Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home Economic Development Group’s search for a new home for the Oregon Jamboree may be nearing its end.
SHEDG has signed an agreement to purchase a 66-acre parcel of land from Western States Land Reliance Trust. The property is located on the old Willamette Industries Santiam Lumber mill site east of the water tower in downtown Sweet Home, at the north end of 24th Avenue off Main Street.
SHEDG plans to develop the site as the future home of the Oregon Jamboree and for other community activities and events. The Oregon Jamboree is an annual three-day country music and camping festival held during the first weekend of August as a means of raising money for local economic and community development projects.
“We’re definitely really excited about the opportunity for the organization and what we feel it can do to benefit the community as a whole,” SHEDG President Ron Moore said. “We’re pretty excited about the opportunities we’ve got in front of us. We’re just really excited this has finally come to fruition.”
Although the first steps have been taken, the process has a few more hurdles to go, Moore said.
“Right now, I’m just caught up on a lot of details,” Jamboree Event Manager Peter LaPonte said. “I’m cautiously excited.”
Detailed sale terms will not be disclosed pending completion of an independent appraisal along with other “contingencies,” LaPonte said. Those contingencies include environmental, traffic, access and zoning issues. The deal will close after 120 days if all contingencies are met.
“We’ll be moving ahead,” LaPonte said. “A lot of things need to be determined during that timeframe. We will draw up an initial site plan during that time period.”
At the same time, SHEDG will research the environmental history and soils information for the property and deal with the other contingencies, he said. “It’s in pretty rough shape right now.”
The land is currently zoned industrial, but the city’s comprehensive plan designates it for recreation-commercial use.
Exactly what SHEDG will need to do will be determined when it has the initial site plan, LaPonte said. That will help determine what structures may stay and what must be torn down. If the Jamboree can use an existing structure, it has no reason to take it down.
For several years, SHEDG has looked at different local properties as a permanent site for the Oregon Jamboree, he said. “The size, location and affordability of this property are uniquely suited to the Jamboree’s needs.”
Over the discussions of the past several years, the Jamboree has figured it would take about three years to get a property ready and move the festival onto it, LaPonte said. “If things work out really well, it could possibly be two years. If things get rough and there’s a delay, it could be longer.”
If everything works right, he said, he thinks the 2010 Jamboree could be held at the new site, and the Jamboree may be able to use the site sooner than that for other purposes, such as camping.
The total length of time depends on what it will take to turn the property into a festival site, LaPonte said.
SHEDG has been seeking property for three years, LaPonte said, and it has looked at several properties inside and outside the Sweet Home city limits.
The existing concert site, the athletic fields south of the high school, is about seven acres, LaPonte said. The event easily uses 100 acres for all of its operations, including camping, but “the space (at the high school) isn’t designed” for optimum use.
The Jamboree will be able to design the new site for optimum use of space, LaPonte said, although it likely will not be able to fit its entire operation onto the new site.
The Jamboree will be able to add permanent amenities, LaPonte said, things like hard-built restrooms, RV hookups and shopping areas. It also may construct a building with a stage in it rather than renting a stage.
The Jamboree is unlikely to build permanent seating, so the space stays flexible and useful for other events, he said.
“The idea would not be unlike where we’re at now,” LaPonte said, just designed for better viewing. Infrastructure and utilities would be there, possibly “blending into the background so that we’re not set up, it’ll just look like a park.”
The concept will be an organic building process in which the grounds are improved over time as it makes sense as an investment, LaPonte said. “And it also needs to be used for more than just the festival. We want to make it available to other events.”
SHEDG began looking for property for several reasons, and the new property will provide several advantages over the existing school district site.
It will expand the capacity of the Jamboree, which is essentially maxed out between 9,000 and 10,000 right now.
If the Jamboree continues to purchase major acts, it costs much more than it used to, LaPonte said. It will need the larger crowds to pay for the acts.
The new site also guarantees a place for the festival to exist, LaPonte said. The Jamboree has had a good relationship with School District 55, which provides almost all of its festival grounds; but the Jamboree has had to relocate some things based on the requirements and needs of the district.
With a site of its own, the Jamboree cannot be evicted, LaPonte said, and it provides the opportunity to enhance the customer experience with the addition of new amenities.
It also opens up new revenue streams, such as parking, LaPonte said. “Also it gives us the opportunity to do more than one event a year.”
The Jamboree could offer another event with a different type of music, one-night concerts or other types of events, LaPonte said, but before all of that, “the priority if this moves forward, if we make it through the due diligence period with a high level of confidence, is to move the Jamboree.”
Early in the process, the Jamboree has much more work to be done, LaPonte said, and the next few months SHEDG and Jamboree officials are going to be busy making sure they can afford to transform the old mill site into an attractive area.