The Pavilion is extremely well built! Security puts you through a main entrance, there is so much…read morespace for dancing or performers on the floor. The stage is a little on the small side but the screens are large enough that you can sit anywhere and see just fine whatever is happening. There are ramps and stairs everywhere so you have your options when you need to get about, you are not going to be stuck. The hall has a variety of vendors with fair prices, but I am sure they vary by event. The whole place was clean, nothing felt dirty or neglected. Ladies.....I went to an even with over 1000 people and didn't have to wait in line for the bathroom! Just walked straight in! So many stalls, it was like lady heaven. I would definately return for any event being held here.

The owners of the Mavericks league are ruining baseball for the Salem area. their stadium is run…read moredown, seating is broken and jagged, missing cup holders expose metal arms in the seats and are a clear safety hazard. The management of the league is piss poor and they treat their teams, players and coaches like crap. I really wish they'd hire an actual umpire crew and not the good ol boys club. It's embarrassing watching an umpire forget a baseball rule and then eject a manager for trying to correct him. Hearing things like "that's a mavericks league strike" only further diminish your reputation. I doubt this will even reach someone who can and WILL make a change but fans should know. Don't waste your money if you actually like baseball and watching a competitive game supported by knowledgeable umpires who don't have a personal vendetta with players. Your money would be better spent at the Keizer little league fields watching 8u baseball.

Truly lovely night at the ballpark - plenty of "Whitey Small Ball"…read more (https://tht.fangraphs.com/whitey-ball/) (rule #1. RUN, rule #2. RUN, rule #3. RUN) to keep the hardcore MLB fans in full thrall. The food is expensive (please, skip the $5.75 microwaved pretzels and the $4.75 bag of Cracker Jack that is mostly air, in a fancy bag), but the tickets and beers are cheap, so it all evens out. Overall 5 stars!

Horrible parking options, working students seem uninterested and routinely put down the city of…read moreSalem, staff and faculty take weeks to MONTHS for responses. Tuition is far too high for the level of education provided. Be aware and take you or your loved ones education elsewhere!!!!

This review is of Willamette just as a local cultural and entertainment asset. With the public…read morelibrary about to be handicapped for two years, I set out to look for alternatives. At the Mark O.Hatfield Library main desk, staff will issue to area residents a "community borrower's card" for a yearly fee of $50. To access the campus, I always park in the visitors' lot on the east side of Winter St., close to the intersection with Pringle Parkway. The signage is confusing: parking is free for casual drop-ins only on weekends. For those from away, walk NE from the visitors' parking until you see the fountain. There is found an excellent map and you can orient yourself. The Martha Springer Botanical Garden is a few minutes' walk from the library and worth a visit. It does not show on the online map. It is the green strip north of the Sparks Center, on the south bank of the Mill Race.

This is a great, independent cinema. They show a mix of some blockbusters, many independent movies,…read morean occasional screening of a movie from yesteryear, sometimes a surprise movie and some movies that are very locally based. Sometimes they even have the director or someone else directly involved in the movie making an appearance for an audience q&a after the show (for example, they have a movie which was directed by a young, Portland director wherein he will be appearing for a q&a next week. Another time they had a young man who did a documentary about his travel down the Columbia River in a canoe he had built). They offer this variety while doing an exceptional job of curating the films and keeping the mix of films showing at any given time diverse. They also vary the show times nicely with the actual number of showings of a particular flick also varying by the day, with show times also fluctuating to different times on different days. The theater itself has comfortable seating that is well tiered so that heads do not get in the way of one's viewing. Also, the seating is positioned so most seats look directly at the screen as opposed to having to tilt one's head a bit to watch the film. I find the size of each theater to be intimate but not small, probably seating in the 130-150 person range. The sound systems are excellent. The theater floors are kept clean, as are the restrooms. The website is well constructed, easy to navigate and filled with information. I am not a big movie goer, especially since Hollywood has placed the wow factor and other film features far above the screenplay value. In my youth I was a regular filmgoer, enjoying the big Hollywood productions, but also the indie flicks playing at the indie theaters. I now find myself being pulled back before the Bigscreen as a result of finding this theater. When visiting Corvallis, which I do frequently, if I have not decided on what to do while their then the Cinema's website is often a go-to for consideration of finding something fun to do. I am impressed with this independent theater and encourage all to visit the website regularly to find new and interesting movies to sink yourself into for a few hours.

Salem Cinema is Salem's repertory movie theater with several screens, and stellar programming…read more They will show select first run films that no one else gets. Movies need to show in theaters to qualify for an Academy Awards nomination. If they were made for streaming, and they need theatrical, Salem Cinema may get them. That was the case for Kathryn Bigelow's House of Dynamite. It's a Netflix property so most people will see it on a small screen. It deserves a big screen like the Salem Cinema. The Salem Cinema is in a modern building with some vintage interior panels. It is very clean. The rest rooms are clean. The theaters have great seats and good sound. I did not hear any sound bleed between theaters. They do a good job with their vintage graphic design. Where the Salem Cinema could improve, thus the loss of a star, is to expand their food and drink options. They have a large seating area in the lobby. It was empty. There is a dedicated parking lot. Keep an eye on their schedule. You may find something new or old that is not playing elsewhere.

Our to go place for hood strawberry…read more Follow online so you know where and when the strawberry season is since it's so short

Great place to pick fruit and enjoy an afternoon in the country. Beautiful farm setting, with a…read moresimple playground, small haystacks and tunnels for the littles to play on.

