Bites & Sights: Clear your calendar!

We don’t usually start Bites & Sights with a specific event, but the Springfield Block Party is different.

It’s from 4 to 10 p.m. on Saturday and has the works: live music and karaoke, local food trucks, craft beverages, a mechanical bull (!) and *drum roll* the Lookout staff. Yep, we’ll have a booth.

So, while it’s been super nice newslettering with you, we were wondering if you’d want to hang out in person? 👉👈 You’ll get to meet us journalists, editors and other Lookout colleagues throughout the evening.

It would be so totally cool if you stopped by our booth. But no presh.

Well, maybe a little presh. For now, let’s get into all the festivals, shows and one-offs you can get into this weekend.

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YOUR WEEKEND ITINERARY

On Friday evening, you have a few options.

There’s a 7 p.m. fundraiser benefit concert at Viking Brewing to support the Minnesota 15, the group of 15 Minneapolis activists who are facing federal charges in connection with anti-ICE protests in their city. The Raging Grannies, Alder Street and Llorona will be performing music. And the evening will also include a live interview with one of the Minnesota defendants.

There’s the Mayor’s Teen Art Show at Maude Kerns Art Center, which opens this week with a reception and awards ceremony starting Friday evening at 5 p.m.

Comedian Steph Tolev’s stretch of shows at Olsen Run is entirely sold out — except for Friday night. She’s an up-and-coming hoot and a half, if you haven’t heard of her. Tickets are $38.

Saturday promises a whirlwind of activities, so we’re going to rapid-fire the deets.

Love classic cars? Florence has just the thing for you: The Fall Classic Car Show begins at 9 a.m. with a 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony in Historic Old Town, followed by an outdoor showroom of finished American, British and German automobiles, trucks, classics and custom-built vehicles along Bay, Maple and Nopal streets. The show is free to spectators.
Love classic cars — but a little closer to Eugene? Veneta will also have a classic car show during its annual Harvest Festival, happening from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. along Broadway Avenue. The free event also boasts live music, a quilt show, food truck bites and a chili cook-off.
Worming for an apple? Head to Parker Learning Gardens in Eugene at 10 a.m. to harvest and press your own cider. The community harvest day takes you through the full cider pressing process, right on a working farm. You’ll pick fruit, feed the apple grinder, work the press and sample the fresh cider you just made. Register here to participate.
Dig local produce? The Youth Farm is hosting a festival to celebrate its first season at its new location just below Mount Pisgah, with an open produce stand, cider pressing, free pick-your-own flower bouquets, fruit and veggie tastings, farm tours, live music and kids crafts.
Need to ward off vampires? Down to Earth is throwing its 18th Garlic Fest from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Eugene storefront. Choose from 20 garlic seed varieties, taste fresh garlic and garlic bleu cheese dip and meet the farmers themselves. A potent and powerful-smelling event sure to ward off the hungriest bloodsuckers.
Want to meet journalists IRL? The Springfield Block Party, happening from 4 to 10 p.m. across 12 blocks of downtown Main Street, is your chance. Alongside Lookout’s super cool booth, you’ll find lots of fun (and family-friendly) activities. Organizers expect the annual event to be bigger than ever.
Want to see a musical about repressed German youths discovering their sexuality, set to rock music? Saturday is the opening night of the Oregon Contemporary Theatre’s run of “Spring Awakening,” where the live music is played by an Orchestra NEXT band inside the set.

OK, wow, after all of that you might want a lowkey Sunday. Perfect: On Sept. 13, you’ll be headed a little north to the 39th annual Coburg Antique and Vintage Fair to pick through antique goodies from more than 100 vendors on the streets of downtown Coburg.

One thing to call out: this weekend is the last run of shows for “The Shark is Broken,” the play at the Very Little Theatre about the troubled behind-the-scenes production of the famed Steven Spielberg blockbuster “Jaws.”

There are two concerts on Monday evening, too — but this newsletter is about the weekend, you silly billy. (You can read about those shows in Annie’s Things to Do roundup.)

one thing we loved this week

Taylor here. One thing about me is I LOVE to bake. Brown butter chocolate chip cookies, babka (my mom’s favorite), key lime pie, challah (Shanah tovah to all who celebrate), pandemic sourdough — you name it. But after moving across the country and starting a new job this year, baking fell by the wayside.

This past week, however, the rain and fall chill inspired me to make the fluffiest cinnamon rolls (recipe here). There’s something so satisfying about watching the dough rise, the cinnamon swirls, slathering on cream cheese frosting, how it melts a bit into the warm rolls. Oof.

I’m already thinking about my next bake.

in case you missed it — food and arts news

There’s no better time to open a central Texas-style barbecue joint than the start of tailgating season. Mockingbird BBQ opened in downtown Eugene last Friday, the day before the first Ducks football game of the season. The owner’s Texan and Mexican roots are evident throughout the menu, from smoked brisket platters to pulled pork tamales (a must-try). Lots of gluten-free and even a few vegan/vegetarian options, too, so y’all best come by.
Speaking of “Spring Awakening” at Oregon Contemporary Theatre: The live band for the musical is playing from inside the set. That is, a group of musicians from Orchestra NEXT with jazz backgrounds are now paying close attention to stage cues rather than jamming through a piece of music from start to end.
Sheldon High School graduate Bi Pham made it to the finale of “Project Runway,” which airs tonight. We caught up with Pham before the season started, but he’s now one of four designers who have made it all the way through the fashion design reality television series.
This is less an “in case you missed it” and more of a “don’t miss it”: For his last story as a Charles Snowden intern at Lookout, Leo Heffron compiled stories of Lane County residents who lived in New York City or Washington D.C. during 9/11. That story publishes Friday morning.

Question for you

Annie here. I’m getting excited about the BRiGHT Parade (if anyone has any light-up costume tips on a budget, please let me know).

But I keep hearing about the Eugene Celebration back in the day. I moved to Eugene after the celebration wrapped up, but it keeps coming up in interviews, on social media and in casual conversation.

So I want to know: What did I miss? What do you miss? What are your favorite stories from the Eugene Celebration? What was it like? Was it perfect? Did you make a point to go every year? I want to hear it all.

Drop me a line at annie@lookoutlocal.com.