The Klamath Falls Downtown Association is getting ready to celebrate the blues — Blue Zones, appreciation of Crater Lake National Park, and blues and bluegrass music.
The “Celebrate the Blues Summer Kickoff” event, formerly known as Third Thursday, runs 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, June 16, on Main Street in downtown Klamath Falls.
“We just want to celebrate the Blue Zones initiative along with Crater Lake,” said association president Kendall Bell in a recent interview with the Herald and News.
“It’s still the food, the festivities that you would see at a Third Thursday,” Bell added.
Surprises in store
The concept stems from the centennial anniversary of Crater Lake National Park as well as the kickoff of Blue Zones in Klamath Falls, the first designated Blue Zones project site in the state of Oregon.
Crater Lake-themed art, ranger talks and a few other pending surprises are in store, according to Bell.
The event also will host a wine and beer garden for those age 21 and over, live music throughout the evening, a variety of food truck vendors, bounce houses for kids and activities for all ages, including a selfie competition and a smoothie bicycle.
Artist Stefan Sevedes will also be on hand and creating sculptures for Sugarman’s Corner, the city’s new pocket park set to open in time for the July 4 holiday weekend.
“We will still have three events like we did last summer, the events will just be different, and they aren’t called Third Thursday,” said Chantal Alatorre, coordinator for the KFDA.
Alatorre is assisting with layout of the festival as part of her role as a Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) participant, a program offered through University of Oregon. Alatorre, a 2015 graduate of University of California Davis, started in the role in September and assists the KFDA in several aspects, especially in event planning. She explained the name of the June kick-off event has been changed due to a shift to coordinating with other organizations on the following events: Lake Jam, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament and festival organized by former Oregon Tech basketball player Michael Nunes at Veteran’s Memorial Park planned on July 30-31; and Arts on the Flyway, a three-day art festival organized in conjunction with the Favell Museum of Western Art and Indian Artifacts and the Ross Ragland Theater in September.
“This is an experimental year,” Alatorre said. “If all three events are well-received by the community, then we’ll take that into consideration when we plan our next summer schedule.”
It was too difficult to coordinate all of the events, plus traditional Third Thursday events, so KFDA members decided to focus efforts and collaborate where possible, while listening to the needs of the community.
“There’s going to be a court on Main Street,” Alatorre said, referring to the Lake Jam Festival. “The bulk of it will be at Veteran’s Park but also things going on on Main Street, and that was because that’s what the community wanted.
“As long as the community comes to us with suggestions, we can definitely plan for that,” Alatorre added. “Of course we want the community’s input, because at the end of the day, we’re here to serve the community.”
Bell shared similar sentiments.
“We as an organization have limited resources because we’re all volunteers,” Bell said. “Third Thursday took a lot of time and capacity. Then when we were presented with a potential partnership with Lake Jam and Arts on the Flyway, we liked the idea of that collaborative effort, but we knew we couldn’t do Third Thursday and those two new events.”
To learn more about being a vendor for any or all of the events, or to volunteer or offer sponsorship, contact Alatorre at 541-591-9444 or by email at downtownklamathfalls@gmail.com.
Originally Published in Herald and News
2701 Foothills Blvd.
Klamath Falls, OR 97603
Phone: 541-885-4410