Sean C. Morgan
and Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
It was a sell-out and, by all appearances, everybody got their money’s worth at the 14th annual Oregon Jamboree last weekend.
“As far as the festival industry, I don’t think it gets much greater than this year’s Jamboree,” Festival Director Peter LaPonte said, drawing on his experience and observations with a number of festivals.
“There’s always little issues when you have four or five days to put something like this into play,” LaPonte said. The Jamboree had few problems, and all of them were minor.
“I think every show was just really special,” he said. “There haven’t been many shows where I thought every single act was outstanding and offered something unique each show.”
Zach Driscoll brought an acoustic set to kick off the Jamboree, followed by the more contemporary MuchMore Country; and Keith Anderson and Gretchen Wilson closed Friday night with the best light shows ever, LaPonte said. Wilson’s show was “way more dramatic with the pyro. We had to do a lot of advance work” to make sure it could be in the show.
He credited Wilson’s crews for designing the pyrotechnics. She has one crew that puts that whole part of the show together, and it’s their show.
Charley Pride was a big hit among concertgoers Saturday evening, and Randy Travis brought an emotional, patriotic crowd to its feet when he raised an American flag at the end of his show.
On Sunday, Sweet Home Economic Development Group President Ron Moore said, his mother was talking on her cellphone to a friend, Debi, who had been diagnosed with cancer, while approaching Rockie Lynne backstage.
Lynne took the phone from Moore’s mother and spent four or five minutes chatting with Debi, Moore said. During his show, he dedicated a song to her.
Another moving moment came during John Michael Montgomery’s performance on Sunday afternoon, when he spotlighted a Marine in the audience as he sang his hit “Letters from Home.” Organizers had Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremy Kauffman, 20, of Olympia, Wash., who was in uniform and sitting near the front of the audience, stand while Montgomery sang and Kauffman’s image was projected on the Jumbotron TV screens.
American Idol winner Carrie Underwood closed out the Jamboree and stayed for a couple of hours afterwards to sign autographs for a long line of enthusiastic fans.
Despite some summer heat on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, fans expressed appreciation for the event.
“It was great,” said Steve Bobb of Willamina, who has been to six straight Jamborees with his wife Connie.
“We always say next year maybe we won’t come back, but we always end up coming back.”
The Bobbs said they especially liked hearing Wilson, Anderson and Pride.
“And those kids from Canada (the Higgins) – they had that harmony thing going pretty good for being as young as they were,” Steve Bobb said. “They’ll probably be around for awhile.”
John Higgins, part of the group, said he appreciated the crowd, particularly the fact that the Jamboree audience seemed open to new styles of country, such as some of his group’s repertoire.
“This is the best crowd we’ve ever played in front of,” he said following the Higgins’ performance. “The crowds up where we come from don’t get this excited.”
Keith Pettingill, with his wife Mary Anne, of West Lynn, was at the Jamboree for the first time. He said he heard about it while playing golf at Mallard Creek and decided to buy tickets.
“We came today,” Pettingill said Saturday. “Next year we’ll probably come all three days. It’s a really well-organized event. You’re not knocking into people to do everything and the entertainment is super.”
The Jamboree, sold out last month, had about 9,800 attending on Friday, 10,400 on Saturday and 9,500 on Sunday. Tickets were sold to patrons as far away as the East Coast said Mel Wagoner, ticket manager.
Jamboree officials will find out more exactly how many visitors they had each day after they complete ticket counts, LaPonte said. People enter and leave all the time, so they cannot be counted at the gate.
“It’s this Saturday figure of 10,400, that caused all of us to sit down and take a big look at how far we wanted to sell this show,” LaPonte said. Officials from all levels of the Jamboree got together and decided they did not want to have an issue of overcrowding. Patron safety is the number one priority for the Jamboree.
Although this is the first time the Jamboree has sold out before the event, the Jamboree has been looking at purchasing property for expansion for a couple of years.
“I don’t know that it necessarily highlights an immediate need,” Moore said. “But for future performances, having a larger site would be beneficial.”
Moore said that with the Jamboree over for the year, he is planning to get the property committee focused on the question again.
“It’s definitely something we’re obviously looking at,” Moore said. The sold-out show demonstrates the Jamboree will need to do something differently next year, whether at its current site or a new one.
LaPonte first brought the idea up to the SHEDG Board of Directors as part of the event’s longer-term planning.
Such changes in an organization cannot just be made in a few months, he said. Three to five years of planning ahead will be required.
Right now, the Jamboree is nearly finished with a feasibility study on three options, including a proposed amphitheater to be built in conjunction with Western States Land Reliance Trust projects on the former Willamette Industries Sweet Home Mill site, north of Highway 20 in the area of 24th Avenue.
“The fact that we got here (sold out) is definitely going to motivate people in the organization,” LaPonte said. When SHEDG and the Jamboree get serious about pursuing options, “there’ll be people questioning it because they’re happy with where we’re at now.”
Once something like this hits a peak and tries to stay there instead of moving forward and getting stronger, it will inevitably start a downward slide, he warned.
LaPonte thinks this show can peak out when it can regularly bring in the “very best” in entertainment, the Alan Jacksons, the Kenney Chesneys and the Toby Keiths. They may be available all the time, but the Jamboree needs to be able to scoop up that kind of talent when the opportunities present themselves.
“You can’t do that with 10,000 seats any more,” he said.
When the feasibility study is complete, the SHEDG Board will receive a presentation on it and then hold several meetings, including some with the community at large, to discuss future scenarios and options, LaPonte said.
“I think we’re in a position to do it,” he said. “It’s just about finding the right choice.”
Purchasing property is not particularly risky, LaPonte said. Property is an asset, and if something prevents the Jamboree from happening in a few years, “it’s not like you’re throwing money away.”
Profits will be better than last year when the Jamboree netted approximately $240,000.
Settling bills and expenses takes time, said LaPonte, who has yet to see and pay for a number of expenses. After bills are settled, he will be in a better position to estimate the Jamboree’s net profit this year, he said.
Before even starting, the Jamboree had approximately $75,000 in sales for the 2007 event, LaPonte said. The Jamboree began selling 2007 tickets in March.
More than 600 volunteers signed up this year to help put on the show, LaPonte said. “Most of our volunteers are just amazing workers,” and they “do it for the fun.”
Moore said, “It’s amazing, 600 volunteers doing this.”
During the day, those helping out don’t really get much of a break, Moore said. Concertgoers can head for the campers and cool off before the main attractions in the evening, but the volunteers stay out in the sun working.
Every morning, the grounds are spotless, he said. “It’s unfathomable. It’s amazing.”
Kauffman, the Marine, was impressed.
He said he attended the Jamboree in 2003 and decided to come back this year while he was on leave from Camp Lejuene, N.C.
“This is incredible,” he said. “I understand it helps the town out too. It’s great music, great atmosphere. It just keeps getting bigger.”