Oakridge, Here We Come!
By Zak Rosen
We’re heading to Oakridge, Oregon (pop. 3,755), the recently coined, “Mountain Biking Capital of the Northwest” in a few days. I’m getting really excited to dig into to the once prosperous timber town, which has since, like so many other small towns across Oregon, fallen on hard times . But as is often the case, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel. More on that later.
In the meantime though, I wanted to share this newspaper review of “The Night Messengers,”an Oakridge community theater production from 1999.
If you live in a big city, it can be easy to take for granted the overwhelming assortment of arts and cultural happenings taking place on any given night or weekend. But in places like Oakridge, Oregon, where there’s only one stop-light in town, people often rely on one or two institutions to uphold an entire communities public art output.
Do you live in a small town? If so, we’d love to hear about your community theater, local museum, or concert house… Leave a comment below!
Tags: Al Letson, oakridge, oakridge oregon, State of the Re:Union, timber town, timber towns
