Miners Jubilee

On the third weekend of July, Geiser-Pollman Park in Baker City fills with booths. For the 2026 festival, July 17 to 19, the Baker County Chamber of Commerce placed about 100 vendors in the park, enough to bring it to about capacity. They were open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. all three days. Sunday hours were new that year, extended into the afternoon at the vendors’ request. “More are new than are returning,” said Amber Brown, the chamber’s events coordinator.

Mining activities are set up along the Grove Street side of the park. Mining equipment stands along the street with signs explaining how each piece works. The weekend also brings kids’ activities, a food court, a sidewalk fair and live music. The chamber organizes only the park vendors and the parade, and Brown sends people downtown as well. “We like everybody to be busy during Miners Jubilee,” she said. The organizers say the weekend draws families and class reunions to Baker City every year.

Pancakes, panning and folk music

Saturday and Sunday mornings begin with the Baker Lions Club breakfast near the Madison Street end of the park. In 2026 it ran from 7 to 10:30 a.m. and served pancakes, eggs, juice and coffee both days, with sausage on Saturday and ham on Sunday. In 2024 the club said the proceeds support its community projects. Earlier risers on Saturday run the fun run put on by the Baker High School cross-country program. Registration opens at 7 a.m. in front of Kicks Sports on Main Street, the 10K starts at 7:30 and the 5K run/walk at 8.

At 2 p.m. Saturday the Eastern Oregon Mining Association holds the Oregon State Gold Panning Championship across from the Baker Heritage Museum, with prizes supported by Ashgrove Cement. The museum, at 2480 Grove Street, keeps a gold display built around the Armstrong Nugget, a 5-pound chunk of gold found near Susanville in 1913. The exhibit opened in July 2025.

The Powder River Music Revue holds its weekly Sunday concert from 4 to 6 p.m. In 2026 John Woodard, Debbie Friedman and Lindianne Sappington played folk music there. Earlier in the afternoon, from 2 to 3 p.m., the revue keeps a youth booth for acoustic, family-friendly acts. In 2024 it filled the park on Friday and Saturday as well. John Bear, Sturtz and Sequoia Rose played one day, and Camille Hearne, Elwood and Bag of Hammers played the next.

Parade day and the arena on Grove Street

The parade starts at 11 a.m. Saturday near Baker Middle School and heads downtown. It runs south on Second Street to Valley Avenue, east to Main Street, then north to Madison Street. Floats sometimes blow bubbles and sometimes throw water to cool the crowd. The 2024 theme was “(20)24 Karat Golden Moments,” and the 2026 theme was “America 250 — A Legacy of Liberty.” Broadway Street and Main Street carry U.S. 30 and Oregon 7 through town. On parade day in 2026 the Oregon Department of Transportation closed those blocks from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a local detour for authorized vehicles only.

The evenings go to Baker City Broncs and Bulls, put on by the Challenge of Champions Tour at the Baker County Fairgrounds rodeo arena on Grove Street. Bronc riding is Friday night and bull riding Saturday. In 2026 the Friday gates opened at 5 p.m. and the riding began at 7. General admission was $22, or $12 for children 12 and younger, and $24 for adults at the gate. On Saturday morning in 2024, riders sat at Glacier 45 on Main Street signing copies of that year’s event poster, original art by Ken Helgerson. Court Street was closed between Main and First streets for the gathering.

Leo Adler’s jubilee and the Maxi-Mart

How far back the Jubilee goes depends on who tells it. The chamber’s event page says it has been held annually, “in one form or another, since the late 1800s.” The Baker City Herald dates it to July 4, 1934, when the first Baker Mining Jubilee was held under the Baker County Chamber of Commerce, with Leo Adler as chamber president. According to the Herald, it ran until 1941 and was disbanded after that year because of World War II and a declining interest in mining. The town was then simply Baker. Voters had dropped “City” from the name in 1910 and did not restore it until 1989.

In 1975 and 1976 Dick and Marge Haynes put on their own Mining Jubilee Days at their Maxi-Mart Shopping Center, where D&B Supply and the YMCA Fitness Center stand today. They had mining exhibits, demonstrations and contests, and a free dance in the parking lot Saturday night. Prospector John, billed as a world champion gold panner, came from Skagway, Alaska, to take part. “We thought it was a special event that ought to be renewed,” Haynes said. When the building was leased to Big V the next year, he hoped the store would keep the event going. It did not.

The chamber agreed to sponsor it in 1982, a year when mining was making a resurgence in Baker County. Nelson Clarke and John Kirkpatrick volunteered to co-chair. They had been friends since junior high, and they took what amounted to six months off work. Their business partners were their fathers, who supported them. “Dick really had the thought to put this all together,” Clarke said. “It was his baby, his idea.” Haynes introduced the two men to the people who organized the mining contests at the center of that first year, and the co-chairs went through working mines. “I had never heard about rock drilling,” Kirkpatrick recalled. “I had to learn a lot.”

The chamber was in financial trouble that year. About a month before the event its executive director, Dwight Hopkins, resigned. “He was the most incredible salesperson I’ve ever met,” Clarke said. “He created a vision.” The board found out how little stood behind that vision when someone called to confirm the carnival and learned that Baker City was not on its summer schedule. The steering committee jumped in.

Porcupines on Court Avenue

That committee came up with the World Championship Porcupine Sprint Race. Ron Brinton of The Record-Courier mentioned that he had seen a porcupine on Main Street while leaving his office one day. Mike Wooters, who became race chairman, said the committee was “looking for something a little different or unique.” The animals ran a 32-foot trail between hay bales lined with balloons. The race was first held on Court Avenue between Main and Resort streets, then moved to the fairgrounds, and finally to the football stadium to hold the crowds. Racers could guide the porcupines with brooms but never strike them, and each animal went back to where it had been caught.

The Animal Protection Institute gave the 1982 Jubilee its Cock and Bull Award as one of the worst ideas of the summer. Wooters grew tired of being asked what became of the animals afterward and invited an institute representative to a porcupine barbecue. “That’s when we started getting articles from other states and countries,” he said. Al McMillen of Baker City caught extras and rented them to other racers. His first year he caught two and named them Peaches and Pineapple; he raced one, and John Leonard raced the other. McMillen never won, and came closest the year he dressed as Superman.

The tenth and final race was run in 1991, after protesters convinced the state to enforce a law against harassing wildlife. Members of the Baker High School Class of ‘91 hold the world record from that last race, 10.2 seconds. By 2001 Haynes was disappointed at how far the celebration had drifted from mining: “The thing that is unique about it — lots of places have rodeos and street dances — is its connection with mining.” Clarke believed the chamber should have kept the races. “I don’t think we ever hurt a porcupine,” he said.