Painted Hills Festival

At seven in the morning on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, runners pick up their bibs in the Mitchell School gymnasium, which shares a parking lot with City Hall on SE High Street, and board a bus. Mike Carroll drives it. The bus goes first to the farthest point, the Painted Hills Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, where the half-marathoners start at 8:00 among hills striped red, gold, orange and black. Then it works back toward town, dropping the 10K field for an 8:15 start and the 5K for 8:30. Carroll said all participants finish in town on Main Street.

The race is called Run the Paint, and it opens the Painted Hills Festival in Mitchell, a Wheeler County town on Highway 26, 48 miles east of Prineville. The course follows back-country roads with water stations along the way. The race website describes it plainly. The half climbs about 800 feet and the 10K about 600. The early miles are two to three inches of gravel, and “This is definitely NOT a PR course.” Leftover race shirts go on sale after the race at the Country Store in the park.

Two stages and a country store

While the runners are still out on the gravel, the rest of the festival opens in town. Most of it takes place at Mitchell City Park, on the east end of town along Bridge Creek. The park is closed to campers for the weekend. Visitors find food and vendor booths, kids’ games, lawn games and bounce houses. The Country Store sells homemade cookies, fresh breads and pies, and the day also has a pie auction. Raffle tickets are sold at the park, and door prizes are given away through the day.

There are two stages, one at the park and one at Tiger Town Brewing Company. The 2026 program listed Tony Buckman, Medusahead, Dan Robinson, Robert Cannon, Lucas Treptow, Chad Halligan on piano, a traditional Mexican dance act and balloon magic. It also brought back Joseph Cadousteau, a fireknife dancer born in Tahiti who now lives in Condon. He is a world champion in the form and once performed professionally at Hong Kong Disneyland and with Cirque du Soleil. “He’s really good,” Mike Carroll said. “He grabs your attention.”

The grand parade steps off at 11:30. It brings horses, classic cars, people in costume, dressed-up dogs, kids on bikes, motorcycles and a great deal of candy. In 2026 the Mitchell High School golden grad class of 1976 came home to ride a float. The prize for Best Parade Entry went to the Twickenham Astronomical Society for a Jeep that the festival called “a cosmic masterpiece.” By the Carrolls’ account, the day nearly doubles the town’s population. “It’s the biggest day of the year for the businesses,” Susie Carroll said.

Quilts upstairs on Nelson Avenue

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. the quilt show fills the upstairs of the Mitchell Community Hall at 108 S. Nelson Ave. Susie Carroll directs it, and anyone may hang a quilt at no charge. Visitors vote for a viewer’s choice award, which carries a small cash prize. In 2025 the winner was nine-year-old Hailey Charapata, chosen from about 50 entries for a quilt she made under her grandmother’s supervision. “Of course, being a local, she had relatives, friends and classmates voting for her,” Susie said. In 2026 the award went to Sandy Howe for a whimsical chicken quilt.

Susie also made the 2026 raffle quilt. Its patriotic theme marked the nation’s 250th birthday, and tickets sold at $1 each or six for $5. The first name drawn was JoDee Britton. She had already won the drawing in 2024, so she declined and asked for another draw. The quilt went to Tasha Nolin, a longtime supporter of the festival. Both women are Mitchell High School graduates.

Water troughs on Main Street

At 5 p.m. the road is cleared for the water trough races. Each team builds a rolling water trough with steering and brakes and runs it down Main Street in a low-speed race powered only by gravity. After the races come swing dance lessons, and then a street dance in front of Tiger Town Brewing. In 2026 the Pati Rojas Band played it.

The Carrolls, since 1975

The 2026 grand marshals were Mike and Susie Carroll. They met as seniors at Washington State, when their roommates were dating each other. They married in September and left the next day for Australia, where Mike had a teaching job in Adelaide. After two and a half years they came home on a 72-day bus trip from Katmandu to London. The trip left them broke, and they vowed to take the first job offered. It was the science position at Mitchell, in 1975. On the way there Susie read that the town had a population of 200. “I hope it’s bigger than that!” she said. The high school had about 42 students then, and the whole school about 140.

Around 1983 the Mitchell School burned. In 1984 the school board asked Mike to become superintendent after seeing how he handled the fire, and he held the job until 2008. Over the years the couple worked in emergency services, the food bank, on local boards and as 4-H leaders. Mike also coordinates the exchange students who set up and take down the festival in the park. Susie explained why they stayed more than 50 years: “It’s small and you know everybody and everyone looks out for each other.” Of the honor, Mike said, “We appreciate the recognition.”

Cookies after a cleanup

The festival’s own account was published in the Times-Journal under the name of Toney Ryno, the festival’s parade contact, and posted on the festival’s page. By that account, the idea came about three decades ago, while people were eating cookies after a citywide cleanup. Someone suggested a festival as a way to bring folks around and support the town’s businesses.

The first festival had a half marathon and a quilt show. Christy Hudspeth’s local singing group, The Fabulous Fairlanes, performed, along with Charapata’s band, and Dan Cannon read poetry. There was a tennis tournament and a dunk tank. Over at the Blueberry Tavern there was arm-wrestling and a rumored wet beer belly T-shirt contest. Hundreds came, which surprised the organizers. In 2026, after a wildfire season that the festival said Mitchell had endured, the 30th edition put up a photo gallery of past years. One memory organizers mentioned most often was of rancher Joe Fitzgerald. For decades he served as color guard, leading the parade on horseback with the flag.