• MONDAY 5-20-2013

  
  

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  (photo courtesy of RogueWeather.com)

  Moore,  Oklahoma and others in OK smacked by Mile-Wide Tornadoes. Keep them in your prayers. We'll talk more with Greg Roberts at Rogue Weather.com tomorrow on this developing story.

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  GUEST INFORMATION 5-20-2013

  6:35 Dan Isett, Parents Television Council. ESPN Boss Trashes McCain’s Cable Choice Bill, But ESPN Costs Consumers the Most on Their Cable Bills. Read more

  7:10 Bernie Ziemenski - battling Jackson County over his 60 year old billboard on

  7:35 Larry Graves - director of JoCo airports, here as a citizen refuting some of Dale Matthews issues with 17-49 from Friday's show.

  8:10 Dr. Dennis Powers "Visiting Past and Present". Today, Gold Dust Days!

  Gold Dust Days and More

  By Dennis Powers

  Dating back for decades, first named as the “Salmon Festival,” and then as the “Community Carnival,” Gold Hill’s Gold Dust Days has met the tough standards for several chutzpah awards. The all-day affair is now set for the first Saturday in June. For several decades, the Gold Hill Lion’s Club and/or the Chamber of Commerce ran it as a 2-3 day affair, and then reduced this to one day; the Gold Hill Historical Society took over the responsibilities in 2007.  

  In the past, voters have selected a King and a Queen (along with her court) to ride in the parade. It has had arm-wrestling, pie-eating, best liar, talent and beauty, bow-and-arrow, and custom car show contests, complete with a beer garden, buffalo barbeques or salmon bakes, and bluegrass and country entertainment. However, Gold Hill never does anything that’s typical. For the 75th Anniversary of Gold Hill (1959), a beautification project was specifically added for its Gold Dust Days: buildings were painted harvest gold with white trim and with a “variety in colored doors.” Although a civic-minded couple donated the paint, it seems that not every merchant took advantage of the free paint--but twenty eventually did.

  In the sixties and seventies, the festivities included the “hill climb” (or “Mountain Race”). Entrants raced through Gold Hill from the city park, looped upwards to the top of Beacon Hill (also known as Nugget Butte), and then back to the city. Described as a tough race and then the only one in Oregon for a town festival, the race featured a climb of over 1,450 feet (from 1,100 to 2,550 high) before a runner made the downhill scramble to the finish line. The race distance was usually 3.3 miles, round trip, and the steepest grade was 50%. Occasionally, organizers added a route over Lampman Road to bring the distance to 6 tough miles in the sun.   

  Depending on the year, there were four- to six-age divisions (i.e.: 12-15, 15-18, 18-24, 24-42, 42-60, and 60 on-up.) Only one entrant at times entered into a category, especially in the over-60 one. And in one year, the one “over-60” contestant who finished the race wasn’t even clocked as to his time--finishing the course was good enough. The race eventually was discontinued, as heat prostration could overcome contestants--and did a few--as it was then held during the hot month of August.

  A few times, Gold Dust Days included skydiving with prizes given out to whoever came closest to a set target that was in the city park. Jumpers from the Southern Oregon Paratroopers Club started their freefall at 6,500 feet and fell 3,500 feet in 25 seconds before opening their chutes. In 1971, “a wind storm made the jump difficult.”

  Also in the early seventies, Gold Hill put on a different type of race. Dressed in women’s dresses with high heels, the men (from lumberjacks to attorneys) raced while holding a beer mug held high, and had to make it to a tavern a couple of blocks away with the beer still intact. The Oregon Highway Patrol and county officers erected road blocks to allow the “contestants” to make their run. Afterwards, prizes were handed out to the finishers. This competition ended after four years when complaints came, but an estimated 2,000 partygoers annually came to these Gold Hill Days.

  Today, the festivities are set for one day and begin with a pancake breakfast held at the Gold Hill Grange, followed by the annual parade that starts at 10:00 a.m. in front of Patrick Elementary School. There are usually two “older” parade grand marshals, who represent the “golden memories of the past.” The all-day events usually include a Haystack Scramble (searching for coins mixed in the hay), live music, pony rides, pioneer wagon rides, bake sale, old-fashioned butter churning, gold panning, and displays, along with different demonstrations at the nearby Gold Hill Historical Society’s Museum at 504 First Street.

  From Memorial Day and July 4th affairs to annual events, other “grand affairs” are put on for Southern Oregon. Held typically in mid-July, the Jackson County Fair has numerous events and going-ons. Some 85,000 people attended the six-day fair in 2012; and the events included everything from livestock judging to beer gardens, from Go-Kart races to steak suppers, and sprint car races to entertainment. There is also the Grants Pass Boatnik festival, the Rogue River Rooster Crow, and Prospect’s logging contests, to mention a few others.    

  Sources: Buffy Pollock, “Gold Hill honors its glittery past with Gold Dust Days,” Mail Tribune, June 3, 2011, at 2011 Gold Dust Day; Buffy Pollock, “Gold Dust Day: Gold Hill's annual shindig starts Saturday morning,” Mail Tribune, June 5, 2008, at 2008 Gold Dust Day; historical background, Gold Hill Historical Society files and records, Janet Sessions and Anita Brown, President and Past-President, Gold Hill Historical Society.   

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