Arts and downtown commissions report busy summer: passport for kids, public poetry, Oktoberfest and Arts at the Creek draw crowds

Two volunteer commissions updated the council on a slate of summer and fall community events, reporting strong participation and new outreach tools.

Sherry Fox Hames, chair of the Downtown Estacada Commission, said the commission reinstated the Uncorked event in May, praised turnout for the Fourth of July parade and announced Oktoberfest will take place Sept. 27 with vendor applications opening next week and a vendor deadline of Sept. 13. She said the commission has created an event timeline document for staff and volunteers and thanked the city for a new storage unit used to inventory event materials.

Jesse Kerr, chair of the Arts Commission, described the second-year Estacada summer passport: the commission coordinated with the school district to distribute nearly 2,000 passports to school-age children and will run a summer raffle for participants. Kerr said the Arts Commission selected 18 poems from more than 80 submissions for a Poetry in Public Places program; the poems will be printed and placed at 18 town locations in coming months. Kerr also reported that the third annual Arts at the Creek festival drew more than 54 booths and dozens of local artists; she said the library tallied nearly 300 direct interactions at the event.

Councilors praised volunteers and commission staff and discussed the idea of commissions sharing booths at community events to increase the commissions— visibility and reduce volunteer burden. The commissions asked that the council thank volunteers and support planned outreach, including continuing the summer passport and poetry program.