Heavy winter storms damaged structures at the Oregon Country Fair site in Veneta this year. And KLCC’s own booth is no exception.
On this sunny afternoon, Steve Gab of Rainbow Valley Design and Construction uses a chainsaw to trim a new roofing beam. It’s part of a freshly-assembled framework that’ll cover the KLCC booth once complete.
“There was a lot of damage at the Fair this year, we were really pretty fortunate,” says Gab. “We had that one-story section taken out completely, but our two-story sections of the booth were left intact.”
After a foot and a half of snow fell across the region in late February, many trees and branches collapsed, crushing structures across the fairgrounds.
“A huge branch from that tree right there just came down right in the middle of our booth,” says KLCC’s Marketing Director, Gayle Chisholm.
“This part where KLCC does the meet-and-greet just collapsed.”
With the fair’s golden anniversary this year, organizers expect a heavy turnout. Crews are rushing to clean up the winter storm damage and make repairs ahead of the first visitor.
Craftmsan Mike Scarola says in all his years, he’s not seen anything like this storm damage.
“No, not from out here,” he tells KLCC. “On some construction around town, with those trees down and all, but not out here.”
Having put in some hours already, Scarola examines the work he and other builders have done so far, and figures he’s almost got his time in for the day.
“I’m going to try to get outta here sooner than the rest of them, but there’s several walls to put up and a few more rafters to put in. And then, decorations.”
Crews typically arrive prepared to do some rebuilding at the Oregon Country Fair due to recurring floods every year. But this time, lots of cut up branches and smashed panels are being piled up, too.
Copyright 2019, KLCC.
