Sean C. Morgan and Scott Swanson
Headliner Luke Bryan drew a large, appreciative crowd to the 21st Oregon Jamboree Sunday night, capping off a weekend festival blessed by two unseasonably cool days that made for good times for the thousands who came.
“We had a very successful Jamboree,” said Erin Regrutto, festival director.
Crowd favorites, at least judging by the numbers, were Toby Keith, Luke Bryan, Kip Moore, Jerrod Niemann and Neal McCoy, along with Dwight Yoakam for the classic country crowd.
Brian Baird, 44, of Roseburg attended with his fiance, Colene, and her 15- and 9-year-old daughters, was enjoying a giant-sized “extremely good $10 burrito” while the kids feasted on a similarly large elephant ear after Neal McCoy’s performance Saturday afternoon.
“We’re having a great time,” he said. “I wish Neil McCoy would be a headliner, actually. We loved Toby Keith. Dwight Yoakum, we can see at the (Douglas County) Fair.”
It was Baird’s first visit to the Jamboree, though the others have attended previously. They were staying in Eugene, he said, because they couldn’t find any open spots nearer.
McCoy had a huge crowd, despite the his relatively early (4:15 p.m.) showtime. The temperatures had heated up by then, too, but the fans still showed.
Tina Little, 50, of Eugene and Kim Hurd, 43, of Harrisburg, were attending for their seventh year as part of a group of nine friends.
“We come for Neal,” Hurd said.
The festival was very busy, with an average of 14,500 per day and 900 volunteers working, Regrutto said. Keith and Bryan drew the largest crowds, with Bryan lagging a tiny bit behind Keith.
For Charlene Howdeshell and her daughter Charlett, visiting from Tualatin, this was their second Jamboree, they said.
“We’ve been to Brownsville and we’ve seen a lot of the acts there,” said Howdeshell, 56. “We really like Toby Keith and Dwight Yoakum.”
She said they’d been to the Sweet Home festival “a couple of years ago” after hearing about it from friends.
“We wanted to come because people I work with said it’s very nice,” she said.
Though the Jamboree is “spread out, like a city” and doesn’t have “everything together, tight” as is the case down the road, she said they appreciated the environment.
“In Brownsville, there’s dust everywhere,” Howdeshell said. “This has been a very nice experience. Everybody has been extremely nice.”
That was a common theme among fans who talked to a reporter.
“The music, the people – it’s really enjoyable,” said Cody Morgan, 19, of Amity as he and a friend, Kaitlyn Morgan, 17, of Dayton relaxed in their lawn chairs between shows Saturday.
Eric Kopp, of Sweet Home, who was at the festival for the second time, said he appreciated the cooler temperatures on Friday and Saturday.
“It’s not as hot as last year,” he said.
Kopp, 36, said he heard about the Jamboree when he moved to town four years ago and attended for the first time in 2012.
“I heard it was a lot of fun, and it has been,” he said.
Things heated up Sunday when Bryan took his turn on stage.
“There were some very excited women in the audience,” Regrutto noted.
There were a few logistical problems, such as microphone problems for Maggie Rose, the lead-off performer on Friday, and some laggy cellphone action for audience members.
But “for the most part, there wasn’t anything major that happened we couldn’t fix,” Regrutto said.
There were the “sinkholes.” The biggest problem came Sunday morning when the landing gear on one of Bryan’s three trailers sank into the ground backstage, delaying load-in.
The volunteer stagehands and Bryan’s crew unloaded about half of the trailer, and a special heavy-duty tow truck from AA Towing in Albany pulled the trailer out.
“It was definitely the weirdest thing (this weekend),” Regrutto said. “We’re lucky we have such a great network of volunteers and community partners.”
While it caused a delay, it didn’t hold anything up, and the artists were on stage on schedule.
Resolving that problem was a team effort, like everything across the Jamboree, Regrutto said. Robert Shamek coordinated the effort to free the trailer.
The event’s record 900 volunteers is necessary as the event continues to grow, Regrutto said. “As the event grows, we want to make sure we provide the customer service the event is known for.”
And the event is fortunate to have a pool of respectful, generous volunteers to do that, she said.
Howdeshell, the visitor from Tualatin, said that reputation is what brought her and her daughter to the Jamboree.
Little, Hurd and their group of seven other friends have attended the Willamette Country Music Festival as well, and said they appreciate the organization at the Jamboree, even though there are inconveniences.
“The bus rides are a very unique experience, sometimes,” Hurd said, referring to the transit service from the campgrounds scattered throughout the city.
