Celebrate Molalla

Late in August, more than 100 vendors set up beneath the trees of Clark Park, at the northeast corner of Shirley Street and North Cole Street in Molalla. The city of 10,298 residents lies in the Willamette Valley of western Oregon, and the City of Molalla runs the festival. Celebrate Molalla lasts one Saturday, from 11 in the morning to 6 in the evening, and admission is free. The 2026 edition, the ninth, fell on August 22. Beforehand the organizers posted a forecast of 79 degrees and sun, and promised that “vendors will all be under the shade trees.”

Under the oaks on Shirley Street

Those trees stand on the park’s east half, which is heavily wooded. It also holds a covered gazebo reconstructed in 2025, playground equipment, and an accessible path that meanders through. The west half is open ground: a large grass field, a softball field with backstop and player’s boxes, and restrooms. The city’s festival notices place a shady oak grove at the center of the grounds, with picnic tables nearby. Free parking is across the street at Bohlander Field, where the Molalla High School Alumni Association held a car show until 3 p.m. on the day of the 2026 festival.

The booths carry artists’ work, artisan goods, antiques, and locally handcrafted products. Local small businesses and community organizations have tables among them. One 2026 vendor was Amy Grant Photography, whose work, the organizers wrote, “celebrates the deep bond between people and their animals.” Children’s crafts and activities cost nothing. The festival’s own page calls the whole affair “a giant vendor fair.”

Gator, gyros, and honky-tonk

The food court offers tacos, gyros, smash burgers, barbecue, pizza, and Cajun cooking, with beer and cider to drink. Bayou Bros Cajun Boils returned in 2026 “by popular demand.” It boils seafood Cajun style, serving crab, shrimp, and crawfish in season, and also sells gator, frogs, and muffalettas. Smoked Arteries BBQ joined the lineup that year. Lucy’s Mexican Food & Juices and Getta Gyro also cooked. The organizers say a gyro stand has served at the festival since 2018. Trails End Kettle Corn has come every year since 2018 as well.

Music runs from 12:30 p.m. until closing. In 2026 Addie Rose opened with country-folk original songs and tunes for children. The Northwest Playboys followed at 2:15 with honky-tonk, and the Brady Goss Band closed at 4:15 with boogie-woogie rock and roll. The Playboys held the same 2:15 slot in 2025. That year they played after the Rough Riders (the Don Mitchell Trio) at noon and before Bootleg Ridge at 4:15, and a cornhole tournament began at 1 p.m.

John Baker covered the 2026 festival for the Herald Pioneer. He wrote of “the smell of burgers” and “the sounds of Addie Rose on stage.” Visitors, he reported, “walked among the cooling trees at the park while the sounds of music wafted through the air.” Three days later the organizers thanked “the thousands who leisurely strolled through Clark Park.”

A plan for 2030 and a festival in two months

The first crowd was smaller. In 2017 the Molalla City Council set out to write a vision and action plan, a road map for the city from 2020 to 2030. In July 2018 that project reached a milestone: the idea of a city celebration. A group of residents, among them a city councilor and a few community builders, then planned the event in about two months. They visited other festivals to find vendors, booked musicians, and worked out the free children’s crafts. The result covered three city blocks. A 2023 account on cityhandshake.com calls it the largest street festival in Molalla’s history. About 2,500 people came that first year.

The councilor was Leota Childress. The city lists her as founder of Celebrate Molalla and as its coordinator from 2018 onward. She was appointed to the council in March 2016, elected that November, and re-elected in November 2022. By the city’s account she was co-project manager of the vision and action plan from 2016 to 2019. She is said to have found Molalla on her first visit and made it her home. She managed the Molalla Warming Center from 2013 to 2023 and also founded the city’s annual spring clean-up.

From six blocks to Clark Park

Each year after 2018 brought more vendors, more food trucks, and more musicians. Sellers began arriving from across Oregon and Southwest Washington. The festival spread to six city blocks. Besides contemporary artists and artisans, it drew vendors who promoted Molalla’s history, and community service organizations handed out resource information at their booths.

In 2023 the festival moved to Clark Park. It opened there on August 26 and ran until 7 p.m. that year. The larger grounds allowed an expanded food and drink court and a bigger cornhole tournament, and the children’s activities were gathered into one area. That summer the city manager, Dan Huff, described the event this way: “Celebrate Molalla is truly a grassroots festival borne out of deep passion for this community. Organizers are local volunteers, and vendors are generally from the Molalla area.”