August 2016 • FREE
China Pheasants in Oregon
The Northwest Art & Air Festival Climbs to New Heights A celebration of creativity, flight, and entertainment, the 2016 Northwest Art & Air Festival, produced by the Albany Parks & Recreation Department, has become the community’s signature event since its inception in 2000. The 2016 Festival will include approximately 40 hot air balloons that lift off at 6:45 a.m. each morning during the AmeriGas Balloon Launch, taking passengers on an experience they are sure to remember. This year, three specialty shaped balloons, Puddy Cat, Tweety, and Sushi, will fly the skies over Albany during the event. Puddy Cat is sponsored by Arauco North America and Sushi is sponsored by the Albany Walmart. On Friday evening, thousands of spectators will gather for a “night glow,” a night time inflation of the colorful balloon envelopes and the firing of their burners which will make them glow like Japanese lanterns against the dark evening summer sky. More than 70 juried artists from throughout the Pacific Northwest will bring their work for show and sale in the artist market place. Art will include pottery, jewelry, metalwork, wood craft, paintings, fused glass, toys, and photography. Everyone in the family will find something to do in the award-winning Family Zone, sponsored by our locally-owned Red Robin. Activities will include handson arts and crafts, live demonstrations, active play, the OFD Foods Climbing Wall, and the Reptile Man’s mobile unit. New to the Festival this year, kite fliers from the Pacific Northwest will demonstrate the beauty, wonder, and acrobatics of their vibrant kites on Saturday, August 27. The Festival’s Art of Cars show will feature Studebakers, orphan cars, and an open class on Sunday behind the amphitheater, presented by Lassen Toyota
and Toyota Let’s Go Places. The show is organized by the Willamette Chapter of the Studebaker Drivers’ Club. Free Young Eagles airplane flights for kids ages 8-17 are part of activities at Albany Municipal Airport and are sponsored by Sid Stevens Jewelers. Approximately 200 kids have the opportunity to participate in the flights each year. Other activities at the airport are sponsored by Sky Harbor Aviation. Throughout the three days of the event, there are live musical performances, featuring talent from the Pacific Northwest on the Festival Stage sponsored by OFD Foods. The Night Glow, on Friday, August 26 will feature music by Barracuda, a Heart Tribute Band, and All Fired Up, a Pat Benatar Tribute Band. Ty Curtis will perform on the OFD Foods Festival Stage on Sunday. Bret Michaels will perform on the main stage on Saturday, August 27 at 8 p.m. presented by Selmet, Inc., Bender Mechanical Services, Jimco Electric, and R.L. Reimers Construction. Admission is free and all who attend will be issued a non-transferable wristband. Fireworks over Timber Linn Lake, sponsored by Cadwell Realty Group, will follow the main stage concert. Northwest wines and microbrews and international foods are available all three days. Fred Meyer will sponsor the Beer & Wine Garden featuring beer and wine poured by Gilgamesh Brewing. On Saturday during the Main stage concert, Gilgamesh Brewing will also be pouring beer and wine in the Amphitheater. Don’t miss the 2016 Northwest Art & Air Festival August 26-28 at Timber Linn Park in Albany. Admission is free and parking is $5 all three days following the morning balloon launches. For more information and for a complete schedule of events visit the website at www. nwartandair.org.
Photo by Kristi Crawford
by Karen Rogers The Ring Neck, or China Pheasant is a familiar game bird described by the great birder, Roger Tory Peterson, as a large chickenlike bird with a long sweeping tail. They are strikingly beautiful and they are also delicious! However, they are not native to America as they are Asian in origin. They were first introduced to the Willamette Valley in 1882. Judge Owen Denny brought the first ones directly from China by ship. They found a perfect habitat and large populations flourished. They are cereal and grain eaters and are more common in agricultural areas. Only male pheasants can legally be hunted. From my own observations, both in Oregon and New Jersey, pheasants often spook at loud noises. In 2006, I was working alone at my Dad’s orchard in Sweet Home. It was warm, quiet and peaceful, when there was a sudden loud “WHOMP”! I checked my watch and noted the time carefully. Mount Saint Helens had burped- I heard the gas eruption. Oddly, the sound was scattered- it was not heard in Albany. But it did cause two magnificent pheasants to screech and take flight only about thirty feet away! Pheasants can be viewed at the E.E. Wilson Wildlife Management Area at 29555 Camp Adair Road, Monmouth, about ten miles North of Corvallis on Highway 99W. This was established in 1950 by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and was named for Eddy Elbridge Wilson, a long-time member of the Oregon State Game Commission. Upland game birds can be viewed there all year long. Go pass a pleasant afternoon with some pheasants!