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Albany Visitors Association
122 Ferry St SW
Albany, OR 97321
PO Box 965
Phone:
541-928-0911
Newsletter
Explore Albany, Discover your story
Congratulations 2020 AVA Photo Contest winners
Although things might have been delayed a bit this year for the Annual AVA Photo Contest, we want you to know that the AVA team has been working hard behind the scenes to procure the judges results.
We also extended the People’s Choice award through the entire month of April, which helped give our photographers even more “exposure” across social media, including Facebook and Instagram.
We truly missed getting together with all the shutterbugs who submitted their work, and seeing the images up on the big screen at The Pix Theater. We hope you enjoy this little video of the winning photos. And make sure to check out all of the images submitted on our Flickr pages.
Congratulations to all and thank you for transforming a challenging year into a beautiful reflection of our community, (See the full list of winners below the video.)
*Featured image top of this page, Albany Farmers’ Market with Claudia the Salmon, by Dan Bateman.
2020 AVA Photo Contest Winners Video
Winners Circle
Here is a list of the winners, along with the category, placement, photographer, photo title, and location where the photos were taken.
Culinary
3rd Katrina Wilson – “What’s Up Doc” – Albany Farmers Market
2nd Lance Gross – “Famous Burgers and Big Smiles” – Downtown Albany
1st Dan Bateman -“Wood Fired Delight” – Albany Farmers Market
Events
3rd Camron Settlemier – “This Tree is Lit!!” – Downtown Albany
2nd Don Bacher – “Mommy, I Like This One” – Oregon Mennonite Festival, Albany
1st Dan Bateman -“Vintage Elegance” – Albany Tweed Ride, Albany
Historic
3rd Jonna Niles – “Castle in the Sky” – Downtown Albany
2nd Camron Settlemier – “Long Night’s Moon” – Downtown Albany
1st Stephanie Low – “Wisteria House” – Monteith District, Albany
Landmarks
3rd Christine Withers – “Garden Sun” – Downtown Albany
2nd James Williams – “Gateway to Albany” – Ellsworth Bridge, Albany
1st Barry Hoffman – “Light Up Train” – Albany Amtrak and Transportation Station
Student
Lexi Gross – “Picturesque Downtown Building” – Downtown Albany
Life in the Community
3rd Melinda Martin – “September 11th” – Albany Courthouse
2nd Camron Settlemier – “July 4th Fireworks” – Downtown Albany
1st Dan Bateman – “Square-dance Shoes” – Heritage Mall, Albany
Open
3rd Pavla Zakova-Laney – “Sunset at Scott Lake” – Three Sisters Wilderness, OR
2nd James Williams – “Autumn Splendor” – McDowell Creek Park, Lebanon, OR
1st Camron Settlemier – Switchback, Hood River, OR
Scenic
3rd Melinda Martin – “Sheep” – Linn County, OR
2nd Dave Maestas – “Winter Sunset” – Waverly Lake, Albany
1st Stephanie Low – “Japanese Garden” – Lebanon, OR
Staff Choice
Dan Bateman – “The Pizza’s THAT Good” – Albany Farmers’ Market
People’s Choice
Jonna Niles – “Tulips” – Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival, Woodburn, OR
Reserve Champion
Melinda Martin – “Vintage Snow Scene” – Albany
Champion
Don Bacher – “Reflections” – Oregon Mennonite Festival, Albany
Source your food fresh and local with new guide
The 2020 Fresh & Local Linn-Benton guide to sourcing locally grown food is here.
Want to buy local? This comprehensive guide shows you how! Locally Grown is your premier guide for sourcing local foods. The free guide provides information for all consumers, including farmers markets, farm stands, U-Picks, CSAs, and more.
You can view the magazine online or pick up a hard copy from our 24-hour visitor center publications rack in front of the Albany Visitors Association front door, 110 3rd Ave. SE., off of Lyon St. View the online edition.
*COVID-19 Addendum – please contact providers in advance for information, from farmers and local food providers, many have adapted their normal methods of selling local food to increase physical distancing and promote safer access.
Thank you to the farms, food businesses, community partner and sponsors who made this publication possible.
