Roseburg to Celebrate 150th Birthday

Roseburg has been a city since Oct. 3 1872 and a team of enthusiasts are putting together a month of events to celebrate 150 years of Roseburg. The community organizers are busy planing a month full of Sesquicentennial events to launch the next 150 years. “We’re thrilled to be celebrating this moment in the city’s history,” said City Councilor Shelley Briggs Loosely, who co-chairs the Roseburg 150 Sesquicentennial Planning Committee. “I’d like to invite everyone to come out to all the events we are planning and I’d also like to thank all of the community people who are involved with putting on the events.” The big event on Sunday, Oct. 2, will be a community-wide party in Stewart Park from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. featuring speeches and a proclamation, entertainment, Roseburg history, food trucks, birthday cake, Umpqua Dairy ice cream, a giant birthday card to the city for everyone to sign, the Aaron Rose tent, family-oriented picnic party games and races, youth activities and a “Walk Through Time” of historic photos and figures staked out along the Stewart Park multi-use path. This event will be family friendly and free of charge. The program will dig deeply into our community’s rich past to honor the area’s original inhabitants including the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, who discovered the beautiful Umpqua Valley and this special place where Deer Creek meets the South Umpqua River that we all now call home. The Aaron Rose Tent honoring the city’s founder will be the site for unveiling the City’s restored life-size cutout of Rose that suffered weather damage as it stood for years outside City Hall's front door. Alpha Rich, wife of Roseburg Mayor, Larry Rich, was the artist behind the restoration project. Youth activities will include sidewalk chalk, art activities, bubbles and a traditional tribal activity such as beading or braiding. Other events celebrating 150 years of Roseburg: • Roseburg 150 Run/Walk: At 8:30 a.m. on October 2nd, Thrive Umpqua and partners including Roseburg Parks and Recreation, the YMCA of Douglas County and ADAPT will host a 5K run/walk in Stewart Park. All participants who pre-register by September 25th will receive a free Roseburg 150 swag bag. This family-friendly community walk is free of charge and will include a light breakfast. • Time Capsule Ceremony at City Hall on Oct. 3 at 9 a.m. Join the community on the official sesquicentennial to bury the time capsule with City of Roseburg leaders. • Blocktoberfest: On Saturday, Oct. 8, NeighborWorks Umpqua will present the first annual Blocktoberfest in downtown Roseburg. The event will feature historic downtown Roseburg, local breweries and wineries, local food trucks, live music and entertainment, and a variety of local vendors and community organizations from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. More information at https://roseburgblocktoberfest.com/. • Roseburg 150th Birthday Dinner with the Elks Lodge on Saturday, Oct. 15. The Elks will host a spaghetti dinner with three seatings for up to 180 people in all. Dinner will include birthday cake, a slideshow and volunteer-guided tours of the 115-year-old historic lodge in downtown Roseburg. The Roseburg Elks Lodge #326 was organized in 1896. • Ghosts of Roseburg Past: Self-guided historic walking tour of downtown Roseburg and fascinating characters from the past launches in October. Free print maps will be available at the Roseburg Visitor Center inside Experience Roseburg, 555 SE Kane St., and a few other downtown locations. The public will also be able to view historic photos and information, and even download a GPS-enabled audio tour for a small cost, from the website, GhostsofRoseburg.com. • Roseburg 150 Neewollah Parade on Oct. 31 Other Roseburg 150 activities in the works include a Youth Voice project to be carried out over the next year ahead and conclude with a published catalogue, multiple public art projects, and a community-wide call to action for 150 acts of volunteerism over the year ahead. Businesses and nonprofits also can plan and host other events with the support of the Roseburg 150 planning committee.