Fourth annual Camas Festival features art, natural history, Indigenous Creators’ Market and more 

The Camas Festival returns to the Linfield University McMinnville Campus from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Friday, May 9. Now in its fourth year, the event is a partnership between Linfield and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde celebrating the cultural, ecological and artistic significance of the camas flower. The event is free and open to all.

This year’s Camas Festival includes:

1. Tours through the (hopefully blooming) Cozine Creek camas patches
2. An Indigenous Creators’ Market
3. Talks on revitalizing cultural burning and the histories of the Willamette Valley tribes
4. An exhibit from basket weaver and ethnobotanist Stephanie Craig
5. Children’s activities

For generations, purple camas lilies have been cultivated, traded and consumed by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. This includes the Kalapuya, who were removed to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation in 1855. Though much sparser today, camas remains a central piece of Kalapuyan lifeways. 

At the festival, members of the Grand Ronde staff and Linfield faculty will lead tours of the Cozine Creek camas patches. Attendees will learn about camas, while also exploring the various habitats — wet prairie, oak savannah and riparian forest — of Linfield’s McMinnville campus. 

Attendees can also wander the Indigenous Creators’ Market, art exhibit and children’s activities at Nicholson Library. Two lectures are scheduled throughout the afternoon:

• Joe Scott will speak on “Revitalizing Cultural Burning in the Willamette Valley” at 1:30 p.m. Scott is director of the Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program. He is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and a descendent of the Rogue River Tribes of what is now Southwestern Oregon. He currently lives and works on Kalapuya land on the Tsankupi side of the Willamette River.  
• David G. Lewis presents “Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley” at 3 p.m. Lewis is an assistant professor of anthropology and ethnic studies and Indigenous studies at Oregon State University. He is a member of the Grand Ronde Tribe, descended from Takelma, Chinook, Molalla and Santiam Kalapuya peoples. 

Most festival events take place at Nicholson Library (campus location) on the south end of Linfield’s McMinnville campus. Visitors may park in any non-reserved spot. While Linfield’s campus and Nicholson Library are fully accessible, the Cozine Creek tours include slightly steep terrain and uneven ground. Sturdy, mud-resistant shoes are recommended.

For more information, visit linfield.edu/camasfest or contact William Fleeger at wfleeger@linfield.edu or 503-883-2341.

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Full schedule

Throughout the festival

• Maker’s Marketplace
• Exhibit from Chachalu Cultural Center
• Children’s activities
• Gallery exhibit from basket weaver and ethnobotanist Stephanie Craig
• Informational and interactive tables from community partners