Oregon Festivals. John Shewey

and DoveLewis, dogs and their owners enjoy a terrific celebratory festival in the form of Portland’s biggest dog wash—probably one of the biggest anywhere. In addition to dog washing, grooming, and nail trimming, attendees enjoy live music, a variety of vendors, great food, and outstanding beer—including the special Dogwash Pale Ale.

       VERNONIA SALMON FESTIVAL

      Vernonia

      Hawkins Park

      Early October

       www.vernoniahandsonart.org/salmon-festival/

      Though its twentieth-century calling card was logging and lumber milling, the pretty, little, off-the-radar town of Vernonia actually started as an isolated farming community near the Nehalem River in the mid-1870s, founded by a handful of early settlers—Clark Parker, John and Nancy Van Blaricum, Ozias Cherrington, and Judson Weed (for whom the nearby town of Weed is named). They named the town Vernona after Weed’s daughter, but a clerical error during incorporation made it Vernonia. In those days, the Nehalem River and its tributaries annually drew massive runs of salmon and steelhead—a legacy that this close-knit community honors today with its annual Vernonia Salmon Festival.

      Each October the Salmon Festival, held at Hawkins Park, celebrates not only the annual run of fall chinook salmon but also local agricultural, art, and community cohesion. The Salmon Festival offers activities for all ages and is great for children, with lots of hands-on fun: photo boards, art projects, scavenger hunts, pumpkin carving, scarecrow making, and even trout fishing in a special stocked pond. Moreover, one of the key sponsors of the event, the Upper Nehalam Watershed Council, brings ever-popular Claudia the Chinook for kids to explore: Claudia is a twenty-foot-long hollow replica of a salmon, and inside is a hands-on educational display about salmon habitat. Children get to climb in and out of her and learn more about salmon, as well as watch the real thing—live chinook salmon back from the ocean to spawn—in nearby Rock Creek.

      Claudia, a key part of the Vernonia Salmon Festival, is a 20-foot-long hollow salmon replica with interpretive displays inside.

      The festival grounds also host numerous vendors offering unique handmade crafts, artworks, functional wares, foods (including salmon), and more, along with nonprofits and a variety of agricultural and historical displays. Throughout the day, live music entertains attendees. Hands-On-Art, in addition to providing some of the free activities for kids, runs a raffle and cooks up delicious salmon kabobs and chowder, with proceeds benefiting an arts scholarship at Vernonia High School.

      Straddling both the Nehalem River and Rock Creek, Vernonia sits north of US Highway 26 and south of US Highway 30, both of which reach the Oregon Coast. Connecting them, State Route 47—the Vernonia Highway—leads to this attractive town of 2,300 people set amid bucolic farmlands and verdant forestlands about forty miles northwest of the Portland metro area. It’s just far enough off the major highways to maintain a wonderful small-town ambiance.

       HP LOVECRAFT FILM FESTIVAL® & CTHULHUCON

      Portland

      Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Boulevard

      Early October

       www.hplfilmfestival.com/hplfilmfestival-portland-or