Calendar

Welcome to AVA’s monthly calendar of events. Take a peek and plan your stay-cation or your next visit to our region. The city’s most notable annual events include historic home tours, outdoor summer concerts and movies under the stars, and the Northwest Art and Air Festival.

*Note for event organizers: If you’d like to have your event listed on the AVA calendar, head over to our contact page and submit your event to us.

May
7
Tue
1st Avenue Walking History Tour 2024 @ Burkhart Square
May 7 @ 6:00 pm
1st Avenue Walking History Tour 2024 @ Burkhart Square | Albany | Oregon | United States

Join this walking tour of 1st Avenue to learn about the history of the buildings and the businesses that have occupied them over the past 150 years. The tour starts promptly at 6 PM and will be approximately 1 hour in length.
While the tour is free, there is a suggested $5 donation per person, to benefit the Monteith Historical Society.

Meet at Burkhart Square (next to the Albany Civic Theater) at the corner of 1st Ave and Lyons St.

This tour is sponsored by The Natty Dresser as part of Albany‘s celebration of National Historic Preservation Month.
Photo from Albany Regional Museum, Potts Photo Collection.

May
8
Wed
History Bites: Historic windows and doors? Oh my! @ Albany Regional Museum
May 8 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
History Bites:  Historic windows and doors? Oh my! @ Albany Regional Museum | Albany | Oregon | United States

Join Chris Gustafson, owner of Vintage Window Restoration LLC, in a conversation about a niche business adventure, perspective of the historic preservation trades industry, and of course, no shortage of window jargon and jokes. Come prepared for a presentation, show and tell items followed by a Q&A.

History Bites is free to attend. Admission to exhibits is now fee-based, but always free for members!

Light refreshments provided.

2nd Avenue Walking History Tour 2024 @ Burkhart Square (Next to the Albany Civic Theater)
May 8 @ 6:00 pm
2nd Avenue Walking History Tour 2024 @ Burkhart Square (Next to the Albany Civic Theater) | Albany | Oregon | United States

Join this walking tour of 2nd Avenue to learn about the history of the buildings and the businesses that have occupied them over the past 150 years. The tour starts promptly at 6 PM and will be approximately 1 hour in length.

While the tour is free, there is a suggested $5 donation per person, to benefit the Monteith Historical Society.

Meet at Burkhart Square (next to the Albany Civic Theater) on the corner of 1st Ave and Lyons St.
This tour is sponsored by The Natty Dresser as part of Albany‘s celebration of National Historic Preservation Month.
Photo from Albany Regional Museum Potts Photo Collection.

May
11
Sat
Monteith Living History Saturday @ Monteith House
May 11 @ 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Monteith Living History Saturday @ Monteith House | Albany | Oregon | United States
SECOND SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH
12PM-2PM
Monteith LIVING HISTORY ACTIVITIES
Step into 1850 with them on the second Saturday of each month, from 12 pm to 2 pm, at the Historic Monteith House. Exciting activities like, woodworking, pioneer doll making, baking biscuits, making butter, and so many other family-friendly activities! Each time will be something new, and you’ll learn a little more about this important piece of Albany’s history.  
May
22
Wed
History Through Headstones Tour @ Albany Riverside Cemetery
May 22 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
History Through Headstones Tour @ Albany Riverside Cemetery | Albany | Oregon | United States

Sponsored by Albany Regional Museum in partnership with Riverside Cemetery, the 14th annual History Through Headstones self-guided tour features docents presenting the historical contributions of local medical practitioners. This event is free to attend. Can’t make it on May 22? No worries! Signage will remain up at Riverside Cemetery following this event with QR codes. Once you scan the QR code with your smart phone, you will have access to a narration of the lives of this year’s subjects.

Photo credit: “Riverside Cemetary Heart of Linn County Genealogy” by Kimberly Richards

Jun
8
Sat
Monteith Living History Saturday @ Monteith House
Jun 8 @ 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Monteith Living History Saturday @ Monteith House | Albany | Oregon | United States
SECOND SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH
12PM-2PM
Monteith LIVING HISTORY ACTIVITIES
Step into 1850 with them on the second Saturday of each month, from 12 pm to 2 pm, at the Historic Monteith House. Exciting activities like, woodworking, pioneer doll making, baking biscuits, making butter, and so many other family-friendly activities! Each time will be something new, and you’ll learn a little more about this important piece of Albany’s history.  
Jun
12
Wed
History Bites: Peacock Family Car @ Albany Regional Museum
Jun 12 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
History Bites: Peacock Family Car @ Albany Regional Museum | Albany | Oregon | United States

Speaker, Michael Henich, will share his journey of restoring the famous 1915 Model T Ford touring car that once belonged to the Peacock Family.
Visitors will also get a chance to see the car in person in the parking lot of the Museum following the presentation!

History Bites is free to attend. Admission to exhibits is now fee-based, but always free for members!

Light refreshments will be provided.

