to HIV and AIDS. As federal funding cuts to HIV/STI prevention and LGBTQ+ health care sweep the nation, AIDS Walk Northwest is vital to sustain CAP’s HIV services. This year’s walk welcomes special guest Miss Coco Peru. 

The Maryhill Museum of Art offers free admission for a day (though preregistration is recommended) to mark 100 years since its opening and official dedication from Queen Marie of Romania—the natural choice for an art museum standing on a hill overlooking the Columbia River Gorge. 

No, not the San Francisco Bay Area. This fun fest happens in Oregon's version, the Coos Bay area, and includes a Cruz the Coos car show, the Prefontaine Memorial Run (the legendary distance runner was born in Coos Bay in 1951), a parade, live music, and general celebration.

What’s the old saying? Ask and ye shall receive. It’s kind of what happened in the ’70s in Corvallis, when residents pestered the city with questions about why there was no arts festival in town. Persistence was key, and in 1973 the very first Corvallis Fall Festival got off the ground. Now, the mostly free event features arts and crafts booths, food vendors, live music, a Saturday-night street dance headlined by the Pascal Bokar AfroBlueGrazz band, interactive art activities, and a trio of runs (registration fees apply for the 5K and 10K, but there’s a free 1K for kids).