Celebrating Oregon’s Birthday, Feb. 14

Portland, OR – Join the Oregon Historical Society for one of our most memorable events of the year — Oregon Statehood Day! Our two-day celebration of Oregon’s birthday begins at 11:30am on Friday, February 14, and includes birthday cake, music from the Oregon Oldtime Fiddlers, and remarks from OHS leadership and special guests including Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kaufory and former governors Barbara Roberts and Ted Kulongoski. We will also be announcing our 2020 class of Oregon History Makers as we celebrate Oregon’s 161st. The Oregon Historical Society is also proud to host the University of Oregon Ducks’ 2020 Rose Bowl and Pac-12 Championship trophies for a special limited display on February 14 and 15. In the Ducks’ eighth Rose Bowl appearance, the team prevailed over the University of Wisconsin Badgers in a 28-27 victory on January 1, 2020. The festivities continue on Saturday, February 15, with birthday cake served at 1pm along with a special performance by GRAMMY award-winning trombonist Denzel Mendoza. Mendoza, who moved to the U.S. from Singapore when he was five years old, recorded the GRAMMY-winning album “American Dreams: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom,” along with more than 50 other “DREAMers” – young people who qualify for the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. Following the performance, visitors are welcome to read stories of other Oregon DREAMers in our current exhibit DREAMs Deferred, curated by local non-profit The Immigrant Story. Admission is free on both February 14 and 15 and includes our museum exhibits and viewing the Rose Bowl and Pac-12 Championship trophies; museum hours are 10am to 5pm. Visit our permanent exhibit, Experience Oregon, which will mark its first anniversary on Oregon’s birthday. To celebrate, we will be changing out one of the exhibit’s iconic cases, featuring an early twentieth century couture dress designed by May and Ann Shogren. As these gowns are so delicate, our curators must rotate this case annually to ensure the long-term preservation of these artifacts. Also on display is National Geographic’s’ Greatest Photographs of the American West, an exhibition of 75 iconic and rare photographs chronicling the epic grandeur of the region.