CRESWELL — The inaugural Romeo’s Fall Festival on Saturday accomplished its mission of putting everybody in a good moooooood — even if Romeo wasn’t there.
“Only disappointing thing that people have brought up is that Romeo is not here – and there’s a good reason for that,” Creswell city manager Michelle Amberg said. “He’s 6-4½ at the shoulder – he’s not a pet, he’s a big, big boy. He lives on a farm, he’s a farm animal. Plus, they don’t have a trailer big enough for him.”
Instead of bringing Romeo to the people, the owners of Welcome Home Animal Sanctuary, just west of Creswell, welcomed visitors for 15-minute intervals on Saturday. Romeo and his brother Milo have resided there for seven years.
Romeo’s humans hold down the merch fort at Harry Holt Park. BOB WILLIAMS / CHRONICLE PHOTO
The miracle of miracles was how quickly and seamlessly the event was put together.
“We had heard that the Guinness World Book of Records was coming out to confirm that Romeo was the World’s Biggest Steer,” Amberg said, “and the mayor (Dave Stram) and I went and met Romeo and they had the plaque and we thought this is really cool wanted to make it part of Creswell.
Scenes from Romeo’s Fall Festival. BOB WILLIAMS / CHRONICLE PHOTOS
“Misty Moore, who owns the farm, asked me if we could make banners that would go over the freeway – for years people have asked me if we could have a fall festival, I hear it all the time – I’m like, ‘Let’s do a fall festival to celebrate Romeo as the world’s biggest steer in Creswell, Oregon, and we did this all in three weeks.
“We had a committee that was the sanctuary, the city, the library and the Creswell Chamber of Commerce.”
Scenes from Romeo’s Fall Festival Scarecrow Contest. BOB WILLIAMS / CHRONICLE PHOTOS
And it had something for everyone. There was a homemade scarecrow contest, a pumpkin chucking event, a pet dress-up contest, a coloring contest, face-painting, free soup, and much more. The colorful shirt designs were all done by Moore’s friend, Weronika Kolinska of Amsterdam.
“We did it vegan this year because of Romeo,” Amberg said. “But I don’t think we’ll do that again because we had to lose out on a few things. We couldn’t do caramel apples because there’s butter in the caramel. There’s a lot of things you wouldn’t expect that have dairy in them. Beeswax candles, for example, are not vegan.”
Shawna, Jake, Lisa, and Banks Neel enjoy their Saturday at Harry Holt Park. BOB WILLIAMS / CHRONICLE PHOTO
Amberg said she expects this to be an annual event – but not necessarily Romeo-themed every year.
“We wanted this to be a really wholesome event,” she said. “It could be a different theme every year, a farm theme, a fall theme – I loved working with everybody who had a hand in putting this together.
“So many people pitched in – everyone was really ready to have some fun. They were tired of the Covid and the negativity, they just wanted to have fun – and almost everything was free.”
Annie and Julia Hall working on her entry for the Romeo coloring contest. BOB WILLIAMS / THE CHRONICLE
Everyone who took first place in any of the various contests received an extra-special prize – a new 2025 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records – with Romeo’s signature’s, his massive hoof print.
Scenes from Romeo’s Fall Festival Scarecrow Contest. BOB WILLIAMS / CHRONICLE PHOTOS
