Such an amazing time on the llama walk!!! The llamas were friendly as was the staff, everything was…read morewell paced and a great value for the money. Our family loves frog pond farm already so this was an awesome new experience. In addition to that we happened to be there when baby goats were roaming around so that was the cherry on top of an already fantastic experience. Will definitely do the llama walks again! Thank you for a fun morning!!!

We love going to Frog Pond Farm and have been many times throughout the years. We had a great time…read morevisiting their pumpkin patch and doing all the fun fall activities there. We went on a Saturday which was really busy and unfortunately they ran out of several food choices. However, service was really great which made up for it and the lines moved fairly quickly. My kids liked their pizza. One suggestion would be to offer a pumpkin beer for purchase. I did appreciate that they had cider options. My son's favorite activity was the ball launcher and my daughter's was seeing/petting all the animals. We had a great family day there which also included The Bird Man show and the Magic Show which both my kids enjoyed.

The Mount Angel Volksfest is like the kleine bruder of the town's significantly more expansive…read moreOktoberfest: a quick winter fix to hold us over on beer and sausages until autumn rolls around again. Contained entirely within the village's massive Festhalle, you'll find a handful of local vendors purveying local products, including wines, clothing, hats, foodstuffs and souvenirs. Left of the entrance, you'll find der kindercorner, where volunteers offer (free!) balloon animals and face painting for the littles, who have no idea why all the grown-ups are singing, dancing, and drinking all day long. Beers, wine and cider are available from multiple vendors right of the entrance, many of them local, including a Benedictine brew crafted by the monks of Mount Angel Abbey, just outside the town proper. Music and entertainment is provided by various local, semi-local, and internationally renowned polka bands; if you've attended even one Oktoberfest in your life, you've know what you're in for, and you've likely heard all of the songs before, likely multiple times per visit. For some, the repetition gets old; I like to call it "tradition", and just roll with it. After a few beers, your appreciation for these threadbare tunes will increase, I assure you. Zigga zagga, zigga zagga, oi Oi OI! Ein prosit! It may not be the real McCoy, but it's not meant to be: the Mount Angel Volksfest is a tiny morsel meant to whet the appetite for the glorious revels to come later in the year. For a town that prides itself on its heritage like Mount Angel, the locals rarely need a reason to break out the beer and sausages. September cannot come soon enough! But until then, strap on some lederhosen, dust off that dirndl, chow down on some of the best wurst around, and raise a glass with a cheer and a smile! Winter (and COVID?) is almost over! That's more than enough reason to celebrate! Prost! Admission is $10 for adult attendees, free for under 21s. Tokens for beverages are $1/each, with beers, ciders and wines running between 6-8 tokens. Food must be purchased separately with cash or card, and an ATM is available just inside the doors, and includes an array of sausages, pretzels, potato salad, sauerkraut, and many other Oktoberfest staples, although there didn't appear to be any schnitzel, which ought to be illegal!

Neither the best fest, nor the worst fest. It is somewhere in between…read more The 4th annual Wurstfest was held February 17 - 18 and would be a nice introduction to Mt. Angel, but certainly not a substitute for attending Oktoberfest in September. It is really a way to attract visitors to this small hamlet in the Willamette Valley during the off season. The most fascinating part for me is that it is billed as a "Mt. Angel Celebration of German Sausage," and yet my favorite sausage place in town, Mt. Angel Sausage Co., was not a vendor. I am sure there is an interesting back story there... The festival was held in the new Mt. Angel Community Center, Festhalle. Since everything was in one spot, it was easy to find the festival on Highway 214 and free parking was a snap. This is very different from Oktoberfest which pretty much takes over the entire town and has dozens of venues. Admission was $10 for adults and children were free. When you entered, you were able to select a nice wine glass, beer glass or stein as a souvenir. The vendors were an interesting mix of local businesses and smaller residential vendors that traveled to the event. My favorites were the Urban German, St. Josef's Winery and the mustard sold by the sisters from the neighboring Benedictine Monastery. But compared to the spectacle of Oktoberfest, this was an elegant, modest affair. Lots of folks dressed up in their German finery and you could purchase your own lederhosen, dirndls and hats. It was a happy festival, filled with music and a few dancers, but having been a visitor to Oktoberfest, it struck me as a pleasant footnote. Certainly not a main attraction.

Let me paint you a picture…read more.. In my bucolic little 'burb, there is an annual arts festival in one of my favorite parks. To folks in Portland, yes, there are two Willamette Parks. This one is located at the confluence of the Willamette and Tualatin Rivers in my lovely West Linn. The fields are green and lush and there are rows of white roses in bloom along the border. Children are splashing in the fountain and people are laughing and eating festival food. I am so impressed by the organization of this annual event. The layout of the vendor stalls, plus music and a food court are all excellent. While the number of diversity of the art booths are outstanding this year, the food court is pretty minimal. So you may want to bring your own picnic or stop for lunch in the Old Willamette District. However, I am always a sucker for the burgers served by the West Linn Lions Club. Now, a couple notes. While the artists and their offerings are diverse (watercolors, baskets, glass, pottery, textiles, jewelry, photography, furniture, garden statues), it is not alternative. An art festival in the Alberta or Hawthorne neighborhoods of Portland would look quite different. This festival is comprised primarily of local artists and although there are some from Portland, you are more likely to see the artistic endeavors of folks from Lake Oswego, Oregon City and Canby. There isn't a lot of angst going on in this part of our metro area. The other thing is that it was already packed and parking almost gone when the festival opened at 10:00a. So you can either park in the Old Willamette neighborhood and walk or take one of the free shuttles from West Linn High School (http://www.westlinnartsfestival.com/parking.html). It is kind of a pain, I know. Willamette Park is down a steep hill from Old Willamette, so if you park and walk, be prepared for a steep climb upon your return. If you ever had the desire to visit West Linn, this is a great time and event. Everything is looking very good in my 'hood.