May is Historic Preservation Month in Albany
In 2020, Albany’s month long celebration of National Historic Preservation will look a little different than in past years, We want to keep everyone safe and healthy, and will be updating this list of activities that can be done virtually or by using recommended physical distancing best practices. Part of Albany’s grace is that we work with our many business and government partners to keep you engaged, even if you feel house-bound. So let’s get excited about how to stay in touch and celebrate our history!
May 1st through the 31, 2020
Albany’s Hidden History Scavenger Hunt Photo Tour Sponsored by the Natty Dresser, entry forms can be downloaded right here (PDF). Return your completed entries to The Natty Dresser’s front door mail slot at 425 First Ave. W by Friday May 31 to be entered to win a prize. The grand prize winner will be announced June 1.
Hackleman District Historic House Sign Scavenger Hunt Sponsored by the Friends of Historic Albany (FOHA), hunt for name signs on historic homes throughout the Hackleman District. Entry forms can be found at the FOHA Facebook page. Click on the form with pictures of the signs to be found, download it and print it out. Then let the adventure begin! Find the signs and write down the address of the house.s they are on When done, scan the form and email it to rebecca@adaptivepreservation.com. Gift certificates from Natural Sprinkles will be awarded to the top three entries. Entry deadline is noon on Sunday, May 31.
City of Albany Hashtag Mini-Tour If you own a historic home and would like to share it during National Historic Preservation Month, how about setting up a virtual Hashtag Mini-Tour of your own? Pick an area of your historic home that you would like to share: It could be a unique window, awesome flooring, a hidden passage — anything! You can share it as a photo or a video on any social media platform that uses hashtags. Here’s how it works: To use hashtags, post just like you usually would on your page. Then, in the comment section, type the hashtag we have provided here. It will automatically become a link when it posts. Then you will be able to click on it and see all of the other posts that use it. Use hashtags #AlbanyORpreservation2020 and #sociallydistantminitour. If you want to have it accessed by an audience beyond the Albany community, add #thisplacematters. Post throughout the month of May. Let’s celebrate our amazing resources together … apart!
Albany Farmers’ Market is the oldest outdoor farmers’ market in Oregon. Open every Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Purchase hand-picked produce, fresh flowers, baked bread, local eggs, meats and more. The market is located at 4th and Ellsworth in the City Hall parking lot. Be sure to follow the physical distancing rules set forth this spring for a safe and healthy market experience. The market is also in the process of developing an online pre-visit order form to make your visit even safer, so be sure to check their website at LocallyGrown.org.
The Albany Regional Museum Historic Photo Collections One of our city’s greatest treasures is located at the Albany Regional Museum. And although the museum is closed currently to keep all visitors and staff safe, you can still browse the pictorial archives online. Connect to the Potts Photo Collection and prepare to be amazed. Another online project being conducted by the museum is to keep a diary of what it is like living during an international pandemic. Entitled “Share your Experience,” your personal stories will inform generations of Linn County residents what life was like a hundred years from now. Learn more about the project, and how your donation will keep the museum alive and ready to reopen.
Do the crossword puzzle Test your knowledge of all things historic around these parts and have a little fun with the family figuring out the answers to this crossword puzzle. Download and print the crossword (PDF). After you’ve worked your way through, check to see if you got all the answers right. No cheating! Download the answer key (PDF).
Saturday, May 9, 2020
Albany Virtual Tweed Ride Oscar Hult from The Natty Dresser will don his best tweed cycling attire for a leisurely ride through Albany’s three National Historic Districts. Starting at 10 a.m. in front of The Natty Dresser, 425 1st Ave W., the ride will be presented live at Albany Tweed Ride, and a map will be posted later so you can ride it yourself at your leisure.
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
History Bites: Preserving Your Treasures The Albany Regional Museum will restart it’s popular History Bites series at noon on Wednesday, May 13, by going virtual with a Facebook Live presentation from Kylie Pine, the Curator and Collections Manager at the Willamette Heritage Center. Kylie will discuss Preserving Your Treasures: Practical Ideas for Caring for Family Heirlooms. Audience members are encouraged to send a photo and description of a favorite object in advance to klohse@armuseum.com or send it to the Museum’s Facebook page via private messages, and Kylie will select a few to talk about. And stay up-to-date on more History Bites topics and other events at the Museum by liking and following its Facebook page.
