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Bike Through Riverfront Park in Salem, OR
See the city of Salem, OR, with with a ride through the impressive Riverfront Park. It's a great place to start or end a ride through this bike-friendly town. The 23-acre park runs along the Willamette River, with biking trails and lots of outdoor activities available. Bike down for the Summer Movies in the Park series or to the serene Riverfront viewing areas, or see the sights for yourself on your personal bike tour. Distance: 2-10 miles Difficulty: Easy (paved pathways) Don't Miss: The Eco... Read More »
Salem Film Festival in Salem, OR Draws Crowds Around the Country
Salem Film Festival
Plenty of local talent helped inspire the Salem Film Festival in Salem, OR, but geography played a role as well. Located between the two culturally conscious cities of Portland and Eugene, Salem knew it needed something of its own to offer a crowd.
The Salem Film Festival began in 2006, which has since grown to include filmmakers from around the country, as well as honorees that include Salem native and Napoleon Dynamite star Jon Heder. That first year hosted 17 filmmakers... Read More »
Salem Film Festival Grows in Popularity and Expands Offerings
Plenty of local talent helped inspire the Salem Film Festival, but geography played a role as well.
“We’re in a funny place,” says Jeff Hart, co-coordinator of the festival. “We’re between Portland and Eugene, and both of those cities have a pretty jumping cultural scene. But we have a lot of people here who don’t want to drive there all the time, so we knew if we got a festival going, people would come out for it.”
That’s happened in a big way. Since morphing from a smaller event in 2006, the... Read More »
Northwest Cuisine Scene Flourishes in Salem
Salem chefs are leading the way in defining the new Northwest cuisine.
Characterized by fresh, seasonal ingredients – fruits and vegetables from the region’s vast agricultural areas, seafood harvested from the Pacific and Arctic, an abundance of wild mushrooms – paired with the area’s distinctive Willamette Valley wines, Northwest cooking is emerging with its own distinctive flavors through the menus of Salem chefs like Jeff James.
James returned to his hometown to open j. james restaurant... Read More »
Golf Courses Abound In Salem
Golf is a driving force in Salem‚ with more than a dozen courses located in the immediate area.
Among the notable venues is Salem Golf Course‚ which was founded in 1925. The first nine holes of the course were opened in 1927‚ and the second nine opened a year later. The facility’s natural beauty creates a relaxing atmosphere‚ with a variety of wildlife and hundreds of trees lining the fairways.
The public as well as 250 club members continue to enjoy the semi-private facility today. Read More »
The Wonders of Mother Nature Surround Salem
Salem is a city of contrasts.
Within half a day’s drive, the adventurous or even slightly adventurous can experience a variety of landscapes.
Fingers of the famed high and low desert reach into the low foothills on the leeside of the Cascades, while the ocean lies less than an hour’s drive to the west. For the deep woods – and a true Oregon outdoors experience – you need only head about 25 miles to Silver Falls State Park. The park has more than a dozen waterfalls, some with drops of more than... Read More »
History Lives on at Salem's Mission Mill Museum
The former Thomas Kay Woolen Mill in Salem produced wool from 1889-1962.
It is no longer in the wool production business, but has been designated an American Treasure by the National Park Service.
Today, the site is home to the Mission Mill Museum, which offers a changing gallery of four history-related exhibits each year. The museum is also a popular community gathering spot, with about 275 annual events scheduled on its grounds.
The mill also welcomes hundreds of sheep each spring as part... Read More »
Salem's Bank Museum Holds Forgotten Treasures
The U.S. Bank in downtown Salem keeps a nod to old ways of doing things with a store of old bank equipment.
From a century-old safe – still in use – to decades-old adding machines and bank equipment, the museum-in-progress keeps artifacts from bygone eras of banking.
Low on the technology scale, some of the old machines’ complicated systems of levers would probably stump most MBAs.
The bank is on the corner of Commerce and State streets. Read More »
Salem's Riverfront Carousel Still Delights
That’s a lot of horse rides.
More than 275,000 people have ridden the Salem Riverfront Carousel ever since it opened in June 2001.
The carousel features wooden hand-carved horses and plays old-time music. The cost of a ride is $1.50.
The attraction is open year-round and is decorated in the spirit of each season. It is located just blocks from the Oregon State Capitol on the banks of the Willamette River. Read More »
Chemeketa Street Farmer's Market Offers Tastes of Summer
Out of lentils or lungwort?
Visit the Wednesday Farmers’ Market on Chemeketa Street from May through October. Salem also is home to a Saturday Market that also occurs from May through October‚ at the corner of Summer and Marion streets.
For holiday shoppers‚ there is a Holiday Gift Market that takes place on the second weekend of December at the Oregon State Fairgrounds. By the way‚ everything sold at all three markets is grown or made by Salem citizens. Read More »
Minor League Teams Thrive in Salem
Salem isn’t just a spectacular city of parks, arts and architecture, but also a city of sports.
There are three active minor league teams here, including one of the newest members of the run-and-gun International Basketball League, which has fewer rules, fewer time-outs, and a much faster pace. The Salem Stampede actually scored 180 points against a rival in the 2007 season. It is not a dull sport.
Meanwhile, there is the Cascade Surge, a member of the United Soccer League’s Premiere... Read More »
Elsinore Theatre Modeled To Look Like Shakespearean Castle
Art lover George Guthrie developed the Elsinore Theatre in 1926‚ and he modeled the building to look like the castle in Shakespeare’s drama‚ Hamlet. The cost to construct the Tudor Gothic structure in downtown Salem was $250‚000‚ and it was equipped with a 900-pipe Wurlitzer organ. Edgar Bergen‚ Clark Gable and the John Philip Sousa Band all performed on the Elsinore stage.
The theater eventually fell into disrepair‚ and there were plans to demolish it in 1980. Fortunately‚ a citizens group... Read More »
Salem's Blooms Are a Boon For Local Tourism
A number of farms are in the business of commercial flower production‚ with several farms open to the public for tours and shopping. For example‚ Schreiner’s Iris Gardens and Cooley’s Gardens are ideal spots for irises‚ while Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm obviously specializes in tulips.
For peonies‚ Adelman Peony Gardens grows more than 160 varieties. Read More »
Shopping in Salem, OR
Salem's shopping scene holds a few surprises. While it offers a mall that will satisfy all your basic shopping needs, its downtown area will impress with its modern Salem Center and collection of boutiques.
Salem Center
Shopping in Salem centers around the Salem Center, a five-block stretch of shops and restaurants in the heart of downtown. The center covers a variety of services beyond shopping, with restaurants ranging from the convenience of Subway to the specialized Sushi ya Sushi and... Read More »
Hallie Ford Museum of Art Thrives at Historic Willamette University
The Hallie Ford Museum of Art is a relative newcomer at historic Willamette University in Salem, but it has already had a major impact on the arts scene in its first 11 years of existence.
John Olbrantz, the art museum’s first and only director, came on board just a few months before the facility opened in 1998.
“I was presented with this sort of blank canvas to have fun with,” Olbrantz says. “I’d been the first director of the Bellevue [Wash.] Art Museum and was director of the San Jose [... Read More »
