Explore Albany, Discover your story
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.
Cider pressing fun for the whole family is scheduled for three Saturdays this fall–September 23, October 14 and 28. Thompson’s Mills State Heritage Site is open free to the public from dawn to dusk with cider pressing from 11am to 3pm. Fresh cider is available (limit one gallon per family) for your donation to Thompson’s Mills Preservation Society. TMPS President Rebecca Martin will have storytelling for the younger ones and mill-themed gifts are available. Telephone the Mill for additional information at 541.491.3611. Docents are on hand for mill tours–pack a lunch and make a day of it!
Fresh-pressed apple cider was one of the delicious food of settler life. The Oregon Trail settlers who built Thompson’s Mills pressed apples for cider, and now you can too! Come early before we run out of apples! For a donation, you can take home half-gallon containers filled with apple cider. You are also welcome to bring your own apples to press.
The turbines will be running all day, and guides will be stationed throughout the mill to help you make your own flour, explain how the turbines work and tell the story of how and why the last water-powered mill in Oregon still operates. Operating the hands-on exhibits and seeing wooden beams hand-hewn when Abraham Lincoln was president make Thompson’s Mills a memorable family experience. Hosted by the Thompson’s Mills Preservation Society.
Cider pressing fun for the whole family is scheduled for three Saturdays this fall–September 23, October 14 and 28. Thompson’s Mills State Heritage Site is open free to the public from dawn to dusk with cider pressing from 11am to 3pm. Fresh cider is available (limit one gallon per family) for your donation to Thompson’s Mills Preservation Society. TMPS President Rebecca Martin will have storytelling for the younger ones and mill-themed gifts are available. Telephone the Mill for additional information at 541.491.3611. Docents are on hand for mill tours–pack a lunch and make a day of it!
Fresh-pressed apple cider was one of the delicious food of settler life. The Oregon Trail settlers who built Thompson’s Mills pressed apples for cider, and now you can too! Come early before we run out of apples! For a donation, you can take home half-gallon containers filled with apple cider. You are also welcome to bring your own apples to press.
The turbines will be running all day, and guides will be stationed throughout the mill to help you make your own flour, explain how the turbines work and tell the story of how and why the last water-powered mill in Oregon still operates. Operating the hands-on exhibits and seeing wooden beams hand-hewn when Abraham Lincoln was president make Thompson’s Mills a memorable family experience. Hosted by the Thompson’s Mills Preservation Society.
Holiday Open Art Studio. Art Sale – Holiday Gifts. Visit the Misner Family Century Farm and Therese Misner’s Art studio for art and gifts.
The Misner Family and artist, Therese Misner, open their Century Farm for a festive day of art, gifts, and relaxing on the farm. Visit an artist working studio, home gallery, and tour the Misner Century Farm.
History Bites: The Miracle on First Avenue, the story of the Albany Carousel
Coming up on Wednesday, January 10th at noon.
The Albany Regional Museum will host the founder of the Albany Carousel and co-author of “The Miracle on First Avenue” Wendy Kirbey as she shares the story of one woman’s dream becoming reality. Kirbey along with co-author Jennifer Moody have assembled a wonderful history of how the Albany carousel came to be, from dream to opening. The book also highlights the unique stories of the carousel animals, and the inspiration behind each carving.
The History Bites program is free to attend. Admission to exhibits is now fee based, but always free for members!
Light refreshments provided.
Join us for another Living History Saturday in the cozy kitchen of the historic Monteith House in Albany Oregon. This month, we’re learning how to make hand-dipped taper candles!
All supplies provided with your $5.00 donation, and you can take your candles home with you. Choose either the 11:30 am class or the 1:00 pm class.
The Albany Regional Museum will host Debra Plymate, pilot, retired air traffic control specialist, and member of Oregon Pines 99s, to present this month’s History Bites on Amelia Earhart. This is in celebration of the anniversary of her visit to Oregon and to kick off our new exhibit, “Picturing Women Inventors.” Come retrace her steps and celebrate her life and legacy!
History Bites is always free to attend. Admission to exhibits is waived today 2/14 to celebrate Oregon’s birthday!
Light refreshments provided.
Documentary viewing at Philomath High School.
Admission is free, but a canned food donation for the Philomath Food Bank is encouraged and appreciated.
IN 1866, SIX ALL-BLACK CAVALRY AND INFANTRY REGIMENTS WERE CREATED AFTER CONGRESS PASSED THE ARMY ORGANIZATION ACT. THEY CAME TO BE KNOWN AS BUFFALO SOLDIERS.
Established by Congress in 1867, Many African American men enlisted in exchange for full citizenship as promised by the 14th Amendment, but were denied this right by the Jim Crow laws established in the Reconstructionist South. In spite of that, these patriotic men helped lead the United States expansion westward; they built and guarded the Pacific Railroad and served as park rangers in places like Yosemite before the U.S. government established the National Park Service.
These African American soldiers fought bravely in the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War, the Mexican Punitive Expedition, World War I & World War II, but the Buffalo Soldiers also participated in the subjugation of Native peoples as the United States appropriated tribal land, the persecution of striking silver miners in Idaho, and against Filipinos fighting for independence during the Spanish-American War, resulting in a complicated legacy.
It is particularly relevant today as our country is roiling with the agony of racial strife. By combining a multitude of diverse perspectives, the film examines the profound and often-contradictory roles played in American history by The Buffalo Soldiers, and how they fought on two very different sets of front lines: military conflicts abroad and civil rights struggles at home.
