I was so happy to finally attend The Newberg Camellia Festival! Last year we were out of town when it happened, so I made sure to get the date on the calendar early so we didn’t miss out. For those of you not familiar with the Camellia Festival, it offers an exploration of Asian-Pacific Rim cultures through art, food, performances, and horticulture.

In fact, I learned that Camellia’s are actually native to eastern and southern Asia with hundreds of different varieties. Now, I’m not exactly sure how so many of these beautiful plants ended up in the Newberg area, but the Camellia became the Official City Flower in 1949!!!

The Saturday festival had three main stages where different events occurred throughout the day. We arrived just after lunch and were able to catch a bunch of different performances. In front of the Chehalem Cultural Center, the Family Stage hosted Obukan Kendo, which is a form of Japanese martial art that uses bamboo swords. These guys were super impressive and I can only imagine how much practice it takes to get that good!?

Inside the tent plants and yard art were ready for purchase. It took quite a bit of self control not to bring home another pagoda…for whatever reason, my eye always seems to linger on them.

The tent also had a variety of activities for kids which included making paper camellias and other arts and crafts.

Just inside the doors of the Cultural Center we were greeted with some absolutely beautiful bonsai trees. The Chinese Wisteria shown below was over 45 years old.

On the Demonstration Stage we had the chance to learn about Ikebana, which is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. The flower arrangements use living branches, leaves, grasses, and blossoms to create beautiful statement pieces and the Portland Chapter of Ikebana International did a fantastic job educating the crowd.

And then it was on to the main event, The Oregon Camellia Society Annual State Competition. So may flowers, so little time!

Flowers were judged on size, color, form, and condition. I have no idea how judges went about making any decisions…they’re all so unique and beautiful!

The new Chehalem Cultural Center Ballroom hosted all sorts of vendors, more plants from both Aspen Creek and Newberg High School, an adult beverage area, and the Main Stage!

When we first arrived, the Oregon Koto Ensemble with Mitsukie Dazai was performing. I have never seen a koto performance before and was amazed at the coordination between the four women on stage. The sound reminded me of a harp with slightly higher pitches.

One of the performances that really captured the attention of most of the kids in the audience was the Lee’s Lion Dancers. Two lions entertained the crowd with so much personality! Each lion can move its eyelashes, mouth, ears, and tail and the two person team inside of each lion certainly knew how to make them come alive!

The tails on the lions were my favorite part! They reminded me of my parent’s dog Cooper whose tail moves at lightening speed when he’s happy!

It was a wonderful afternoon spent exploring different Pacific Rim cultures, and next year I’ll be sure to get the word out to a wider audience and bring along some friends. I am constantly reminded of how thankful I am that the Chehalem Cultural Center is so close to home. See you next year!