I can't decide which was more stunning at this hidden gem. The lovely stone architecture or the…read moregorgeous gardens and surrounding walkways. Lime and olive trees, eucalyptus, cactus, and so many flowers, vines and bushes. My husband and I felt like we stepped into a countryside winery in Spain or Italy. The Pinots, Sauvignon Blanc were delicious and we even lucked out by going on a day when there was an opera singer sharing her voice with the crowd. $15 a person for 6 generous tastes is unheard of these days!!! Tastings are offered only on Saturdays from 1-4 pm, and they require a reservation. You can bring your own food/picnic. We really enjoyed learning about the owners' journey and how they built this must see paradise tucked away in Oregon City. I will be going back many more times and bringing friends!

I have to start off saying that I did have a genuinely amazing time and am so glad I came to their…read more'A Bohemian Affair'. I heard about it pretty close to the event and my friends I came with had heard of the winery before. I went in with no real expectations. I get around by cane and am a lot more mobile somedays than others. I cannot recommend this to anyone with mobility issues. I was able to get around a bit but the parking lot is gravel, there is a VERY epic hill one needs to hike up that is also gravel and steep and the grounds are very uneven throughout with rough stairs and such. Where they wanted most people to "sit" to picnic was a hill of gravel. The lawns are uneven. The space is gorgeous but again, this is a nightmare if you have any mobility challenges. I truly appreciate the thought given to everything here and I sincerely feel that they are just doing the wine as a means to fund their gardening and space which makes me clap and scream bravo. The space is gorgeous though i saw some of the website photos and some of the areas I think were better previously - they seem to keep adding gravel and I wish they would go with that old world feel they are trying and even do cobble or stone walks. Anything but gravel. Which brings me to the wine... I chose the rose and that is one of the first bottles of wine I genuinely found uncomfortable to drink. My friends said their Pinot Noir was just as awful. I noticed later that even the label is haphazard. It was shockingly bad and I am not a wine snob in the least. So, with all that... I say that is you want to experience a sort of rustic Spanish villa you stumbled on to definitely drop in. I am sure their tastings are maybe where is at for some but their tasting room has an incredible view of the grounds so that alone is probably worth the gravel trek in and $15.

Had a great time at Oktoberfest this year. In my mind, Mount Angel is the one and only top quality…read moreOktoberfest around here. I've gone to others and assist us a disappointment after going to Mount Angel. I've come here every year for at least 15 years maybe longer. Thank you to the city officials for putting on such a great event.

Mt Angel Oktoberfest is a yearly event full of celebration for the harvest, as well as a 3 day…read morecelebration of the first Oktoberfest held in Munich in 1810 celebrating the marriage of King Ludwig of Bavaria. It also is a celebration of beer. This event draws thousands of visitors. This event also draws religious visitors to St. Mary's Catholic Church built in 1910, and the Mt Angel Abbey that was founded in 1882. The festival is a huge event for Mt Angel as it also draws in a lot of vendors selling handmade goods, foods and drink. There is a pavilion playing traditional German music as well as a Maypole Dance done by youngsters in full German regalia such as Lederhosen for men and Dirndl Kleid for the women. There are also car shows and military vehicles on display, a large playground area with carnival type rides for the children. Parking is difficult to find, but somehow we always manage to find a spot on the side streets or just pay to park in one of the nearby fields. There is also a free tractor pulled shuttle wagon that makes continuous rounds from the festivities up to the abbey and back. As always, the brats, corn on the cob, elephant ears.... Delicious!

Local museums that capture the heart and history of their surroundings are something my wife and I…read morekeep an eye out for. And this one was fascinating and fun. For a modest cost we got a 10 minute video professionally done on the area and its residents trek from Europe to across the US. The lady staffing the museum was knowledgeable and friendly and had answers to many questions. The pictures and items were great representations of another era, and the assorted houses as part of the museum were fun to peek in and get a glimpse of an earlier life. Definitely well spent time on a Sunday afternoon.

This is consistently one of the best haunted houses in Oregon. We have been going for 8 seasons and…read moreeach year there is something new to see. The staff are super friendly and keep everyone moving along in a positive way. The scenery is super creative and theatrical with lighting. The actors are plentiful, and fantastic. We will come back next year.

Going to haunted houses became an annual tradition with my friends since we turned 18. For our…read morefourth year, we all decided to travel to Hubbard for our tradition. Parking was a bit confusing, but there's a free lot, street parking and a 5 dollar parking lot. There is a wait before getting into the haunted houses depending on if your night slot is sold out, but really we only waited about 15-20 minutes after our selected slot so it's no big deal. We chose the classic manor. At first I went in thinking it wasn't too scary, but I was wrong. It was such a fun experience and I'm sure doing it in the dark would've been cool, but I did not have the guts for it. The place also has food, photos and a pumpkin patch. Milburn's Haunted Manor is so worth it!

Amazing family-owned winery with fun events!…read more I went to Pete's Mountain Vineyard Annual Holiday Sip & Shop and had a great time. They had several local vendors with an assortment of gifts. Sometimes I feel holiday markets are too "crafty" for me, but luckily this market actually offers really cute, high-quality, useful products. Aside from the event, the views here are gorgeous and the service is very friendly and down to earth.

Beautiful spot! Flights & snacks. Had live music when we stopped in. Friendly staff. Sat…read moreoutside during our visit. Great parking.