Not far off the main roads lies this farm of lavender fields. Great picture opportunities with a…read morevintage couch and benches. The farm has a covered area with picnic benches right near the lavender to allow time to relax and breathe in the freshness of lavender. They have a gift shop on site with many lavender infused items from soaps to lemonade. They have plants for sale to start your own bee frenzy garden. The distillation room is available to see and they do a great job explaining the process of extraction. There is a play structure that is fenced in for the kids to allow the adults time to enjoy the farm. If you enjoy lavender this is a close quick stop you should plan.

While we weren't able to pop into to see the farm this trip, we met Kat at a pop-up at another…read morelocal farm and fell in love with all of the products! You could smell how fresh all the lavender is in the products and the great quality they're made with. We ended up leaving with many soaps, some tallow rub, and a few candles! If you love lavender and other holistic products, this is the place to visit!

What a fun u-pick farm. They give you there boxes which cost like .80, but you can reuse them on…read moreyour next visit. Cherry and peach are $1.99lb for u/pick. They have other fruit as well. If you don't want to u-pick they have a tiny store where you pay higher prices, but can just walk in pay and go. They give you rides deep into the farm in utility vehicle. They had two or three running when I was there. Overall, a very fun experience. We'll come back when apples are ripe.

I love this time of year when the fruit stand is open! I always get such good fruit and I also love…read morethe honey I get there and the fresh flower bouquets! Just got raspberries yesterday and strawberries last month. We make scones with the fresh berries & cherries.

Tues the website said it was open. drove by and closed. Salem needs places kids can go to roller…read moreskate in doors to learn and be safe. During the winter days, Christmas break, Easter and during the summer I have two granddaughters and two nieces needing to skate or other things than Wonderland and jumping on trampolines. Roller skating, rock climbing ect. are we really bringing up our kids to be homebodies junkies or gamers or just spending all day in front of boob tube or laptop.

The only place to skate in Salem. The hoop converts from basketball courts to a roller skating rink…read moreon Friday nights. Line starts forming about 6pm, doors open at 7. Line gets huge. Lots of bladers that generally are out of control. Music is kind of all over the charts. The little brats drop candy and soda often. The floor is usually dirty and you need to clean your wheels after each night. But still a fun place to skate.

Son (11) had his first batting lesson yesterday and came home super excited with all the new tips…read moreand strategies he learned. Looking forward to more lessons. Thank you for making him feel welcomed and free to ask questions.

From the owner: (Reservation Only) We are a Baseball & Softball batting cage rental facility along with…read moreprofessional baseball hitting and catching lessons. We utilize the latest in technology by implementing the use of the Rapsodo hitting system which captures things such as exit velocity, spin rate, launch angle and much more. Come check us out and make some improvements in your swing while you are here. (Reservation Only)

From the website: "Wulapalooza is an annual urban earth, art and music festival that takes place on…read morethe campus of Willamette University. Local schools, performance groups, and professional bands perform for over a thousand students and community members annually with local businesses and student groups fundraising for various charitable organizations. We are an Earth Day and community festival that yearly brings in thousands of community members and students." Thee Emergency is one of my favorite bands, but since they usually stick around Seattle, I knew I had to make the trek to Wulapalooza to see them play. I did miss the entire first part of the festival with the student and community booths and whatnot, so my commentary pertains solely to the evening program. However, Wulapalooza remains one of the strangest events I have ever been to, and it's not just because of the name. We arrived when the band was setting up to a crowd of a hundred or so students milling around a field. I had to keep reminding myself that it was a community festival, because it always seemed like we were the only non-students there. So Thee Emergency came out and rocked hard, as they are wont to do, but Willamette U. students must not be the rocking-est, because they were dancing around as if it were some hippie drum circle or something. Now, I love me some hippie drum circles, but there is a time and a place, and it's not when this bluesy, punk-y, soulful throwback to 70's-style rock 'n' roll is playing out live ten feet away, the guitar player throwing out sweet licks from behind his head and everything. Maybe it was the dearth of shoes. Maybe a body requires footwear to rock out. Anyway, we couldn't take any more of that for a while, so we went to get some dinner before Mirah was set to take stage. When we got back, the beer garden seemed irresistible, but we saw the door person checking off names. Now, I went to a huge state school, and it seemed entirely impossible that a university could have a full list of its 21-and-over students contained entirely on printed pages in a small-ish binder. How quaint. The beer garden really was only for students, but we were somehow convincing as alums. Beer was 3 for $10, which mathematically doesn't make sense and is also silly for two people to split, but whatever. Also, they had all kinds of free food up there that we abstained from due to the fact that we weren't really meant to eat it. The fact that the school was providing an entire free party for its students was starting to set in, holy crap. Next was Mirah, who was unfortunately playing in a gymnasium due to some noise ordinance shenanigans. When a very serene sort of performer like Mirah is playing, you have to really pay attention, especially when she is playing in the middle of a gymnasium and you are sitting cross-legged in front of her. However, dozens of side conversations almost drowned out the music, and then some students decided to get as close as possible to the bassist in order to flick their Bics, and someone's kids were allowed to walk all over near the performers and grab their hand percussion instruments, and the people dancing majestically still couldn't get the beat right. We stayed as long as we could bear, but the magic was gone. On the way out, a big truck was backing up to the stage, shining its lights on some students on the field wrapped up in the provided blankets. Moral: private school is strange.

Wulapalooza is the day I look forward to the most all year. Wula brings Willamette students, Salem…read moreinhabitants, and music/art/earth/fun enthusiasts from surrounding areas together under the glorious umbrella of everybody having a damn good time for free. You'd be a fool to miss it.