The Oregon Country Fair's drum tower got a monstrous renovation.
For the last 25 years, Jesse Murdock-Bell has been a regular at the country fair.
"I started working on it when I was like 12. I think officially I wasn’t on the construction crew until about 18."
But while many of the booths at the fair feature a familiar name or food, Murdock-Bell’s work is more behind the scenes, in construction. It’s made a big impact on the fair’s landscape, and the popular drum tower attraction is his long-term project.
"This used to just be some hay bales in a circle to play drums on, and since I started working on it we built a fish, that turned into a dragon, that’s turned into twice the structure, we’ve gotten rid of the hay bales and now we’re rebuilding the dragon entirely to fully realize that vision."
Murdock-Bell says that the location is important for more than just the fair. Last year a 4,500 year old camas oven was found in the area, a remnant of Native American practices.
"And also we found a 4,000 year old camas oven in this whole, which means that people have been drumming right here in this spot for at least 4,000 years."
The drum tower dragon will be fully complete next year, just in time for the fair’s fiftieth anniversary.