Colder weather might invite cozy time at home, but Oregon offers plenty of reasons to venture out, whether on rainy-day hikes or getting off trail to forage for mushrooms. Then there are the olive oil festivals, holiday wine tastings, and dramatic tides. Here’s what we’re adding to our calendar this month.
Portland Book Festival
MON–SUN, NOV 2–8 | PORTLAND
After shrinking to one day, Portland’s annual book festival is occupying more of the calendar this year, with events spanning a week and more than 100 authors and artists (and chefs and media figures and even a Goonie). Guests include Willy Vlautin, Carson Ellis, Ke Huy Quan, Liz Prato, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Kimberly King Parsons, Paul Susi, and Alexis Nicole Nelson. Expect author talks, writing workshops, pop-up readings, a Live Wire recording, a concert from the Philip Glass Ensemble, and more, with the main events on Saturday centered around the South Park Blocks. General admission passes are $20–27, with some events ticketed separately.
Chrysanthemum Festival
NOV 5–22 | PORTLAND
Every year, Lan Su Chinese Garden transforms with stunning displays of over 100 potted mums and floral installations to honor China’s Double Ninth Festival and the flower’s significance in Chinese culture. More than 20 local floral designers will take inspiration for their chrysanthemum arrangements from this year’s theme, “Golden Blooms Upon Autumn Waters.”
Stormy Weather Arts Festival
FRI–SUN, NOW 6–8 | CANNON BEACH
At this weekend of art on the coast, expect gallery events, artist demonstrations, live music, and workshops in metalworking, clayboard etching, and woodblock printmaking, to name a few, plus a Saturday-night concert from Scott, Bailey & Ross at the Coaster Theater.
Verboort Sausage & Kraut Festival
SAT, NOV 7 | FOREST GROVE
Now in its 92nd year, this annual event—a fundraiser for the Visitation Catholic School and Parish—is an all-you-can-eat affair of sausage, kraut, and applesauce. There’s also a beer garden, family-friendly bingo, and a bazaar and bake sale. Needless to say: Come hungry.
Wild Rivers Mushroom Festival
SAT & SUN, NOV 7 & 8 | BROOKINGS
Olio Nuovo Festival
NOV 7–29 | DAYTON
Free olive mill tours, $75 seated wine and olive oil tastings, $175 seven-course dinners, weekend food carts, live music, and holiday marketplaces pack the calendar on November weekends at Durant, a 53-year-old Yamhill County winery that is also home to Oregon’s only commercial olive mill. Check the website for details, as even some of the free events require a reservation.
Yachats Celtic Music Festival
FRI–SUN, NOV 13–15 | YACHATS
Expect concerts (both free and ticketed), whistle workshops, and dancing at this annual coastal fest, now in its third decade. There’s also a whiskey tasting and, weather permitting, sunset performances featuring a bagpiper in traditional garb.
Wine Country Thanksgiving
FRI–SUN, NOV 20–22 & NOV 27–30 | WILLAMETTE VALLEY
It’s open houses, but for vineyards: Winemakers large and small across the Willamette Valley throw open their doors before and after Thanksgiving for special tastings, seasonal food pairings, live music, tours, and more.
Run to Stay Warm
SUN, NOV 22 | EUGENE
An annual fundraiser for the Eugene Water and Electric Board’s Customer Care program, which provides payment assistance for low-income customers, the Run to Stay Warm race includes 5k, 10k, half-marathon, and kids run options, with routes through Alton Baker Park and Eugene’s new downtown Riverfront Park, where runners are invited to stick around afterward for a post-race party.
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night
4PM SUN, NOV 22 | ILWACO, WA
Entries are due November 1 for Ilwaco Cider Co.’s celebration of “gloriously terrible writing.” The challenge: Write the first opening sentence to a novel that doesn’t exist, in genres from detective/noir to fishing to romance to “vile puns.” Category winners will get to enjoy (or suffer) their work being read aloud at the cideryin Ilwaco, just across the Columbia from Astoria, before a grand prize winner is announced.
Oregon King Tides
NOV 23–27 | OREGON COAST
It’s the season of big water on the Oregon Coast, with November kicking off three months of extra-high tides. During this time, the Oregon King Tides Project—a citizen-science initiative organized by CoastWatch and the Oregon Coastal Management Program—asks for help documenting these king tides in an effort to understand the effects rising sea levels have on coastal communities. Participation in the project is open to anyone willing and able to venture out to the coast and operate a camera (but safety first, please).
Thanksgiving at Timberline
RESERVED SEATINGS 1–7PM THU, NOV 26 | TIMBERLINE LODGE
There’s turkey, of course, but diners can also opt for scallops, prime rib, pork chop, or shiitake gnocchi as the main dish at Timberline’s grand Cascade Dining Room. The prix fixe holiday dinner is $110 for ages 13 and up, $50 for kids 4-12, and free for ages 3 and under. (A pleasant nap on the way home sounds a lot better than driving, but the Mt. Hood Express bus from Sandy to Timberline does not operate on Thanksgiving Day, alas.)
Blind Pilot
7PM FRI & SAT, NOV 27 & 28 | ASTORIA
In a homecoming of sorts, the Portland band returns to the town where it got its name, with two nights at the century-old Liberty Theatre. Blind Pilot’s founding members spent a summer in an old cannery building watching bar pilots guide huge cargo ships between the Columbia River and Pacific Ocean.
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