WELCOME
A BRIEF WORD FROM THE ORGANIZERS
The
opening of the 2000 Mount Hood Huckleberry Festival & Barlow Trail Days
marks another important celebration. This year we are celebrating this Festivals
16th year after it was brought back to life in 1985, following a quiet sleep of
some 55 years.
The
original Mount Hood Huckleberry Festival & Barlow Trail Days was
"sparked" to life from the promotional wizardry of Samuel Welch, an
Oregon Trail emigrant of the early 1840’s and founder of the Village of
Welches and the first resort on Mount Hood.
This Festival survived the often
rocky and sometimes turbulent economic troubles, from 1890 to 1930, but couldn’t
withstand the constant pressure of the day-to-day hardships of the times. The
Great Depression proved to be too much and the organizers finally
just gave up celebrating Mount Hood’s important rich bounty of Wild
Huckleberries,
natural resources, the Oregon Trail, Native American heritage,
and history.
Today, 110 years after the first Mount Hood Huckleberry Festival & Barlow Trail
Days came to life in the Old Village of Welches, this tradition of celebrating
the very special heritage of Nature’s bounty and our history as a
"people" continues. This Festival teaches us to appreciate not only
what we’ve had yesterday and what we have today, but what we will leave behind
for future generations.
So,
please join with us in this very special celebration of the Mount Hood
Huckleberry Festival & Barlow Trail Days 16th year. And, do your part in
helping to continue our heritage traditions.
Michael
P. Jones & Nita Kreuzer
Festival Organizers
Rhododendron, Oregon
June, 2000
Contact Us