Aurora Colony Days

On the Friday evening of Aurora Colony Days, tables, yard games and a bar line fill the courtyard of the Old Aurora Colony Museum, at Second and Liberty streets in Aurora, Oregon. For the 2026 festival, on August 7, the courtyard opened at 5 p.m. and closed at 10. Ebner’s Custom Meats did the cooking. The bar poured craft beer “from light to dark,” on draft and in cans and bottles, along with wines, ciders and root beer floats for the children. Admission was free.

At 6 o’clock Mark Seymour & Friends took the stage under the courtyard lights and played until 9, as they had at the 2024 and 2025 biergartens. Seymour plays fingerstyle guitar and sings, backed by a band on guitar, keyboards, percussion, harmonica and drums. They work through folk-rock, country and blues, with a few of Seymour’s own songs in the mix. The band’s motto, printed on the museum’s event page, is “Fine Music for Your Listening Pleasure.”

The festival falls on the second weekend of August in this Marion County town. The city calls itself a National Historic District, and the museum dates the colony to 1856. Organizers announced the 2026 edition as the 37th annual.

Saturday on Liberty and Main

Saturday starts early. In 2026 the 5K went off at 7:30 a.m. and the children’s 1K at 8:30.

By 9 the Saturday Market was open at Second and NE Liberty Street, with curated booths of homemade goods running until 3 p.m. Until recently it stood in the park as “Market in the Park.” The organizers renamed it and moved it onto the streets, across from the Outdoor Antiques Market. That market runs along Main Street from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with goods ranging, in the organizers’ words, “from antique to vintage to contemporary.” The city notes plenty of parking on Main Street downtown, among the town’s antique shops.

At 11 a.m. the parade leaves Aurora City Park. It heads north on Liberty Street and returns south to the park on Main Street NE, a route of more than a mile. The organizers list floats, classic cars, bands, horses, community groups, local merchants, honored citizens, veterans and public service vehicles.

Older cars also stand in the car show. Its hours differ by source:

• The festival’s home page gave 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Its car show page and the Herald Pioneer gave 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The paper promised “cars, trucks and more from the last 100 years.” The show’s location was still listed as to be determined.

Back at the museum, Living History Day fills the courtyard with hands-on activities, and museum admission is half price. The listings disagree on hours. The museum gave 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for 2026, while the festival’s page said 11 to 5 in one place and 11 to 4 in another.

The pancake breakfast is also reported two ways. The City of Aurora describes it as a Saturday event at the Legion Hall. The Herald Pioneer’s 2026 schedule put it at the Aurora American Legion Hall on Sunday, from 7 to 11 a.m.

Four Wednesdays and a finale

The festival closes at the amphitheater in Aurora City Park, 21074 Main Street NE, with the last show of a free summer series held there rain or shine. In 2026, four Wednesday concerts came first, each from 7 to 9 p.m.:

• Friends from Home, July 8
• The Nyte Byrds, July 15
• Kelsey Bales, July 22
• Bootleg Ridge, July 29, described on the concert page as “PDX’s premier provider of Outlaw Country music”

On Saturday, August 8, food and drink service started at 6:30 p.m., and 21 Turns played from 7 to 10. The Portland-area band plays R&B classics mixed with current pop and Motown, and says it is “all about making your feet move and your heart smile.” Butch Kent ran the sound for the series.

Little Town Goes Big

The city newsletter, The Aurora Colony Times, records earlier editions. In 2012 the festival ran August 10 through 12 under the theme “Little Town goes BIG!!”

• Friday: an artists’ reception at the American Legion Hall.
• Saturday breakfast: at the same hall, $7 for adults and $3.50 for children under 12.
• Daytime: the Outdoor Antiques Faire opened at 8 a.m., and an art show and sale ran two days.
• Museum: free admission, a yard sale from 8 a.m., and a wheelwright demonstration called “Ring of Fire.”
• Evening: the Celebration in the Park, with a bake sale and live music by Big Night Out.

That newsletter also named the year’s dignitaries:

• Queen and King: Jan and Dick Peel. They had lived in Aurora for seven years and owned Home Again Antiques for ten. They coordinated the Antique Faire and served as ambassadors for the town.
• Parade Grand Marshals: Larry and Karen Townsend. They had been neighbors for more than 30 years. Karen ran Time After Time Antiques and Larry ran the festival art show. Both looked after the new sidewalk project and volunteered for the Historic Review Board and the museum.
• 2011 Volunteer of the Year: Jonathan Gibson. He rebuilt the city website and was thanked for helping with Little Miss Pioneer.

“You’ll see these wonderful folks in the parade and around town,” the newsletter told residents, “so be sure to give a wave and extend your thanks!”

The 2013 theme, “Preserving the Past for the Future,” marked the Old Aurora Colony Museum’s 50th anniversary. The city sponsored the festival.

• Downtown streets were closed for antiques dealers from around the Northwest, selling country primitives, furniture, china, glassware and advertising.
• The run/walk, in its second year, started at the museum and wound through the historic streets. Its proceeds went toward the next summer’s concerts.
• Liliana Piercy was Little Miss Pioneer, with Megan Netter and Jaydan Sahlin as princesses.
• At the Celebration in the Park, Aurora’s own Tongue & Groove, led by Joel Futch, opened for The Poor Sports, who played 1980s hits “from I Can’t Drive 55 to 867-5309.”

The next August, a Jimmy Buffett cover band, The Cheeseburgers, closed the 2014 festival under the banner “Neighbors in Paradise.” The city calendar lists the following Colony Days for Saturday, August 14, 2027.