almost a quarter of million dollars in 1992 alone — there may be conflicts as some see a chance to use their influence to direct future investment. Re-investment in the Fair could compete with visions held by some of the Fair’s current leadership, those now leaping at the chance to fund a wide variety of community projects. For the moment, there has been no debilitating problem. Patient and intelligent planning has gone into the generation of an endowment fund which will grant small awards to groups in the Northwest (Pacific Cascadia) that uphold the Fair’s carnivalesque vision. Other categories under consideration are ecological and agriculture projects. (Note: No applications will be accepted in the immediate future. Although there are plans to distribute some money in 1993, it will take several years for the interest bearing principle to accrue to a significant amount). Recall the other moral lesson of the Cat in Hat: pick up after yourselves if you have a big party. Here the Fair succeeds dramatically. It is an international showcase of recycling: one of the most resource-conscious events of its size in the country. After clean-up the sensitive marshland, possibly an ancient Native American ceremonial ground, gets to rest for most of the year, and the Fair may soon begin to rotate sites to give more time for recovery. But without a Cat, who invokes this responsible behavior? Perhaps the true magic of the Fair lies in its ability to keep the answers to questions of responsible self-government open, while still taking care of business. The ad hoc parameters within which the board, the manager, the committees, the vendors, the local community, and the fair family operate, retain a spirit of openness and confidence. How has such an anarchic organization managed to keep its bearings amidst constant change? First one might look towards its profitability, occurring almost in spite of itself. The yearly revenue allowed for what might politely be termed “creative bookkeeping” in years past, now happily no longer the practice. The enthusiasm of the volunteers complements the Fair’s business success. But most of all, the extraordinary need which the Fair fulfills draws out the best in creative energy and cooperative spirit, even, perhaps especially, in reactionary times. The OCF now is at a cusp. Over two decades it has made lots of folks quite happy. The list of people to thank for this success would fill an article much longer than this one. This little gathering in the woods — a feast of time, of change and renewal — moves towards the millennium with its original flavor, and very few compromises with the straight, anti-festive world of normality. In its best moments it has kept the utopian sense of the 60’s alive without becoming mired in nostalgia and packaged emotions. Now able to sponsor groups and persons doing Fair-like work every day, the Oregon Country Fair is crystallizing into something new and potentially wondrous. RAIN Spring 1993 Volume XIV, Number 3 Page 39
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