Pony & Train Rides

Thursday, July 15  at 4 p.m. through Sunday, July 18

Bohemia City in Coiner Park during Festival Hours

No celebration of Cottage Grove’s early history would be complete without honoring the two major forms of transportation in the community’s early days. Wagons, stagecoaches and trains brought people and supplies and carried away local products to distant markets in the late 19th Century.

PONY RIDES

Children will enjoy the experience of riding a pony in Bohemia City’s Kid Zone.  It is also a great family photo opportunity for those with cameras to capture the moment to treasure long into the future. On Thursday and Friday there will be Native American storytelling and dancing nearby that celebrates the importance the horse played in their native culture.

Cost: $4 per ride

TRAIN RIDES

The railroad linking Portland to San Francisco passed through Cottage Grove beginning in 1872. Prior to the arrival of this important social and economic link to the bigger world, the settlement of the S outhern Willamette Valley was mostly large farms.

At the time, Slabtown and Lemati were two small villages located on opposite sides of the Coast Fork of the Willamette River that vied aggressively for the railroad depot.  After 15 years of squabbling, in 1887, the name Cottage Grove was selected and incorporated the two feuding communities into a larger lumber and mining boom town.

To celebrate this significant advancement in transportation in Cottage Grove history,  a small train will give rides to small children around Bohemia City in Coiner Park.

Cost: $2 per ride