Dear Residents of Aurora,
It is with great joy we welcome you to the 35th Aurora Colony Day celebration! We are delighted to host many of the activities you have come to love during this event and even introduce some new ones. Spend some time looking over the program so you will not miss any of the scheduled events; mark your calendars! Living in this very special small town has been and is continuing to be a wonderful part of my life and we hope that you will have that same feeling after your time here in Aurora.
Our celebration will kick-off with the Concerts in the Park series starting July 10 and continuing each Wednesday night July 17, 24, and 31 beginning at 7 p.m. Food, beverages and desserts are available for purchase. Bring your family and friends for a great fun time.
Colony days will begin on Friday night Aug. 9 with a Biergarten and music at the Old Aurora Colony Museum. Saturday morning starts with a 5k run and a kids 1k fun run. After working up an appetite, walk or run to the Legion Hall for a pancake breakfast. Head to the downtown area for the antique market happening all day long. Start looking for the best seat for our fun home town parade at 10 a.m. — there is not a bad spot to watch our parade from so bring your chair and enjoy. Next is the car show in the park. The market in the park starts at 8:30 a.m. Don’t forget the North Marion Library’s large book sale and the Aurora Colony Museum activities. Food booths will be available throughout the day and evening. End the night by celebrating this year’s achievements with our Colony Days Concert in the Park.
A big thank you to our wonderful volunteers who have been working to bring this event to fruition since January. Once again residents demonstrated their willingness to serve our community. This year, we celebrate our volunteer of the year, Carl McKnight. Carl and his wife Tara are close members of our community and have provided their time to beautify the landscape of our town by planting hundreds of daffodils as seen at the entrances to our historic town. By operating the Pheasant Run Winery, they are responsible for bringing so many visitors to Aurora and entertaining locals. You can count on Carl to engage in a positive conversation for the good of the order. Keep making the awardwinning wines, Carl! Thanks for all you do.
I would also like to give a big round of applause to this year’s Aurora Grand Marshall Dr. Joseph Young and his wife Amanda. Dr. Young joined our community in 2017 by opening his dental practice in town. He has been a very generous sponsor of Aurora Colony Days and the 5k fun run. Dr. Young and his family all participate in the parade each year, the 5k run and the complimentary face painting booth at the market in the park. His support continues at North Marion schools’ fundraisers and sponsorships of sports teams. Thank you for all you do for our community; your contributions and leadership have helped and will continue to be life changing for our young citizen’s.
Aurora is a wonderful community and I consider myself fortunate to do my part in preserving this gemstone for future residents and visitors. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you also for everything you do to make Aurora so special.
Mayor Brian Asher
2024 EVENTS SCHEDULE
Friday, August 9
Aurora Colony Days Biergarten
Old Aurora Colony Museum Courtyard - 4:30pm to 10:00pm
Mark Seymour and Friends Begins at 6:00pm
Saturday, August 10
Pancake Breakfast
American Legion Hall — 7:00am to 11:00am
Aurora Colony Days 5K & Kids 1k Fun Run
15018 2nd St NE — 7:30am to 8:30am
Market in the Park
Aurora City Park, 21074 Main St NE — 8:30am to 4:00pm
Aurora Outdoor Antiques Market
Downtown Aurora — 9:00am to 4:00pm
Aurora Colony Parade
Begins at: 10:00am
Old Aurora Colony Museum
15018 2nd St NE — 1/2 off Admission — 11:00am to 4pm
Aurora Colony Car Show
Aurora City Park, 21074 Main St NE — 12:00pm to 4:00pm
Celebration in the Park with Slicker Country Band
Live Performance at Aurora City Park
21074 Main St NE - 7:00pm to 10:00pm
Local food and drink vendors
Come boogie down with the country vibes of Slicker Country Band
North Marion Community Library Book Sale
August 9 –11 — 9:00am to 4:00pm
Aurora Colony Days
Celebrating Past, Present, Future
Small towns like Aurora often talk about having a sense of community. Look around Aurora today and you’ll see all the markers of a great community – a volunteer-run library, fun shops and wineries, summer music in the parks, a farmers’ market, places of worship, museum events, and Aurora Colony Days activities. But for Aurora, founded as a Christian communal society, the idea of community has a special meaning. Community is in its roots.
The village of Aurora Mills was founded by Dr. William Keil in 1856 as a Utopian community in which members shared their goods and services and worked for the common good.
Keil, who had already established a successful community in Bethel, Missouri, named Aurora after his daughter. He selected the site because it had a sawmill and a grist mill dating to the late 1840s.
About 400 colony members, mostly German and Swiss emigrants, lived with the principle that Christians ought to share labor and property, thus attempting to live the ideal as described in the Book of Acts in the New Testament.
A history of fine crafts and music
Colony members, who were trained in all manner of crafts, gradually built homes and manufactured products such as furniture, baskets and textiles for their personal use.
Cont'd on page 10
Happy 35th Anniversary!
We are proud to be an annual sponsor of Aurora’s Colony Days Celebrations and to be a part of the business community! Here’s to another 35 years!
By the mid-1860s, the Aurora Colonists operated a general store. Its register of accounts includes some of Oregon’s most prominent pioneers. A new hotel served the stagecoach and, after the railroad came in 1870, railroad passengers. Food served at this hotel was praised far and wide.
The Aurora brass band was a popular attraction at most every major function in western Oregon and often won first prize in competitions at the state fair.
After the death of Dr. Keil in December of 1877, the younger colony members decided to end the communal lifestyle. In 1893, Aurora Mills was incorporated as Aurora.
Aurora builds on its heritage Aurora’s location on the railroad line continued to make it an important
center for shipping and receiving farm products. The brokering of hops was an especially successful industry until the coming of prohibition.
Descendants of the colony continued to live in the village and helped spur the celebration of Aurora’s centennial in 1956. Edward Miller, the publisher of The Oregonian newspaper delivered front page coverage of the impending event, and several thousand visitors descended on the village for the celebration in July of that year.
Preserving the past for the future
This public interest in Aurora encouraged the interest of historic preservationists, which in turn led to the organization of the Aurora Colony Historical Society in 1963. The city of Aurora took a major step in 1974 to encourage preservation of the remaining colony sites and structures with the establishment of the Aurora National Historic District.
34 years of Colony Days
In conjunction with America’s Bicentennial in 1976, Aurora held a Jubilee celebration. This was revived in 1989 as Aurora Colony Days, which has been held annually since that year. As in the days of old Aurora, the Colony Day celebrations feature good food and
music. Aurora comes together in its own unique spirit of community, with a Friday beer garden followed by Saturday’s parade, hands-on activities for young and old at the museum, and other activities in the park and around town.
Aurora has certainly grown since the first colony members arrived in 1856, but the spirit of community continues.
BY GIVING YOU POSITIVE SUPPORT, CLEAR COMMUNICATION, AND A PERSONALIZED STRATEGIC PLAN SHE PRIDES HERSELF ON HER GENUINE DRIVE TO HELP CLIENTS ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS WHILE KEEPING THEIR BEST INTERESTS AT HEART. SHE BELIEVES THAT COLLABORATION AND COMMUNITY ARE THE KEYS TO SUCCESS
Old Aurora -Colony-
AURORACDLDNY.ORG
*Craft Brew Beer * Root Beer Floats
*Music * Wine * Food * Table Games
