Welcome to Monmouth Monthly a peek into the heart of Willamette Valley. Each month we will bring you updates of the things happening in and around town brought to you by the people who helped make it happen. I have your host Sabra Jewell
and welcome to Monmouth monthly this month we have three guests on to talk about the Fourth of July festivities and music in the park that's coming up. We have an action packed summer in Monmouth. So I appreciate our guests coming by to talk about some of those things. We have Bill Foster, who is a part of the Monmouth Business Association, and he's going to talk about what's going on in music in the park this year. We also have Ben Stange, who is here today as the capacity as the rotary President to talk about the Fourth of July parade. And we also have Susan Farley, Susan is part of the arts and culture commission of Monmouth, she's going to be talking about some of the activities that they have for the Fourth of July week. So welcome, everybody to Monmouth monthly,
Thanks, Sabra
Thank you all for being here today. We really appreciate it. Because we want everyone and our local audience and our KMUZ audience to know about some of the things that are happening this summer, so that they know that they can come by and visit us and hang out and see what's cooking over here. Bill, we're gonna start with you and talking about music in the park. You've been involved in music in the park for a really long time. How long have you been doing music in the park work?
We started this in 2010. And so we've been there ever since we had the COVID year of 2020. We had bands ready, but they got cancelled. So everybody was super excited to bring it back in 2021 and last year with some great crowds as well.
So tell me, what do you do for the Monmouth Business association and what is your role with music in the park?
Well, I'm the emcee, kind of overlook what's going on, make sure that the bands are happy when they get there presenting the music and that kind of stuff. So I just generally whatever is asked me we get it done one way or the other.
And what's your expertise? sound guy?
I'm not sure what my expertise would be. That I mean, do the sound I very seldom do sound anymore because Richard man, gentleman on the board is really good at it. So we don't alternate like we did in the early days. So I get to work with the bands on stage, which works out pretty well. So I get to interact with the bands and really happy to do that. It works out well for both of us.
How many bands do we always feature for music in the park?
Depends on how many Wednesdays Wednesdays there are this year we have nine it's either eight or nine. Usually, we start at the Wednesday after the fourth and go to the last Wednesday August.
So what time did those those concerts start on?
Concert start at 630 in the evening and go to 830 they fill the fill the audience. It's always a good time to have it there.
And so what kind of acts are coming this year? Can you tell me about some bands that we have coming up?
We got ben Rice, who does blues. Last year we had been there and he had just come off a I think was a nine week stint with ZZ Top use. He was one of the bands that headed there and in front of them. So that's always good. We've got some new New Orleans style. We got rock and roll we got country in western soul and funk and then we end the year with the Celtic band coming up threes.
And coming up threes. Don't they come every year to music in the park or they kind of just or at least they've been a repeat visitor to music in the park.
I think they've probably been there all but three.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, the audience likes and we've got a good rapport with them. And so we just kind of got used to having them close out the series every week, every year. It's been good. It's been fun
crowd favorite. And this is a family friendly activity. Right? All ages can come to this event.
It's family friendly. The bands are pretty good about that. So awesome.
But they have to leave the for family at home, right dogs and cats and lizards and everybody has to stay at home unless it's a service animal. Correct?
That's the idea to leave them all behind. Yes.
And does it cost anything when you come to the concert in the park series?
No, it does not cost me anything to do that. The way we get our funds is that the various businesses in Monmouth and there might be a couple of them on that area who actually sponsor they buy sponsorship fees, we put their banner up and racks so they can see them. We'll do that just before the Fourth of July. So everybody gets to see them so we put them up. That's how we pay for it. Of course the city helps us out too. So yeah, good deal.
Other Other events that happen in the park though sometimes there's arts and crafts.
Yeah, there's some arts and crafts this year. We're looking at a better word. We're looking at a farmer's market type. So the wares out there on the backside there. So we're looking at other things in there. The arts and crafts are good for the little ones that come. So the parents can relax, knowing that the kids are right over there playing at the table. So yeah, it's good.
And we don't have food trucks located on site. But there are so many great restaurants and bars located right around that square. So we hope that when people come, they kind of go and shop locally at some of those places. Yeah,
it makes it easy, especially when they buy sponsorships. It makes it easy to get by I tried to announce that from the stage, Hey, over there, make sure you patronize the various businesses that have come up. So everybody's aware of that and works out well.
And I bet we have a bunch of musicians listening right now wanting to know how if they wanted to get involved in music in the park next year, how would they go about being considered to be one of the bands?