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Historic Downtown Walking Tour of 1st Ave. This activity will feature physical distancing techniques, so be prepared to be safe and healthy during the tour. Oscar Hult will be your tour guide and will use best practices. 7:00 p.m. Meet at Burkhart Square (Lyon and First Ave). Please note that the actual tour may be changed with short notice, so please check with The Natty Dresser before showing up. Information at 541-248-3561.
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Historic Downtown Walking Tour of 2nd Ave.This activity will feature physical distancing techniques, so be prepared to be safe and healthy during the tour. Oscar Hult will be your tour guide and will use best practices. 7:00 p.m. Meet at Burkhart Square (Lyon and First Ave). Please note that the actual tour may be changed with short notice, so please check with The Natty Dresser before showing up. Information at 541-248-3561.
*Historic images from the Albany Regional Museum’s Potts Collection
Notes
We will be updating this post regularly throughout Historic Preservation Month, so check back frequently for new activities, Other ideas for you include:
- Take a tour of historic covered bridges or historic districts : do a virtual tour with the free Albany Explorer App or download a tour and use your car or bike to travel the various routes from “Seems Like Old Times.”
- Take a virtual tour of our historic homes by watching the video below (Photos courtesy of Camron Settlemeir .)
Starting the 2020 Photo Contest with a video tribute
As a very special AVA Photo Contest premier (before we announce the winners from 2020 next week), we’d like to take a moment to reflect on one of the most creative volunteers and participants in this annual event.
The photographs of Oliver J. Anderson (Jerry to his friends), gifted us with an appreciation for the natural beauty around us, fond memories of great times with friends at local events and innumerable smiles. If we ever needed a specific photo of an event or place, all we had to do was call him up and we soon had hundreds of images to choose from.
Last year towards the holidays, we lost Jerry to a long illness. We miss him spectacularly. He was a special edition and irreplaceable in our hearts. The slide show below only represents a few of the probably thousands of photos that he took over the years. We hope you enjoy them.
April 2020 – the good news newsletter
View the good news
Read our latest newsletter and discover fun virtual activities and look ahead to sunnier days. Get ready to cheer someone up with a free e-postcard on our Albany Explorer App or ask our virtual assistant Ava a question about historic Albany. And don’t forget to vote now through April 30th for the AVA Photo Contest “People’s Choice” winner. You’ve got this, and we have you on our minds — so stay safe, stay healthy and we will see you soon. View the good news.
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Celebrate fresh and locally grown – Albany Farmers’ Market
If battling crowded indoor grocery stores has you feeling down, here’s some good news: The Albany Farmers’ Market has been deemed as an essential service provider and will open on Saturday, April 18, However, be prepared for a few important operational changes, focused on keeping everyone healthy.
Location and facilities
In Albany, the Farmers’ Market is in the City Hall parking lot at 4th and Ellsworth and an adjacent slice of 4th Avenue. Portable restrooms will replace access to City Hall restrooms, since public buildings are closed.
Market shoppers can use features on www.locallygrown.org to search for particular vendors and view interactive maps showing the approximate location of vendors on each market day.
Hours for the Albany Farmers’ Market are 9 am to 1 pm.
How temporary safeguards will affect your market experience
Any activities that might tempt people to linger or stand closer than six feet apart have been suspended temporarily. This includes the normal musical or children’s entertainment. These measures will stay in place until the Governor’s Office institutes new action.
Open air and wide aisles are two factors that local farmers’ markets have going in their favor. But the market and our farmers and producers need full cooperation from customers to stay open and keep our community safe.
Market temporary dos and don’ts
Please follow the advice of the market’s organizers:
- Stay home if you feel the least bit unwell or have been near anyone who might have been exposed or who exhibits symptoms
- Wash your hands frequently – before coming to the market
- One shopper per household. Shop for others who should not go out
- Shop with your eyes and buy what you touch
- Shop for what you need, but don’t linger. This is difficult because farmers’ markets are such social places and we are drawn to chatting with our producers. But now is the time to keep your neighbor safe.
- Stay at least 6 feet away from other shoppers
- No eating at market. Order your food to go, do not eat your veggies or fruit while walking around.
- Thoroughly wash all produce and fruit when you get home. Clean any packages or transfer to your own containers for storage.
