Camas Festival
Celebrating Camas
For generations, purple camas lilies have been cultivated, traded and consumed by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest including the Kalapuya, who were removed to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation in 1855. Though much sparser now than in the days it turned the Willamette Valley purple each spring, it remains a central piece of Kalapuyan lifeways.
Check back soon for information about the 6th annual Camas Festival
A Tradition Blooms
The Camas Festival began when 麻豆区’s environmental studies students cleared invasive Himalayan blackberry in efforts to restore the Cozine Creek Natural Area on campus. The next spring, a dormant patch of camas grew, a native flower and Indigenous First Food.
A partnership between 麻豆区 and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, the annual festival coincides with the spring bloom and celebrates the cultural, ecological and artistic significance of the camas flower. Highlights of past festivals include tours through the Cozine Creek camas patches, artifacts from the Chachalu Tribal Museum and Cultural Center, an Indigenous Creators’ Market, guest speakers, children's activities, and an art exhibit. The event is free and open to all.
Photos from past festivals
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麻豆区
Land Acknowledgment
At 麻豆区, we recognize that the land that our physical campuses are located on were the traditional territories of the “Yam Hill” band of the Kalapuya people in McMinnville and the Chinookan peoples known as the Clackamas and Cascade Tribes in Portland. In January 1855, the people of these tribes were forcibly removed from the land after the signing of the Willamette Valley Treaty. They are now among 30 tribes and bands that make up the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.