COTTAGE GROVE – Cottage Grove’s annual summer festival returns to Coiner Park next weekend for its 67th edition. Spirit of Bohemia Mining Days is honoring the gold and silver mining heritage of the community with live music, vendors, kids’ activities, and historic demonstrations on July 16-18.
Up to a week before the festival, folks can start to see the classic wooden facade along the front of the park. Vendor structures, tents, and booths will start to fill the area, and by noon on Thursday, Bohemia City will be open for the 2026 season.
Matthew Hewlett, executive director of SBMD, said his long-term goals for BMD are to recapture its status as an educational experience, not just a commercialized venture.
“But also, I want people to be immersed in the world in the same way that they would at a Renaissance fair,” Hewlett said.
Over 90 vendors will be in the park with a variety of wares, from Helen’s Cotton Candy to Queen Bee Accessories, and Hewlett said that starting last year, a contest between the vendors to dress up and decorate their booths in a time-appropriate getup has been moderated by City Councilor and Bohemia City Mayor Dana Merryday.
Visitors are encouraged to come in historical garb as well, and certainly to strut their stuff in the Slabtown V. Lemati Feud Games costume contest and beard and mustache contest.
“I’d like Bohemia Mining Days to be more like that, where folks get excited to dress up and become part of the experience, and be part of the story being told,” Hewlett said.
Feud games are held on Friday and Saturday and include outhouse cornhole, mining in the dark, fuse winder, and cherry pit spitting.
This year’s theme is “Rivers, Rails, and Reels,” referencing three aspects of Grove’s history: the waterways that shaped early life, the railroads that moved people and resources, and the films that helped put CG on the big screen.
The festival aims to educate and immerse attendees in not just Cottage Grove’s but Oregon’s diverse cultural heritage, including Japanese, Chinese, Indian, and Native American contributions. Hewlett explained how the organization’s shift to diversify the historical culture had led him to learn about instances when different cultures worked together.
He explained how miners would come off the mountain with a serious illness and seek help from indigenous healers. Over the winter of 1912, a Japanese family moved into the area and worked as cooks for the miners.
“The Chinese helped build the roads into the area, and there was a story covered by Steve Williamson about East Indians working in logging camps,” he said. “The more I looked, the more proof I found that this is not just an isolated cultural event. This has ties to the world at large because it was a prosperous area at the time. It was an expanding territory early on in Oregon’s history, and with that came a lot of opportunity, and people from all over the world sought out that opportunity.”
As a way to highlight the historical diversity of the region, Hewlett said SBMD is partnering with Dietz, an elder of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, to teach about Native American culture. Cottage Grove Prospectors and Golddiggers and Bohemia Mine Owners Association will be at the park to talk about CG culture.
“There are these stories, these pocket stories of these really good moments of people just getting along and loving one another,” Hewlett said.
The opening Miner’s Dinner is also on Thursday at 5 p.m., featuring a grilled steak seasoned with a local BMD spice blend from Darkside Smokehouse, baked potato, cornbread, baked beans, and a cookie. The following night, any steak leftovers will be used for a stew dinner, and on Saturday morning, breakfast will be served in the park.
The Prospectors and Golddiggers “Breakfast on the Mountain” will be on Sunday morning at 6 a.m., in the Bohemia Mining District, but before then, Saturday will be chock-full of events and activities for folks to check out.
The Grand Miners Parade goes down Main Street at around 10 a.m.; live music performances will start in the park at 11:30 a.m.; ore cart races, a blacksmithing workshop, and an awards ceremony for the decor contest, silent auction, pie eating contest, and feud games all follow. The festival closes for the year on Saturday at 10 p.m.
Folks usually park at the Safeway across the street, or on side streets near the park and within walking distance. There is no designated parking lot for the event. The basketball parking lot will be closed to the public, and the tennis court parking lot is reserved for food vendors.
View quick facts about the festival here, or visit SBMD’s website here.