Well, we start looking at those in December. And then a lot of them call into the City, and then they're referred back down, or they can go to the Monmouth Business Association website and leave something there and we can get back to them. Yeah.
Okay. So I know that during music in the park, Bill, you'll often have like a raffle like what other activities go on, like, is there an intermission in the middle
The band takes a break about halfway through the concert. So somewhere around 730, they'll take a break. And we'll hold a little drawing, we give away the tickets, they don't cost anything to anybody. We give away the tickets. And then we hold a little drawing and the prizes come again, from the business communities who volunteer, you know, a hamburger of ice cream cone, whatever. Sometimes we give away City T shirts, but you know, those type of things. And it's always fun. I mean, the crowd really enjoys it.
Yeah, between the city T shirts and the ice cream coupons. I don't know what's more popular, but I may be biased, you know,
just come and have fun. I mean, really, it is a fun time to enjoy it, go on down two hours in the evening, relax.
And it doesn't compete with any of the other concerts and movie series that go on in our sister city of independence. So you can really have a bevy of entertainment all week long, and take the trolley from one town to the next. And we hope people will do that. Right? Though, can you tell me a little more about how music in the park happens, what makes it possible,
it makes it possible because of the businesses because all the local businesses buy their banners and put their banners up. Music in the park is sponsored by those businesses, we don't go outside the area to bring in corporate sponsors. It is all done with local money. And it's very important to patronize those businesses because they're spending their money to bring this music to you. And so it's it wouldn't happen without that support of the local business community. So we need to support them as we go along.
Absolutely. Everybody appreciates that free concert series. And that is definitely due to some of those participating businesses. Thank you, Bill for bringing that up. All right, Susan, and Ben, welcome. You too. I just want to kind of talk to you both. Ben, we know that you and your day job. You're the fire chief at Polk County Fire District One. But you are joining us today as the current rotary president. That's right. So maybe people don't know. But the Rotary has traditionally been in charge of the parade.
Yes, there has been a rotary event. It's a fundraiser for the Rotary. If you've looked at the cost of participating in the parade, though, I'd say they probably don't make a ton of money on this. And that's probably true. But it's a tradition that's been going on in this community for a very long time. So we are continuing to carry that forward.
And so people can enter floats Do they just need to contact is there going to be a way for people to sign up to enter what's going to be the process for that?
Yes, by the time you are listening to this, there will be an online registration for the parade the month and penance rotary is stepping into the digital age. So it'll be a better way for people to be able to pay in advance with with a card and to stay in communication through email and whatnot rather than the old paper forms and trying to remember a cheque and showing up at the desk early and that sort of stuff. So hopefully it's an easier process for the participants.
Now This is only going to be my third parade because I'm relatively new in town. So there have been some interesting floats and things going on. And what are some of the most interesting types and styles of floats are like there are people on horseback? What kind of things have you seen through the years in the parade? Ben?
You know, I It's always interesting to me. There's several things of course the the Shriners are always a hit, running around in their cars. Who is it? My kids would be able to tell me I don't know if it's Rick or Leo or one of them's always getting towed at the end of it. And you know, one of these years is gonna fix his car, but it's always entertaining to see him following it up. There are some people who it's always good to see Abraham Lincoln walking around, it's a treat, to be at the store at the grocery store in between the parades and and see him just doing his shopping as well. Day to day person here in our community who will I always note in the parade. There are some people with with some unique cars. That's pretty neat. My favorites are always when Central High School and Western Oregon University even though they're out of school, when those stand directors and whatnot are able to get some of their students to come back and actually liven up the parade with a little bit of live music. That's real fun. I know we've had the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde come wearing some traditional clothing and doing some drumming and whatnot. That's pretty cool as well to watch. I think I know you asked about my favorite floats. But I will tell you the best part of the Fourth of July in this town is, and I know you said it's your third. But you'll be here for a lot of Fourth of July. And I know that because one of my favorite parts is every year, you see the same people coming back over and over again. And we see we do a morning pancake breakfast also at the fire station. And we see these these kids coming in with their parents as middle schoolers, and then high schoolers. And then they keep coming. And it's because they just got out of college and then all of a sudden here comes some grandbabies to the thing. And it's almost like this the towns that Monmouth and independents and the community has almost like a an annual family reunion and everybody kind of comes back and you see people who went to the schools who are hanging out together. And it's it's really fun to see all the people who come back, I still have friends that I went to Western with who from time to time will come back to spend the Fourth of July in Monmouth, even though they've you know gone off to move other places because it's just a really special place to be and we do some really incredible activities around here.
