2023 Albany Summer Passport

We had a fantastic day at the Carousel CARNIVAL! In case you haven’t heard, the final passport raffle winners are Cohen D., Lilly F. and Riley S. who won great prizes from Monteith House, the Historic Carousel & Museum and  SplatterBox. The winners of the special raffle prizes from Republic Services and Brigitte’s Place and Natural Sprinkles are  Tina S #4779709 and Jax T # 4779863.

Please pick up your prizes at the AVA Office by August 31. Thanks again to all our wonderful partners!

This year’s partners have taken down their posters and put away their stamps,
but there is still fun to be had! Join the Albany Visitors Association and the
Albany Summer Passport program at the Carousel Carnival on Saturday, Aug. 20, from 10 a.m.
to 3 p.m.

Everyone who has turned in their passport has been entered to win one of
three grand prizes. Be sure to stop by our booth to see if you won! If you
can’t make it to the Carnival and win a prize, we will email you. It may not be until the week of Aug. 29, so please be patient.

There will also be two additional raffles to enter at the Carnival. One is a Box of Fun and the other is a ride to school in a Republic Services waste collection truck. You don’t have to be present to win. Winners will be announced here and on the Passport Facebook page.  It also may not be until the week of Aug. 29, so please be patient.

The Carnival will have wonderful old-fashioned carnival games, crazy characters, face painting, balloon art, and more!

En español

Discover new places, visit some of your favorite locations, learn about Albany and enter raffles to win prizes in the 2022 Albany Summer Passport Program!

The program is geared toward elementary-aged children, but their siblings, parents and grandparents are welcome to come along. The program is free and offered through a partnership with Albany Downtown Association, Albany Regional Museum, Albany Visitors Association (AVA),  Historic Carousel & Museum and Monteith Historical Society.

The Passport: Your passport is your guide to participating locations and a map to help you find your way.

Pick-up a passport at the AVA office and have your photograph taken, too:

Albany Visitors Association

110 SE 3^rd Ave, Albany

Monday – Friday  9 a.m. -5 p.m.

Exploring Albany:  Thirty-two participating partners will display a poster in their window – some will have a letter to write down, a mystery task to complete or both! You will also be able to enter businesses to have your passport stamped. Take your time and have fun! When finished, drop off your passport on or before Wednesday, August 10, at the AVA office, 110 3^rd Ave. SE in downtown Albany. If you would like your passport back, you can pick it up at the End of Program Celebration (see below.)

The Challenges and Prizes: Watch your email for your Passport E-Newsletter and find new challenges each week to win prizes, donated by the participating businesses. Challenges will be announced each Thursday and due the following Tuesday.

At the end of the summer, participants’ names will also be entered into a drawing for more fabulous prizes. Passport holders do not have to visit every location to be entered in the final drawing.

End of Program Celebration: Find the Albany Summer Passport booth at the Carousel Carnival, Saturday, August 20, get a HUGE congratulations for exploring Albany, see if you won one of the final raffle prizes and get your passport back.

The Partners: Businesses and locations who have graciously donated their time and prizes are: Albany Antique Mall, Albany Area Chamber of Commerce, Albany Downtown Association, Albany Farmers’ Market, Albany Fire Department, Albany Historic Carousel & Museum, Albany Public Library, Albany Regional Museum, Albany Visitors Association,  BJ’s Ice Cream, Brick Circuit, Brigitte’s Place Fine Fabrics, Citadel Oasis, Corvallis Knights, Downtown Carnegie Library, Gallery Calapooia, Infinite Air Center, Little Wuesten Cafe, Margin Coffee, Midway Farms, Mid-Willamette Family YMCA, Monteith House Museum, Natural Sprinkles, No Baloney, Pix Theater, Southpaw’s Pizza, Spearit Beads, Talking Water Gardens/City of Albany, The Frame House,  Thompson’s Mills State Heritage Site, Urban Ag Supply, Wicked Comics. And a special thanks to MoreInk Printing.

The Albany Passport Program gears up for family fun.

“There is nothing to do” are five words no parent wants to hear from their kids in the summertime, but fear not! The Albany Visitors Association has the perfect solution for getting out and about.

This year’s Albany Summer Passport Program offers children and their families fun activities that invite them to explore their community.  The program was built to engage children at the elementary level, with the design that family members of all ages will accompany the kids on their adventures. 

The 2021 Passport season provided a good example: a family with 5 children, including one in a stroller on up to the oldest just about to enter middle-school.

“It’s something that I look forward to all year,” said Allanna Cox, a mother whose family of three has participated for 10 years. “We get out of the house and make some really fun memories. We learn more options for activities and restaurants/businesses in the area… some of which have become favorites to visit again and again.”

Whether you live in or around Albany, or if you’re visiting for even a few days, you can tailor the Albany Passport adventure to what you want to do, and on your time schedule.  Visiting locations can be spread out over a couple of summer months or squeezed into a weekend’s quick visit.  You don’t have to visit all the stops to participate, so visitors in town for a couple of days can join in and even be eligible for prizes.

This summer, maps will again list and mark all the locations.  An “All Over Albany” map gives you a larger overview of our family-friendly and active town. For example, you can exercise at the YMCA or visit an outdoor pool, eat ice cream or pizza, or see a working turbine in a flour mill founded in 1858.  A “Downtown” map has multiple stops concentrated within a 3- by 5-block area. The Downtown map provides easy walking distances to shopping, dining, antiques, movies, parks and a carousel!  Both commercial and residential areas of downtown also feature historic buildings that range from the 1850s to the turn of the 20^th Century.

The 2021 Passport had 36 places to visit. “We have challenged ourselves to go to every stop each year,” said Cox, who added that there’s always something surprising. “Enigma (a Passport newbie in 2021) was totally new to us.” She added that she and her family then wanted to schedule an escape-room visit.

Mary Pendley, owner of Enigma Escape Experience with her husband, Brendon, said that she was glad that a 2021 Passport family wanted to make a reservation. A unique entertainment in Albany, Enigma’s escape rooms provide an active adventure where you find clues and solve puzzles as a team to escape a room that tells a story. “We were excited to be part of the (Passport) program in 2021.”

“We’re including a Kids’ Room this year for ages 8-12 years,” Pendley said. “The Enigma experience can be fun for many ages.”

Gabe Anderson, owner of Margin Coffee, which roasts its coffee locally, says they will participate this year. Anderson says he enjoys reaching out and being an active part of the community. “I get to visit more with current customers and meet new people and new customers and hear their story” he said.

Anderson says that he thinks that the Passport program definitely brings more people downtown, but that he also feels part of the town-wide Albany businesses that are also part of the passport program. “It definitely has to be a committed effort by the whole community,” he said.

Cox agrees. “We really appreciate everyone’s time, energy, and effort invested in the passport program. We will definitely do itin 2022,” she said. “It’s a family tradition.”

Written by Molly Miller.