Gladstone Community Festival History
proudly presented by Gladstone/Oak Lodge Rotary
In 2015, the Festival Board decided to rename this event, "Gladstone Community Festival" to better reflect the community organizations, local businesses, and local population who come together to make the festival into the great event it is.
Excerpts from the original press release:
A Festival Once Dead Now Revived Under a New Name: Gladstone Cultural Festival (Click for Details)
Due to funding issues, the Chautauqua Festival for 2013 was cancelled. (See Oregon Live, May 13, 2013 for details.) In an effort to bring back this community summer icon, an independent group of concerned citizens created a Facebook page called "Save Chautauqua" and met Saturday morning, May 25, 2013 in Max Patterson Park. These citizens were pleasantly surprised as leaders from the Gladstone/ Oak Grove Rotary decided to host a new Gladstone Cultural Festival (GCF) as their biggest annual project.
Honoring treasured festival customs, the Chautauqua Festival played a significant role in creating the new GCF. To support Rotary's mission of raising the standards in education and economic development, Rotary enhanced the activities in the summer festival and renamed it "The Gladstone Community Festival."
The Festival today includes vendors, family activities, sporting events, competitions, and entertainment, with some new events each year.
The ultimate goal of GCF was to bring our community together for shared fun and entertainment.
Click here to read more about Chautauqua on Wikipedia
Excerpts from the original press release:
A Festival Once Dead Now Revived Under a New Name: Gladstone Cultural Festival (Click for Details)
Due to funding issues, the Chautauqua Festival for 2013 was cancelled. (See Oregon Live, May 13, 2013 for details.) In an effort to bring back this community summer icon, an independent group of concerned citizens created a Facebook page called "Save Chautauqua" and met Saturday morning, May 25, 2013 in Max Patterson Park. These citizens were pleasantly surprised as leaders from the Gladstone/ Oak Grove Rotary decided to host a new Gladstone Cultural Festival (GCF) as their biggest annual project.
Honoring treasured festival customs, the Chautauqua Festival played a significant role in creating the new GCF. To support Rotary's mission of raising the standards in education and economic development, Rotary enhanced the activities in the summer festival and renamed it "The Gladstone Community Festival."
The Festival today includes vendors, family activities, sporting events, competitions, and entertainment, with some new events each year.
The ultimate goal of GCF was to bring our community together for shared fun and entertainment.
Click here to read more about Chautauqua on Wikipedia
Gladstone Chautauqua in History: In 1894, Oregon City author Eva Emery Dye persuaded Judge Cross on the notion that bringing the Chautauqua movement to the area would be of great benefit to the community and surrounding area. Judge Cross decided to grant a fifty-year lease of his land (named Gladstone Park) to the Willamette Valley Chautauqua Association for an annual summer assembly that offered lectures, concerts and theatrical performances. Gladstone’s first outdoor Chautauqua was held on July 24–26, 1894 and the park grew to be the third-largest permanent Chautauqua assembly area in the United States.
The first auditorium, built in 1895, seated 3000 people; the second, erected in 1917, seated more than twice that many.
Because of Chautauqua, Gladstone became a cultural and social center. Railroad and street cars brought people from Portland and other towns and communities for concerts, ball games and other events. Speakers and performers included the evangelist, Billy Sunday; band master, John Phillip Sousa; poet, Joaquin Miller; presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt; and the most popular speaker of all, William Jennings Bryan. The first Clackamas County Fair (1907) was held on the Chautauqua Park grounds.
The first auditorium, built in 1895, seated 3000 people; the second, erected in 1917, seated more than twice that many.
Because of Chautauqua, Gladstone became a cultural and social center. Railroad and street cars brought people from Portland and other towns and communities for concerts, ball games and other events. Speakers and performers included the evangelist, Billy Sunday; band master, John Phillip Sousa; poet, Joaquin Miller; presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt; and the most popular speaker of all, William Jennings Bryan. The first Clackamas County Fair (1907) was held on the Chautauqua Park grounds.