Little said her only criticism of this year’s Jamboree was the changes at the Spirit Mountain stage in Sankey Park, where chairs were placed in front of the stage.
“You can’t get up close,” she said. “That was the whole fun of it.”
This year the flow of visitors into town was noticeable, some drawn by early events such as a reception with McCoy to raise funds for the Sweet Home Community Foundation.
“I think the Neal McCoy reception for the Community Foundation was my favorite part,” Regrutto said. Proceeds from the event, held inside the Boys and Girls Club, will benefit the Sweet Home Community Foundation.
Some 70 fans got to watch McCoy in a small intimate setting as he did his thing, which ranged from a Q&A to Broadway tunes, ’80s pop tunes and what he seems to do best – whatever he feels like doing at a particular moment.
Gina Riley and Wendy Younger helped coordinate the event.
The event directly shows the Jamboree’s impact in the community, Regrutto said, and those are the kinds of things she enjoys about the Jamboree.
Regrutto said she thought the business window decoration contest was a big success too. People were able to vote at the Arts and Crafts Festival for their favorite among 18 businesses. The People’s Choice award went to Trash to Treasure. Other award winners will be announced next week.
The Jamboree announced two headliners for 2014, Miranda Lambert and The Band Perry.
“The Band Perry are great entertainers, and they’re a very nice family,” Regrutto said. “They appreciated us having them here when they weren’t doing much and are excited to come back.”
The response to the Lambert announcement “was deafening,” Regrutto said. “People are really excited. We’ve had excellent responses to both of those artists.”
Lambert’s latest album is “Four the Record,” featuring the singles “Baggage Claim,” the number-one “Over You,” “Fastest Girl in Town,” “Mama’s Broken Heart” and “All Kinds of Kinds.” Lambert performed at the Jamboree in 2005 and as a headliner in 2010 along with Keith Urban and her husband, Blake Shelton.
The Band Perry released “Pioneer” in April. It features the singles “Better Dig Two” and “Done.” The Band Perry appeared at the Jamboree in 2010. The Band Perry released its debut album the following October, and the single “If I Die Young” reached number one on the country music chart.
For public safety workers, last week was busy, and the weekend even busier.
“Friday started out rocky,” said Police Chief Jeff Lynn. “It was a large crowd. The initial crowd was rowdier than normal.”
Things slowed down a lot for Saturday, Lynn said. “The crowds were calmer.”
Whether it was associated with the acts or just the anticipation and over-indulging, he isn’t sure. Outside of the Jamboree, the town was out more Saturday night.
Police were running back and forth across town to calls, but most of the situations didn’t rise to the level where an arrest was warranted, Lynn said.
“For the most part, it went as well as can be expected,” Lynn said. “There weren’t huge surprises. It was busy, but that’s to be expected. Our population doubles.”
Sweet Home police were assisted by Lebanon and Albany police departments, Linn County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police. OSP troopers joined Sweet Home with bicycle patrols and patrolled outside of town.
Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District was swamped.
“We were inundated with calls,” said Fire Chief Mike Beaver.
Two other non-festival-related incidents complicated things for police and medics Friday night – the death of a Sweet Home man in a motorcycle accident (page 1) and the drowning of a Silverton man in Green Peter Reservoir (page 17) both around 11 p.m.
“The rest of the weekend was dealing everything under the sun,” Beaver said.
Firefighters and medics responded to numerous motor-vehicle crashes and a “ton” of alcohol-related calls, which included unconscious patients and hospital transports, he said.
The district had 61 calls from 7 a.m. on Friday to 7 a.m. on Monday, Beaver said. It normally averages 6.5 to seven calls per day. During the summer, that can increase to 10 to 12 calls per day.
That’s not counting everything the medics do on Jamboree grounds, Beaver said, noting that many patients are helped who never generate a run number.
Sunday, medics on the field dealt with heat-related issues, and they also deal with things related to drinking, diabetic problems and bee stings.
He didn’t believe medics dealt with any trauma incidents on the Jamboree grounds, Beaver said.
During the Jamboree paid personnel worked two days out of three. Volunteers also staffed an engine and helped at the first-aid tent.
Among Sweet Home police officers, all but two worked the entire weekend. Those two had one day off instead of a normal weekend. Some are working a seven-day schedule as a result, and they work 12-hour shifts.
Arreola, the fan from Amity, said that despite “a lot of drunks out there,” they had a good time. “There’s a lot of good music and it’s a nice crowd.”
Kopp, of Sweet Home thought so too.
“I like the hospitality of people. It’s a friendly environment and there’s lots of excitement, lots of vendors, things to do. I was surprised at how mellow and calm it is with this many people.”