National Rooster Crow Weekend

At half past two on Saturday, June 27, 2026, ten roosters went up against the clock at Rooster Park in Rogue River, a Jackson County town of about 2,200 people on the north side of the Rogue River, just off Interstate 5 at exit 48. The rule is the one the contest has always kept: the bird that crows the most times in thirty minutes wins. KOBI-TV reported first place going to Big Chainsaw, with 47 crows. The festival’s own posted results give first to Randy, entered by Silva Timber Services LLC, second to Oreo, entered by Tarey Farmer, and third to Smokie, entered by Annie Blackburne. A separate award for Best Cage went to Lightning, entered by Sheri Lynch.

Saturday at Rooster Park

An hour before the birds, people took the stage. In the Human Crowing Contest, as the Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development agency (SOREDI) described it in 2019, contestants are handed microphones and judged by how the crowd reacts to the noises that follow. The 2026 winners were Ryan Schlapfer of Medford, Jackie Adams of Medford, and Rod Leavitt of Grants Pass. KOBI also reported a children’s competition for the best rooster impression. David Rash, the town’s police chief and president of the festival, watched the main event from the outside: “I was thinking, ‘how do you get them to crow so many times in thirty minutes?’ I don’t know if they train them, if they practice them, I don’t know much about roosters. It’s well-liked, a lot of commitment, and it’s just what people look forward to to kick off the summer.”

Rooster Park was an empty lot until recently. Crew members of the Washington National Guard’s 176 Engineer Company, with many residents, turned it into a full community park with a splashpad, open grass, and a pavilion. The city’s rule for the park holds on festival days as on any other: no dogs. From 4:00 to 7:00 that evening the Brass Alibi Band played the Rooster Crow Pavilion.

The parade from Woodville Shopping Center

The 2026 weekend, the 73rd, ran June 26, 27 and 28 under the theme “Crowin’ Down the River.” It opened Friday at 5 p.m. with a kick-off dinner at the Community Center, while live music played at businesses around town. SOREDI reported that the weekend is timed to fall on the high school’s class reunions and that up to 10,000 people come for it.

The parade starts Saturday at 10 a.m. from the Woodville Shopping Center. In 2019 SOREDI counted between seventy and one hundred entrants. Former mayor Pam Van Arsdale called it the “best small town parade you’ll find anywhere.” The whole board of the Woodville Museum served as Grand Marshal in 2026 and led the parade in. Behind them came floats and riders whose prizes were announced at the announcers stand half an hour after the last entry passed. Morrow Heights Assisted Living won Best Theme Related, with Tina Turner & the Weiner Dogs second. The Oregon Cavemen took the non-commercial float prize, the Rogue River Soccer Club the youth prize, and the Rogue River Witches’ Brigade the marching-unit prize, ahead of the Sons of the American Revolution. The Golden Shovel went to Debbie Smith.

Vendor and food booths fill the parks from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both days. From 11 to 2 on Saturday, the Don West Band played the Brush Strokers art show at the Woodville Museum gazebo. The museum is housed in the Hatch House, a turn-of-the-century home with displays of pioneer goods. It also holds the old town jail, moved brick by brick from its original site near the railroad tracks off Pine Street.

Sunday on Pine Street

Sunday belongs to old cars. Owners register at the four-way stop at East Main and Pine from 7 a.m., and the show opens at 9 on Pine Street. At 10 a.m., Pastor Roger Coale of the Cowboy Church holds “Church at the Crow” at the Rooster Crow Pavilion. Car show awards follow there at 1:30. In 2026 Best of Show went to Sierra Richards for a 1934 Ford Sedan, and Participants’ Choice went to Robert James Cox for a 1923 Ford T-Bucket. The Rock Steady Band closed the weekend from 2 to 5.

The Rooster Crow Committee of the Rogue River Kiwanis Club runs the festival under an agreement with the city. Net proceeds go to local youth activities and nonprofits and to the club’s scholarships for graduating seniors from Rogue River High, the Rogue River School District, and South Valley Academy. In 2026 the club awarded $12,000.

Shade Combs and the Welsh miners

In 1953, city administrator Mark Reagles said in 2019, the people of Rogue River were looking for “something to put the city on the map.” Jefferson Public Radio’s “As It Was” series, drawing on Medford Mail Tribune accounts, credits the idea to Shade Combs, who had read an article about rooster competitions among Welsh miners.

Accounts of the first contest differ. Jefferson Public Radio says the $150 first prize in 1953 went to Beetlebaum, who crowed 109 times. An Associated Press report from 2007 says Hollerin’ Harry won the first contest with 71. By the radio account, Beetlebaum’s mark stood until 1978, when White Lightning crowed 112 times. His owner, Willie Beck of Gold Hill, said he had kept the bird in seclusion for six weeks before the contest and brought it in a large sack. “When he heard the other roosters,” Beck said, “he just took off.”

Owners have long argued over how to make a rooster crow. Some ruffle the bird’s feathers; others sing, coo, shout, or jump up and down. The contest drew coverage from the New York Times and entries from as far away as Granite City, Illinois. By 2018, Jefferson Public Radio reported, the celebration ran a week and included a “Rooster Crow Run.” Mayor Ryan Hess said in 2019 that Rogue River had become the place in the nation to be recognized for rooster crowing.

Is a buk a crow?

The 54th contest, in 2007, turned on a question of definition. A rooster named Ricardo took the early lead with full-throated cock-a-doodle-dos. An early front-runner, Charmin, a speckled bird from Wimer, had its “buk-buk-buk-BUKs” counted as crows, which the Associated Press reported “raised eyebrows among the knowledgeable.” Ricardo was eventually overtaken, and the contest went to a two-minute crow-off between Charmin and Raoul. Both birds had been trained by Tommy Preston, an Oregon State University student. The judges agreed on a standard of “loud and audible.” Contest rules ban drugs, electric shock, and other abuse of the birds. Raoul managed a single crow. It won Preston the $150 first prize, and, in the Associated Press’s words, Raoul “escaped the stew pot, at least for now.”