Gales Creek Strawberry Festival returns for 55th year June 14

The 55th Annual Gales Creek Strawberry Festival will be held on the grounds of the Gales Creek Community Church and the Gales Creek School Saturday, June 14 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The festival, an homage to the Gales Creek Valley's strawberry-producing heyday, is the largest summer festival in the valley. This year marks the second consecutive festival after the pandemic caused a four-year hiatus from 2020 to 2023.

This year, numerous Forest Grove small businesses, crafters and musicians will join the festival, including Franko's Hot Dogs, the Tualatin Valley Harmony Masters, and Tom Cook Restoration.

The Gales Creek Community Club, with volunteers from numerous other community groups like the Gales Creek Community Church of God, prepares and serves strawberry shortcake, directs traffic, handles vendor questions, and plans the event.

(*Disclosure: I volunteer at the event, and my mother is the event coordinator. It's possible I have more family members involved. I don't know anymore. My relatives are legion)

Those interested in volunteering at the event were urged to contact Sharon Parker by texting or calling 503-332-7675.

Five bands and musicians are expected to play at the outdoor church stage, including a quartet from the Tualatin Valley Harmony Masters, Big Country, the Corey Johnson Duo and others. More than 50 vendors are expected to be present at the event. Fresh strawberries will be available for sale, too.

Vendors range from handcrafted items, curated vintage items, information booths from local public safety groups, farmers market-style booths, art, salsa, and more.

The event typically brings in between 500 and 1,000 visitors to downtown Gales Creek.

Find the Strawberry Festival at 9170 NW Sargent Road.

Giant chess makes Strawberry Festival debut

Gales Creek resident Steve Pettengill is lending the use of his giant chess set to the Strawberry Festival.

In storage for at least four years, the set, carved from rare Port Orford cedar with pieces more than four feet tall, will make its Gales Creek debut behind the Gales Creek School, where a chess board will be created with chalk.

"This set is so big you can walk on the board, and experience it in a different way," Pettengill said in a phone call with the Gales Creek Journal.

The set was originally created in 2001 for a landscape competition in downtown Portland. Pettengill, a landscaper by trade, had an idea for an "Alice in Wonderland" themed display.

The plan was to sell the set afterward.

"I'm still trying to sell it," he said. At one point, he looked up the largest chess set in the Guinness Book of World Records and believed it to be larger than the set there, but the burden of strict rules to submit his set kept him from pursuing it.

Their construction, of Port Orford Cedar, makes them stand out from other large chess sets made of materials like plastic. They're designed in the Staunton style, a standard first created in 1849 and now used in international competitions.

"They don't blow over in the wind, that's for sure," he said.

The pieces have made their way to other events in the past, and have been displayed at the Maryhill Museum of Art, a museum in the Columbia River Gorge famous for its extensive chess set display.

During the Strawberry Festival, Pettengill will be on hand to help with the set. He wasn't certain if the board would be set up for a full game of chess, or a shorter "puzzle of the day" style, where players must try to, for example, checkmate the king in three moves or fewer.

He's planning on inviting local chess clubs from the Forest Grove area to participate, as well as the chess and life skills nonprofit Chess for Success.

And for those who enjoy the set, well, it's still for sale, and Pettengill even has a full marketing plan and patio design he can tailor to a buyer's needs.

"This is like a real collector's item," he said.