Jun
23
Sun
“KiKi Film Screening and Panel Discussion- June 23, 2024 @ Russell Tripp Performance Center
Jun 23 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

KinCultivate & Albany Pride Present “KIKI” A FREE Documentary Screening  www.kikimovie.com

KinCultivate and Albany Pride Presents “KIKI”, a FREE film documentary screening hosted by Mid-Valley Productions, MVP at the Russell Tripp Performance Center within Linn-Benton Community College (Albany Campus) Reserve your FREE tickets today online at www.midvalleyproductions.org Click here to purchase tickets for this event. 

About Kiki and the movie:
In New York City, LGBTQ youth of color gather at the Christopher Street Pier to practice Ballroom, a performance-based art form popularized in the early 1990s by Madonna’s “Vogue” music video and the documentary “Paris Is Burning.” Twenty-five years after these cultural milestones, a new and distinct generation of LGBTQ youth has developed an artistic activist subculture known as the Kiki Scene.

“KIKI” follows seven members of the Kiki community over four years, using their preparations and performances at Kiki balls as a framework to explore their struggles with homelessness, illness, and discrimination, as well as their progress in gaining political influence and embracing gender expression. The film introduces us to Twiggy Pucci Garçon, the founder of the Haus of Pucci, alongside Chi Chi, Gia, Chris, Divo, Symba, and Zariya. Each of these individuals offers a unique and powerful personal story, shedding light on the Kiki scene and the broader experience of queer life for LGBTQ youth of color in the U.S.

Kiki balls, a central aspect of the Kiki subculture, provide a safe and empowering space for performers to express various gender identities, including stylized femininity that might otherwise provoke ridicule or violence in their home communities. Participants range from young teens to those in their twenties, many of whom have been cast out by their families or find themselves homeless. As LGBTQ people of color, they represent a minority within a minority, with a staggering 50% being HIV positive. The Kiki scene emerged as a peer-led initiative offering alternative family structures (“houses”), HIV awareness and testing, and performances promoting self-agency. It has grown into a significant organization with rules, leaders, and teams, now boasting hundreds of members in New York and beyond, including across the U.S. and Canada. Run by LGBTQ youth for LGBTQ youth, it draws on strategies from the Civil Rights, Gay Rights, and Black Power movements.

In this film, a collaboration between Kiki gatekeeper Twiggy Pucci Garçon and Swedish filmmaker Sara Jordenö, viewers gain exclusive access to this intense world, where fierce Ballroom competitions open up discussions about the Black Lives Matter and Trans Lives Matter movements. This new generation of Ballroom youth adopts the motto “Not About Us Without Us,” and “KIKI” reflects this ethos with extensive support and trust from the community, featuring an exhilarating score by the renowned Ballroom and Voguing Producer Collective Qween Beat. Twiggy and Sara’s insider-outsider perspective revitalizes the portrayal of a marginalized community striving for visibility and genuine political power.

The Russell Tripp Performance Center is located at the Albany Campus of Linn-Benton Community College, Takena Hall, 6500 Pacific Blvd SW, Albany, OR  97321.
Jun
26
Wed
DRTR at Calapooia Brewing @ Calapooia Brewing Company
Jun 26 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
DRTR at Calapooia Brewing @ Calapooia Brewing Company | Albany | Oregon | United States

DRTR (Dave Rogers, TR Gregg, and Micke McDonough)  uses combinations of vocal harmonies, saxophone, harmonica, guitar, keyboards, and percussion to create a musical experience like a fine wine served up at just the right time. Please give them a listen on Wednesday, June 26. 6:30-8 PM  at Calapooia Brewing!

 

For more information about DRTR https://www.drtrmusic.com/

 

Jun
29
Sat
Native American Cultural Encampment- Roaring River Park, June 29 and 30 @ Roaring River County Park
Jun 29 @ 10:00 am – Jun 30 @ 6:00 pm
Native American Cultural Encampment- Roaring River Park, June 29 and 30 @ Roaring River County Park | Scio | Oregon | United States

Come to the Native American Cultural Encampments summer of 2024, with Deitrich Peters and friends. The public is invited to come learn about Native culture, explore handcrafts and items for sale, watch the Pow-wow style dancing (there is usually one dance where you are invited to participate) and practice traditional skills and crafts. Listen to some beautiful flute playing, enjoy stories, explore the drum and more. Many different tribes are represented at these gatherings.

SCEC will be there with a table showing Kalapuya Ways items of material culture, and presenting different crafts classes and atlatl throwing. Karen Rainsong, our Executive Director, presents this teaching and may also tell a few Kalapuya stories.

On Sunday mid-afternoon there is a big feast where everyone can eat for free. No need to RSVP. Please join the fun!

DATES
June 29th – June 30th Roaring River County Park in Scio
July 19- 21, Waterloo County Park in Lebanon
Aug 23 – 25, Cascadia County Park in Sweethome