Annual Old Festival Festival promises a spectacle of sights, sounds, aromas and flavors

The Newberg Old Fashioned Festival has adopted as its theme this year “Newberg’s family reunion,” an apt sentiment for the town’s annual summer party.

Slated for July 24-27, the event has deep roots in the community, having begun as the Berry Festival in 1921 and gone through numerous iterations over the past century.

“The world has changed a lot since 1921, but Newberg still comes together each summer to celebrate community,” said Bob Woodruff, who began volunteering at the festival years ago and ascended to president of the festival committee in 2024. “The festival has been a part of the growth and development of the town. We are proud to promote local businesses and offer an event that everyone in town can attend and enjoy.”

The event this year marks the continued return of the festival from a difficult time.

“In 2020, the festival was cancelled due to Covid,” Woodruff said. “Restrictions were still in place in 2021 and we held fireworks … that spectators could view from their cars. In 2022, the festival returned, but due to the labor shortage our carnival vendor was not able to come that year. The festival returned to full strength in 2023 and 2024.”

The content of the festival is the responsibility of the committee, which Woodruff said numbers around 15 individuals who begin planning the event as soon as the current year’s festival is completed.

“We are an all-volunteer organization and volunteers plan all aspects of the festival,” he added.

The committee is also in charge of utilizing fees gathered from vendors and a portion of the carnival’s proceeds to fund everything from musical acts to the popular fireworks show.

“Since the founding of the festival, we have been sponsored by local businesses and seek to promote Newberg as a great place to raise a family and do business,” Woodruff said. “We do not receive any tax money.”

This year’s festival will see a few additions and a few subtractions from previous events.

“Our royal court will have storytime for children at the cultural stage Saturday at 1 p.m.,” Woodruff reported. “Valve Cover Races are new at the cruise-In this year. We were not able to find volunteers to coordinate the dog costume contest or 5K run this year. They both are fun events and we hope to have volunteers step up and restart these in the future.”

What’s on tap

Things get started on Thursday when festival activities will be open from 4 to 10 p.m. and continue from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

On Thursday, food and marketplace vendors will unveil their booths in the midway at Memorial Park, while the children’s parade is slated for 6 p.m., with entrants staging at East Sixth and Edwards streets. An opening ceremony and coronation of the royal court is set for 7 p.m., then the Catherine Loyer & Strawberry band will take the stage at 7:30 p.m.

On Friday the vendors in Memorial Park will be on hand from noon to 9:30 p.m., Oregon Bird Man will appear on the children’s stage at 2 p.m., the carnival will roll from 4 to 9 p.m. in Renne Field and the Thunder Road band will take to the main stage at 5:30 p.m., followed by the Dancehall Days band at 7:30 p.m.

Festival kicks in to high gear on Saturday

Things kick off very early on Saturday when the local Rotary clubs hold their popular pancake breakfast from 6 a.m. to noon. The grand parade will stage at Renne Field and take to the streets at 10 a.m. The carnival opens at 11 a.m. and new this year is the Lutheran Community Services Northwest kids and family resource fair, following the parade at the tennis courts at Renne Field.

A hymn sing youth choir is set for 1:30 p.m. on the main stage, Pranksters Big Band will appear at 3:15 p.m. on the main stage, followed by the Timothy James band at 5:30 p.m.

The Double DT Band will appear at 7 p.m. on the fireworks stage at Renne Field and bluesman Ty Curtis band will shred at 8 p.m. on the main stage. The fireworks show is set to explode at 10 p.m. at Renne Field.

The Rotary clubs will continue their pancake breakfast at 7 a.m. on Sunday, followed by an appearance by the Newberg Community Band from 1 to 2:45 p.m. on the main stage in Memorial Park. The annual Newberg Community Hymn Sing will wrap up the festivities at 3 p.m. at Memorial Park.

Proceeding over the event will be the royal court, all students at Newberg High School and including Queen Annie Williamson and princesses Kalie Scharfenberger and Addyson Stewart.

Longtime festival volunteer and coordinator Brian Love will serve as grand marshal of the parade and the popular Cruise-In is set for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday on East Sixth Street. Registration is $20 at noff.cruisein@gmail.com.

For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit newbergoldfashionedfestival.org.