Free olive mill tours, $65 seated wine and olive oil tastings, $175 seven-course dinners, weekend food carts, live music, and holiday marketplaces pack the calendar all month long at Durant, a 51-year-old Yamhill County winery that is also home to Oregon's only commercial olive mill. Check the website for details, as even some of the free events require a reservation.

Kick off the month with a weekend of art on the coast—expect gallery events, artist demonstrations, live music, and workshops (seaweed cyanotypes, anybody?). Don't forget to pack a talent for Saturday's open mic night.

Now in its 90th year, this annual event—a fundraiser for the Visitation Catholic School and Parish—is an all-you-can-eat affair of sausage, kraut, and applesauce. There's also a beer garden, family-friendly bingo, and a bazaar and bake sale. Needless to say: Come hungry.

Expect concerts (both free and ticketed), whistle workshops, and dancing at this annual coastal fest, now in its third decade. There's also a whiskey tasting and, weather permitting, sunset performances featuring a bagpiper in traditional garb.

It's the season of big water on the Oregon Coast, with November kicking off three months of extra-high tides. During this time, the Oregon King Tides Project—a citizen-science initiative organized by CoastWatch and the Oregon Coastal Management Program—asks for help documenting these king tides in an effort to understand the effects rising sea levels have on coastal communities. Participation in the project is open to anyone willing and able to venture out to the coast and operate a camera (but safety first, please).  

It's open houses, but for vineyards: Winemakers large and small across the Willamette Valley throw open their doors before and after Thanksgiving for special tastings, seasonal food pairings, live music, tours, and more.

An annual fundraiser for the Eugene Water and Electric Board's Customer Care program, which provides payment assistance for low-income customers, the Run to Stay Warm race includes 5k, 10k, half-marathon, and kids run options, with routes through Alton Baker Park and along the Ruth Bascom Riverbank Path, all on smooth, flat paths. Stick around afterward for a post-race party at the plaza of Eugene's new city hall.

Lumber baron and shipbuilder Louis Simpson's mansion may have burned down a century ago, but his stunning estate garden remains a highlight in Shore Acres State Park between Coos Bay and Cape Arago. For the holidays, area businesses and community groups string up thousands of lights in the formal gardens. Many of the displays, no surprise, boast a marine theme—think jellyfish, anemones, and spouting whales.