And something that our other listeners outside of the area may not know is that it is a tradition in Monmouth and independence to line the streets with your chair probably two weeks in advance. Can you talk a little bit about that great tradition at the chair lined streets?
I believe it's a competition, it seems that way to me anyways. And that's exciting to watch. I'm not I'm not on social media much. But I believe within a few minutes of the first chair getting set out there are there are posts, with photos and of that happening.
And it's pretty unbelievable. People will leave their chairs out there for several weeks. And it's just a known thing that everybody just leaves everybody's chair alone. It's a wait, we have a lot of dignity and respect here for one another's property on the Fourth of July. So yeah, it's such a great thing to see all those out there. So then do we need more volunteers to help with the Fourth of July parade? Are we looking for volunteers?
Absolutely. You know, we try to run most of the volunteer stuff comes that way we get great help from the cities from their public works as well as their police departments with some of the road stuff. But as far as just getting the parade setup, we use Western Oregon University's campus, they're nice enough to let us use that. But it takes a lot to get registrations done to get people in order to get people started. We actually judged them there are awards for the participants as well. So if anybody can reach out to the Monmouth independence, Rotary to help with that we promise you, you will get a job that you is you will probably say wow, this is above my paygrade. But we'll say we need you. It's yours. So that's great. There's so many opportunities to volunteer for things that have to do with the parade.
And if folks want to get involved and volunteer, they can reach out directly to the Rotary Club by going to em I rotary club.org. And there is a contact form there that you can just send at the Rotary Club and email with the subject line about Fourth of July and somebody will be back in touch with you. That's right. And what is the parade route then like where does this parade go?
So we start at Western Oregon University, everybody lines up there, it's that in itself the staging is a is a feat right because we only have one part of Monmouth avenue to use. And then of course we have a lot of horses in the parade. Thankfully Dr. Bob Archer is a rotary member so he is down there at the stadium where they can have the bathrooms open and they can get water for all the horses and make sure the horses are being taken care of. Then of course we have all the fire engines and police officers needing to come in kind of last minute so they're coming up Jackson Street to funnel in from there. But it all sort of starts right there in the corner of Jackson and Monmouth Avenue comes down goes straight down Main Street and it's it's the route that most of us take probably most days in this town right going from the top of Main Street and Monmouth down to Riverfront Park and independence a pretty straight shot. So the three events that morning of course, the rotaries in charge of the parade, but we also have happening in the community. Starting right there in Monmouth at 1130 is the Monmouth mini marathon. The Fourth of July mini marathon there goes from the new or old Monmouth City Hall 2.6 miles down to the old independent city hall, which is now parallel 45 Right after that runs starts at 1130 starts the kids parade in Monmouth, which goes from the corner jocks and a mama's half down to down Main Street to Eccles street or the old market places. And then of course after that at noon, we have the Grand Parade starting there from Western Oregon University, going all the way down Main Street to Monmouth Street, and to Riverview Park and independence.
Fantastic. So that is a lot going on that day not to mention fireworks that evening over at the riverfront and independence. So we hope everybody checks out both towns that day. There's a lot to offer but certainly a lot going on and mom at the police there's a car show going on that day as well. And we also have Susan Farley who's gonna give us a little fill in on some of the activities because I know the arts and culture commission. Y'all have been so busy this year, but you certainly got a lot going on for the Fourth of July. I tell me a little bit about that. Susan, please. First, before we get into that, I want to know about you, Susan, how long have you been volunteering with arts and commission? Tell me some of that good stuff.
Well, thank you for having me today, Sabra. I was a teacher and school administrator. And my husband and I had a lavender farm in West Salem for years. And then we I'm since retired and about four years ago, we moved to Monmouth. And in the past, I'd been involved with several organizations in Salem, and decided that since we moved, I wanted to be more involved with the Monmouth community. And a friend of mine had told me about being on the arts and culture commission. And so I've been with them for about three years now.
So I interrupted you before you got going on on all the activities. So please, yeah, tell me about some of the stuff that you're going to be doing that week of Fourth of July?
