COTTAGE GROVE – Last weekend’s tribute event for Bohemia Mining Days seemed to be a success for the production team as Grovers wandered through Coiner Park with contagiously giddy energy.
Fundraising co-coordinator Cindy Weeldreyer said she likes to think of this annual celebration as a “community birthday party.” Since Spirit of Bohemia Mining Days was run mostly by retired alumni of Bohemia Mining Days, Inc., “it was like having one last ride together.”
According to financial coordinator Linday Oxley, the Spirit of BMD team raised just shy of its $39,000 goal, but she emphasized that all the necessary bills have been paid so far.
Matthew Hewlett, celebration and entertainment coordinator, said “it’s just an incredible blessing that we got all the support that we did,” calling the event “a one-hit wonder.”
“I’m really glad it’s going well this year, but the goal is for Bohemia Mining Days, Inc. to take care of the festival again next year and the board of directors of the official organization to get the funding and the volunteers and the resources they need to be able to make it happen because, as awesome as it is to see this turnout, we’d like the celebration, the festival, to return to its roots,” he said.
Hewlett called in a favor to an old friend, Anna Provansal. She graduated with Hewlett from Cottage Grove High School in 2013 and now runs Jungle Things Oregon – a reptile rescue and educational facility – down in Roseburg.
“She helped babysit a couple of my kids for a year or two. We went to school together. We graduated in the same grade,” Hewlett said. “She was one of the first people I called, and I was like ‘Hey I need someone to do something. Can you do stuff with your reptiles?’”
Provansal was quick to agree to help with the BMD tribute event.
“Matt was a really good friend of mine (in high school) so I jumped in and told him we’d bring animals and help make this happen,” said Provansal.
Jungle Things Oregon’s reptiles were a big hit with the crowd, especially the 70-pound snake named George who Provansal helped put around people’s shoulders for photos.
Helping hands didn’t just come from current and former Grovers, though. Cottage Grove police chief Cory Chase called in reinforcements from local agencies to assist the town with traffic safety during the parade since Spirit of BMD did not have enough volunteers and CGPD didn’t have enough resources to tackle this on its own.
Chase said there were three traffic officers on motorcycles from the Eugene Police Department and two from the Springfield Police Department. There were also three Lane County Sheriff’s Office reserve officers who helped control traffic for the parade.
Sydney-Sunray Rush stumbled upon the event’s parade and couldn’t even tell that this was a tribute event put together in six weeks rather than the annual event which usually requires six months of planning.
“This is the cutest thing I have ever seen in my entire life,” Rush said. “The tiny little ponies! Everybody’s so sweet and waving. It’s like they all know me, and I know that they don’t, but I feel like I’m a part of the parade. Maybe I just haven’t been down here on parade day, but there are so many people here. I feel like the entire town of Cottage Grove is here.”
