Could You See the Forest for the Tree Planting Festival Parade?

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The 70th annual Oakridge-Westfir Tree Planting Festival Parade feigns a washout with timely partly-sunny sprinkles.

By TREY KODMAN/for The Herald  —  The idiom that you can’t see the forest for the trees has the definition of not seeing the broader scope of things due to the overwhelming distractions within. But in the case of the 70th annual Oakridge-Westfir Tree Planting Festival, the longest-running tree planting and a World Heritage event, the welcomed small distractions were center-stage. And by small, I mean seedlings. 

In a LinkedIn post by Anna Yarbrough, owner of and consulting forester at Free Range Forestry LLC, she said, “In total, we handed out 600 seedlings with Oregon Women in Timber. We were happy to get a little rain on our parade—perfect weather for seedlings.”

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Grand Marshal Gene Tomlin

Driven by his daughter Lori McMahon, Gene Tomlin was this year’s Parade Grand Marshal. After living in Oakridge for 76 years,  he’s known for hanging the first Tree Planting banner on Crest View between Double Trouble and Rays. Moreover, Gene did this while working for Lane Electric Cooperative from 1953 until 1976. Tomlin is also famous for winning the best beard-growing contest at the Tree Planting Festival during the Oregon centennial statehood celebration of 1959.

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Before the parade, Tomlin shared a story about how the Lane Electric Cooperative was once named Lane County Electric Cooperative. Standing along the fence of the Oakridge school sports fields, Tomlin said, “I helped hang all of the first lights from those poles, and that was before we had trucks with buckets.” Imagining that task was awe-inspiring. Suddenly, four of his grandchildren came over to greet him and take a group photo before the parade started.

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A parade of locals for locals

The parade was entirely of the area citizens’ making. They brought out all the classic collectible vehicles from Oakridge Museum and personal collections. The exhaust from the John Deere tractor while towing an original covered wagon gave me the nostalgia of my great-grandfather’s tractor on his ranch. However, the nostalgia for the festival-goers who have lived this experience for decades must have been multiplied many times beyond my own. And, those who may have been newer were only building the foundations of reverence for future years’ memories. 

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The parade brings people from far and wide back home

Rustie Ackland, who was the event’s announcer, shared a quick thought. Ackland said, “The biggest thing is how many people come back home for it. It’s always fun to see the faces you haven’t seen for a while—a lot of people I went to school with.” Ackland, is an Oakridge High School graduate of 1981. She said she has been announcing the Tree Planting Festival parades for over ten years.

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TPF president Tharp speaks of a thriving community

I spoke with Vaness Tharp, the Tree Planting Festival President, after the weekend.  Her frequency was that of success and genuine satisfaction. She said, “I know how important this small town is, and how everybody stepping in and sharing their gifts helps to make a community flourish and thrive.” This introduction she gave was that of a goal-driven educator who came back to her hometown in the depths of a global pandemic to lead not only first graders returning to the classroom but coordinate the flagship event of the Oakridge-Westfir community. 

“To me, [involvement] is all about relationships and outreach. This [event] invites people to come home—to share their gifts. It’s creating a safe and respectable space where people can share ideas,” Tharp said about her current strategies to progress with community involvement in her events. “There are a lot of people who throw ideas out or things they want changed. And then there are the people who say, ‘I will provide the resources, the help, the support, the time, the energy to make these things happen.’”

The TPF is a legacy event

“If you talk to anybody who was born and raised in Oakridge or Westfir, they have a core memory that stems back to the Tree Planting Festival.” This answer was part of Tharp’s favorite memories from this year’s parade. “And I got to see my little students I taught last year enjoying the bike rides and parade. That was another full-circle moment.”

Another event Tharp is involved with is the Bus Fair upcoming June 23-25. https://www.thebusfair.com/

https://oakridgewestfirtreeplantingfestival.com/

Vanessa Tharp – [email protected] or 541-913-0762 

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