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Dear Residents of Aurora, It is with great joy that we welcome you to the 33rd Aurora Colony Days celebration! We are delighted to host many of the activities you have come to love during this event, and even introduce some new ones! Be sure to check the program and mark your calendars!

Living in this very special small town has been one of the best experiences of my life and we hope that you have the same as you enjoy your time here in Aurora.

Our celebration will kick-off with the Concerts in the Park series starting Wednesday, July 13th and leading up to our Colony Days concert Saturday, August 13th. The festivities begin Friday, August 12th with a Beer Garden at the Old Aurora Colony Museum.

Saturdays line-up includes a Pancake Breakfast, downtown Outdoor Antiques Market/Sidewalk Sale, parade, the North Marion Community Library Book Sale, Old Aurora Colony Museum exhibits and demonstrations, Car Show in the Park, Classic Golf Disc Tournament, Market in the Park and our evening concert. Food booths will be available throughout the day and evening. A complimentary bus will transport visitors to the various fun events around town. There’s something for everyone, so let’s celebrate!

A big thank you to our wonderful volunteers who have been working to bring this event to fruition since January. Once again, Aurora residents demonstrated their willingness to serve our community. This year’s parade will be honoring some very special people that give their all to our community. Our volunteer of the year is Joseph Schaefer.

Joseph is an invaluable asset of our community and city government.

He has a long history of volunteering for the city. Currently, Joseph

is the Chair of the Planning Commission (for which he has served for over 10 years!) and a member of the Budget Committee. Among other things, Joseph lends the city his expert knowledge of land use and long-term visioning. If you do not know Joseph, know that he has never met a stranger and is always available to lend a hand.

Joseph, Thank you!

I would also like to give a big round of applause to our Aurora Grand Marshals, Tim and Susie Corcoran. Their tireless efforts have added so much charm to our town with their on-going restoration projects. Susie owns and operates Willow Women and Children’s Wellness, located next to the White Rabbit Bakery on 99E. She has delivered many babies, kept us healthy by stitching up our cuts, providing information and all around taking good care of us. Thank you, Susie! Tim is our local woodworker, establishing Aurora Colony Woodturning in 1994. He has been supplying high quality custom components in his converted dairy barn. He has worked tirelessly to restore their historic home to its original glory.

At the end of the day, he somehow always finds time to help his neighbors, be it hauling wood chips, offering companion planting advice, or delivering fruit and vegetables from his prolific garden, Tim is there for you. Thank you, Tim! I couldn’t be prouder of our community for coming together during some very trying times. What an honor to serve alongside each of you. Thank you so very much. I hope everyone has a safe and joyful summer. Thank you for making Aurora such a wonderful place to be.

Mayor Brian Asher

21368 Pacific Hwy, Aurora •503-267-9044•

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2022 EVENTS SCHEDULE Friday, August 12 Aurora Colony Days Biergarten

Old Aurora Colony Museum Courtyard - 4:30pm to 10:30pm Local Group Mae Day at 4:30pm and Michele VanKleef at 7:30pm

Saturday, August 13 Pancake Breakfast

American Legion Hall - 7:00am to 11:00am

Market in the Park Aurora City Park 8:30am to 4:00pm

Aurora Outdoor Antiques Market

Downtown Aurora - 9:00am to 4:00pm

Aurora Colony Parade Begins at 11:00am

Old Aurora Colony Museum

FREE ADMISSION - 11:00am to 4:00pm

Aurora Colony Car Show Aurora City Park 12:00pm to 4:00pm

Celebration in the Park with Best Night Ever

Live Performance at Aurora City Park 21074 Main St. NE - 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm Local food and drink vendors Come boogie down with Portland’s hottest dance band, Best Night Ever!

North Marion Community Library Book Sale Across from American Legion Hall August 12-14 - 9:00am to 4:00pm

Sunday, August 14 Colony Classic Disc Golf Tournament 12:00pm to 4:00pm Registration From 11am -11:45am Shotgun Starts at 12pm

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Aurora Colony Days Celebrating Past, Present, Future

Small towns like Aurora often talk about having a sense of community. Look around Aurora today and you’ll see all the markers of a great community – a volunteer-run library, fun shops and wineries, summer music in the parks, a farmers’ market, places of worship, museum events, and Aurora Colony Days activities.