Well, the Arts Commission is really excited this year, because we have three very important events that are going to happen. First is the community art show, which in the past, the Arts Commission has organized and planned, but this year, we have a new theme. And the theme this year is turning trash into treasure. And the purpose is to educate and excite the community about waste reduction, reuse, and recycle through art. And the commission is asking for recycled artwork to be entered in the annual art show, showcasing artists of all ages. And the recycled art means using items that are no longer needed or wanted and would normally be thrown away. And so we're looking for people who have imagination and creativity to create some sort of original art from old toys or board games or books or anything like that. And be ready to enter that. And like I said, it's for people of all ages.
Sure. And how do they enter?
Well, on Sunday, July 2, the artists submit their entries at the art show tanned in the main street Park from noon to five. And then on Monday, July 3, the art show opens from nine to 5pm. And there's People's Choice Voting, and there's one day only this year, and they can vote for each category of ages. And then Tuesday, July 4, the art show opens from nine to three. And the winners of the people's choice award will be given a ribbon.
Very nice. All right, be professional artists doing any recycled art.
Well, there will be some that may want to enter the art show. But we also this year, one of the events that we're going to have is that as of today, we have about 25 vendors who are artists that will feature their artwork, and they do recycled art. And there will be for example reclaimed whimsical art, woodworking photography, 3d paper, art, recycled garden art, etc. To many to name jewelry. We have a metal artist coming. Kelly Phipps who has been on Oregon Artbeat. So we have well known folks who have done this in many events before. So we're really excited. It's their first time here in Monmouth. And so we really hope that everyone will come and shop and support those vendors as well as all the vendors that will be there.
What inspired the theme for recyclable art? Like where did that even come from? What conversations were y'all having where you can really nail down that theme.
We had seen that there were lots of events that had been happening, for example, even in Vancouver, and Sonoma, California, and so on. And we kind of put together that it was one way to show the community that it was important to focus on this recycling theme, but make it fun. And so we're also going to have a very exciting event called the trash and fashion hat show. And that'll happen on July 3, it'll be a runway show at the amphitheater in the main street Park. And what we want is to showcase extravagant, fun and original hat designs that you create from recycled and discarded objects. And so you can transform creatively anything from junk into something remarkable and wearable. And then take the stage and show off your fabulous hat creation. And just really wow the crowd with your appearance. And all ages are welcome from Monmouth and independence area. And we encourage individuals, families, and individual and businesses as well. And we hope that you'll gather your family members and your friends and business colleagues for this really fun event. And we have three very important judges this year. We have Mayor Koontz, who will be There we have Rebecca Salina Oliveros, City Councilwoman and we also have executive director Nikki Marazani will be there as well. And the winners in each category will get a $50 Visa gift card. And some of the categories are most creative use of materials most glamorous and elegant, most innovative use of materials, most adventurous, imaginative, humorous, and the most unique business that we have there. So the deadline for entry on that is Monday, June 26. And once again, I encourage you to gather your friends and get together and make a fabulous hat.
Wow, okay, well, I hope to see a bunch of fascinator since the coronation. I've just been kind of wrapped up in English fashion. So I hope we get a lot of fascinators out of that. So Susan, you've you've talked about a lot of different things that people can participate in. Where do they find the information for how they sign up for the those activities,
while the community art show entry form and also the hat show entry form are available on the city of Monmouth website. Also, they're available with the Monmouth and independence libraries. And at the end of this month, we'll be putting up all kinds of posters all around independence and Monmouth and there will be a QR code on there to scan for more information.
Well, that does it for this episode of Monmouth monthly I want to thank my three guests today. Bill Foster Susan Farley and cheapen stanky for joining me to talk about so many of the activities coming up this summer. Just to wrap it up. You don't want to forget music in the park is going to be every Wednesday night starting in the Wednesdays in July and August goes from 630 to 830 at Main Street Park and it is a family friendly event. Bring your own chair, your blanket and all of your family and friends and come down for that. We also want to remind folks about the Fourth of July festivities. It is a full day in Monmouth and independence from the pancake breakfasts to support our Polk County Fire District One to the fun run to the kids parade to the car show talent show that's happening we barely scratched the surface of the activities that are happening here. And Susan was kind enough to remind us of all the ways that you can participate in some of the Arts and Cultures contests that they're having. The arts and culture Commission is doing a great job of getting folks engaged in the work that they're doing. And we look forward to seeing some of the submissions that you all come up with. Until then we hope that you will rate subscribe tell a friend listen and share and we will talk to you next month on Monmouth mottley.
Thank you for joining us from Monmouth monthly My name is Sabra Jewell. Our music is catching up by chill steady and we record at Indy Commons which is co working community independence oregon. Please find us wherever you find podcasts rate review, tell the friend and we will see you next month.