Other ways to get local food and support local businesses
Locally Grown’s web page has a new tab with a list of farms and other vendors who are doing online sales, delivery or pickup options. The purpose is to help local small farms and anyone who is not able to attend farmers’ markets. At the same time, the Albany and Corvallis Farmers’ Markets are collaborating on a statewide effort to adopt an online pre-order system with delivery at farmers’ market sites. The aim is to speed transaction times. In person sales will still take place.
SNAP and Double Up Food Bucks
Corvallis-Albany Farmers’ Markets (CAFM) and the smaller area farmers’ markets in Linn and Benton counties always redeem SNAP benefits (commonly called food stamps) on customers’ Oregon Trail cards. Matching programs, which potentially double the amount that SNAP customers spend on fresh and local foods, go a step further by helping families stretch their food dollars. CAFM will return to using Double Up Food Bucks vouchers. Even dollar amounts are matched. Normally the match is capped at $10 per market day. Through April, all Double Up markets are matching SNAP purchases up to $20.
Other nutrition programs
Another program that increases access to high-quality foods among low-income households is the Farm Direct Nutrition program, which includes both young families (WIC or Women, Infants and Children) and seniors. Gleaning groups also collect perishable produce from vendors and distribute to others in need.
Welcome back to all
We really hope that as we move forward with ways to shop fresh and local that you will consider shopping at our wonderful outdoor market in Downtown Albany. We will be back stronger than ever and look forward to celebrating with the vendors.
*Image of carrots and Camron Ridge Farmstand from our 2020 AVA Photo contest.
Vote for your fave photo – People’s Choice
Here’s a great fun activity for your stay-home-stay-safe day: Help us select the winner of the People’s Choice Award in the 2020 Albany Visitors Association Photo Contest.
It’s easy: Just go to our Flickr account and connect to our 2020 contest albums. You’ll find several categories to look through. As you make your way through, select your favorites by clicking on the “star” icon. (You can only vote once on any of the images.)
We will leave voting up for the entire month of April,so help share the news.
And why not make it a family activity that you can involve the kids in? Try and see if you can count the number of different animals in the photos or try and name the various sites you see. Feel free to post your totals here in the comments. And keep tuned to Facebook for more family online fun.
Keeping travel safe
Albany is open for business. but customers are encouraged to conduct business online or over the phone whenever possible.
To keep our customers informed, we will continue to update our online calendar of events as reports come in and actively reach out to confirm with event planners for events that have been canceled or rescheduled.
If you have questions regarding an event status, feel free to call us at 541-928-0911. We will get an answer for you as soon as we can.
Albany Visitors Office Hours and Staffing
The Albany Visitors Association Lobby will be closed to the public. The 24-hour kiosk will be stocked with visitor information. AVA staff will be available to answer phone calls and respond to e-mails as usual, Monday through Friday 9am – 5pm.
We will also post to our Albany Visitors Association Facebook page when we are notified of an event cancellation, so follow us and be informed: https://www.facebook.com/albanyvisitorsassociation/
Closures of note
Here is an update on closures in Albany: The Albany Regional Museum will be closed until April 9, the Historic Carousel & Museum until March 31, and the Monteith House until Mid-April or further notice.
Resources
For more information on the Coronavirus and efforts to keep it from spreading, please refer to the following reliable sources:
City of Albany https://www.cityofalbany.net/coronavirus
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/summary.html
The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) where you can also subscribe to OHA Coronavirus Updates (the latest news about COVID-19 in Oregon.) https://www.oregon.gov/oha/Pages/index.aspx
Travel Oregon Travel Alerts Refer to Travel Oregon’s “Travel Alerts” web page to keep current with the latest recommendations and announcements about COVID-19 within our state. https://traveloregon.com/travel-alerts/
Keep calm and hand wash on!
Win an overnight stay in Albany, Oregon
Do you pride yourself on being a trivia expert? Want to take an overnight road trip from Portland or Eugene and see the Willamette Valley from the air? Do you like wine tasting and good food? If you answered “yes,” there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy participating in our “Spring Giveaway Contest.”
Albany Visitors Association along with our partners at KEZI have launched another fab giveaway package and you have until March 5th to enter. Prizes include a demo flight at the Infinite Air Center, wine tasting for two at Springhill Cellars Winery, a gift certificate to the House of Noodle (can you say ramen?), rides on the Albany Historic Carousel, and an overnight stay at the Albany Phoenix Inn.
It’s free to enter, just make sure to beat the deadline (March 5th) and good luck!
