Some popular attractions, however, will not be returning
Harley Shepherd gets her face painted during Talent Harvest Festival 2016. The event will return this fall after a two-year absence. [Mail Tribune / Jamie Lusch]
Talent’s Harvest Festival returns on October 1 after a two-year absence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery from the September 2020 Almeda fire.
“It’s been two years since we last celebrated it, so we’re trying to get a sense of normal life back. I think people are ready and eager to experience (an) event in the city,” said Hector Flores, director of participation of the city community, which is part of the team that organizes the event. The Talent Business Alliance is also helping with the organisation.
The festival can serve as a homecoming of sorts for Hispanic residents who were displaced by the Almeda fire, said Lucero Martinez, the city’s bilingual community recovery liaison.
The events of the festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Talent center. The 5 and 10 kilometer races will start at 8 am. Music, local art, vendor and organization booths will be featured.
Main Street from Front Street to Talent Avenue will be closed to accommodate more than 50 vendors. The city will also close City Hall Drive and North Market Street off Main for the stands.
There will be two stages of action. Stage 1 will be in the Grotto parking lot, which will also have a brewery and another area for vendors. Seating will be available for performances by bluegrass group Seed Grass, a mariachi band, Adam Gabriel and a band from Puerto Rico. Between performances, a DJ will play music.
Stage 2 will host performances for children. It will be located on the stage adjacent to the Town Hall with seats. There will also be live music in the Camelot Theater from noon to 5pm and in the Gather Café from approximately 11:30am to 4:00pm.
Local organizations that will have information booths include United Way of Jackson County, Unente, Northwest Seasonal Workers, Habitat for Humanity, Phoenix High School Leadership Club, Jackson County Community Long-Term Recovery Group, Firebrand Resiliency Collective and Talent Business Alliance.
Food trucks and food vendors will be located next to the Town Hall and near the open area between the Town Hall and Market Street. Food vendors include the Filipino Fire Food Truck, Sultan’s Delight and Hilltop Coffee.
“The typical vendor you’ll see at a farmers market will be there. It’s kind of the end of the year for them,” Flores said. There will be harvested foods and craft items. There will be an expanded vendor market to at 19 the area of stage 1.
Municipal officials will be at the festival. Flores hopes city councilors and Mayor Darby Ayers-Flood will be there, along with opponents who ran against them in the November election. State Sen. Jeff Golden will also attend, he said.
Talent Police Department and the Community Outreach program will also have booths. The city’s Public Art Commission will offer an art activity for children.
Two Portland electric vehicle manufacturers are bringing vehicles to show at the festival. One is an electric tractor. A trailer explaining electric vehicles and green energy will also be on display.
The city’s former sustainability coordinator Michael Hoch, who now works for one of the manufacturers, was instrumental in organizing the festival’s EV display.
The Talent Historical Society on Carrer del Mercat will be open during the festival with a display on the history of the city.
The revival will vary a bit from previous iterations. There will be no parade and some game features will not be available. “Some of the fun stuff from previous years is hard to come by,” Flores said.
Bouncy castles and bounce houses could not be secured. The popular escape tank won’t be there either. The previous one came from Phoenix High School, but since the school was rebuilt its whereabouts could not be determined. A lack of city staff to close the parade route and manage arrangements prevented a parade this year.
A book sale at the Talent Library, a popular party, is back. It is the Talent Library Club’s biggest fundraising event of the year, which supports the library.
In previous years, more than 200 people have visited the sale, librarian Patrick Mathewes said. Items are not priced and shoppers make purchases by donation.
“We always try to provide a free book for the kids who come in,” Mathewes said. By asking for donations, kids have a chance to come in and buy something for less than a dollar, she said. The money raised supports activities for children at the library.
Most books are donated to the Library Club. There is also a large selection of CDs and DVDs available this year, Mathewes said. Sometimes there are vinyl LPs for sale.
Vendors interested in participating can find an application form at cityoftalent.org. Southern Oregon Runners is getting into the races with information at sorunners.org. For more details, see talentbusinessalliance.org/talentharvestfestival. Information in Spanish is available at somostalent.net.
Contact Ashland freelance writer Tony Boom at tboomwriter@gmail.com.
