Published 4:00 pm Friday, July 14, 2023
BROOKS, Ore. — Time travel feels almost real each year at the Great Oregon Steam-Up, when around 15,000 people gather over two weekends to celebrate a bygone era of steam-powered and early gas-powered engines.
This year the theme is centenary equipment, so visitors will glimpse what life — and machines — were like 100 years ago.
The 53rd annual Steam-Up will be held in Brooks, Ore., at Powerland Heritage Park over the weekends of July 29-30 and Aug. 4-5 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The 62-acre park is home to 14 nonprofit museums focused on educating people about the history of agriculture and machinery. Additionally, the park boasts attractions like a working blacksmith shop and steam powered sawmill, all of which will be on display throughout the event.
Each day of the Steam-Up will offer a variety of family-friendly events and attractions, including a youth passport for children to take to different museums to receive pins, the Willow Creek miniature train rides, a Lego display, and a daily Parade of Power.
“People are amazed when they come here how much there is for kids and families to do.” Joe Tracy, the park’s marketing director, said.
A daily equipment parade is an especially big draw.
“It’s really the highlight of the day,” Tracy said. “I think that a lot of people will be in awe at what they see.”
This year’s Parade of Power events will be at 1 p.m. each day. Michelle Duchateau, president of the Antique Powerland Museum Association, hopes to organize the dozens of 100-plus-year-old machines in chronological order. The oldest will be front and center, leading the machines through the years. The parade will include tractors, cars, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, fire trucks, stationary engines and trolleys.
Each day there will also be live demonstrations such as blacksmithing, logging and flour milling.
“You get to see how all of these processes of the past came to life,” Tracy said. “I hope that people come out inspired about what it took in the past to create the future that we live in today.”
In previous years, the Steam-Up has been run by a show manager, but this year, Duchateau and the rest of the board decided to plan the event themselves with the help of a coordinator, Chad Taylor.
Duchateau said she is proud of the hundreds of volunteers who work to ensure that everything runs smoothly for both weekends. She knows their hard work pays off. In fact, for the past two years, the Great Oregon Steam-Up has been voted as the best annual event in Best of the Willamette Valley. “We’re pretty excited about that,” Duchateau said, “because that’s fan-based voting.”