But for Aurora, founded as a Christian communal society, the idea of community has a special meaning.

Community is in its roots. The sense of shared responsibility, the connections we make with our fellow humans, the good deeds we do for others – those are part of Aurora’s DNA. The village of Aurora Mills was founded by Dr. William Keil in 1856 as a Utopian community in which members shared their goods and services and worked for the common good.

Keil, who had already established a successful community in Bethel, Missouri, named Aurora after his daughter. It was often referred to as the Aurora Colony or the Aurora Community. He selected the site because it had a saw mill and a grist mill dating to the late 1840s.

About 400 colony members, mostly German and Swiss emigrants, lived with the principle that Christians ought to share labor and property, thus attempting to live the ideal as described in the Book of Acts in the New Testament.

Communal living was not that uncommon in 19th century America. Groups such as the Shakers, the Harmonists, and the Amana Colony attracted many followers— but Keil’s group was the only communal group to cross the Oregon Trail to settle in the west.

A history of fine crafts and music

Colony members, who were trained in all manner of crafts, gradually built homes and manufactured products such as furniture, baskets and textiles for their personal use.

By the mid-1860s, the Aurora Colonists were operating a general store. Its register of accounts includes some of Oregon’s most prominent pioneers. A new hotel served the stagecoach and, after the railroad came in 1870, railroad passengers. Food served at this hotel was praised far and wide.

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The Aurora brass band was a popular attraction at most every major function in western Oregon and often won first prize in competitions at the state fair.

After the death of Dr. Keil in December of 1877, the younger colony members decided to end the communal lifestyle. In 1893, Aurora Mills was incorporated as Aurora.

Aurora builds on its heritage

Aurora’s location on the railroad line continued to make it an important center for shipping and receiving farm products. The brokering of hops was an especially successful industry until the coming of prohibition.

Histories of the Aurora Colony were periodically published, the most significant volume being Bethel and Aurora by Robert J. Hendricks in 1933.

Descendants of the colony continued to live in the village and helped spur the celebration of Aurora’s centennial in 1956. Edward Miller, the publisher of The Oregonian newspaper, delivered front page coverage of the impending event, and several thousand visitors descended on the village for the celebration in July of that year.

This public interest in Aurora encouraged the interest of historic preservationists, which in turn led to the organization of the Aurora Colony Historical Society in 1963 and the opening of the Ox Barn Museum in 1966 (later renamed the Old Aurora Colony Museum).

By 1975, the museum properties also included the 1876 Steinbach log cabin, the Will Family wash house, and the George Kraus family home.

Preserving the past for the future

To preserve and protect the town’s historically significant heritage for future generations, the Aurora Colony Historical Society completed the Will Family

Preservation & Research Center in 2020. This state-of-the-art facility provides secure, climatecontrolled conditions to preserve the society’s outstanding collection of textiles, furniture, baskets, tools and other artifacts for future generations.

Colony descendants and community members have helped make it possible to continue researching the story of Aurora’s unique beginnings as well as its modern legacy.

The city of Aurora took a major step in 1974 to encourage preservation of the remaining colony sites and structures with the establishment of the Aurora National Historic District.

Since the mid-1960s a variety of private business owners have operated a variety of specialty shops, many featuring the sale of antiques, in some of the other surviving buildings. These business people, in conjunction with city residents, were the driving force behind the organization of the Aurora Colony Days celebration.

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33 years of Colony Days In conjunction with America’s Bicentennial in 1976, Aurora held a Jubilee celebration. This was revived in 1989 as Aurora Colony Days, which has been held annually since that year. As in the days of old Aurora, the Colony Day celebrations feature good food and music. Aurora comes together in its own unique spirit of community, with a Friday beer garden followed by Saturday’s parade, handson activities for young and old at the museum, and other activities in the park and around town.

Aurora has certainly grown since the first colony members arrived in 1856, but the spirit of community continues.

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