The Evergreen

At the Oregon Country Fair, there are fairies and gnomes walking around in colorful costumes. A 40-person marching band also bursts out of nowhere and plays down a path.  “Feels like you stepped into a wonderland or something magical,” one fairgoer told OPB in 2024.  The fair grew out of a 1960s vision of a better world: a paradise for hippies. But the history of the fair is...

At the Oregon Country Fair, there are fairies and gnomes walking around in colorful costumes. A 40-person marching band also bursts out of nowhere and plays down a path.  “Feels like you stepped into a wonderland or something magical,” one fairgoer told OPB in 2024.  The fair grew out of a 1960s vision of a better world: a paradise for hippies. But the history of the fair is...

In 1988, Deborah Atrops was reported missing to police by her husband Robert. When she was found dead, police quickly honed in on her husband as the prime suspect, but without enough evidence to charge him, the case went cold. Until more than three decades later, when Washington County prosecutors declared they’d finally solved the case, and charged Robert Atrops with Deborah Atrops’ m...

When Rodger Kennedy was 17 years old, he dropped out of high school. He worked to survive on his own.   Over a decade later, right before Rodger turned 30, he decided to get his GED. He wanted to prove a point to his son Sam.  “I did it to show them that it's never too late to follow through and finish that goal,” Rodger said. In this week’s episode, we finish our...

“High school didn't really go the way I expected it,” said Leyna, who didn’t graduate with her high school class in early June.    Leyna’s dad died right before her freshman year. Since then, she’s struggled to complete her work, and she switched to online school her senior year. She was dealing with some health issues and helping her mom take care of her li...

In 2012, former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber declared an ambitious goal in his State of the State Address .    “Next year’s class of kindergarten students is a benchmark,” he said. “They are the class of 2025. And 2025 is the year we’ve set to have 100 percent high school graduation in the state of Oregon.”   OPB decided to document the stories...

There’s a population of Northern red-legged frogs that make their home in Portland’s Forest Park. In late winter and early spring, they come down to the nearby Harborton wetland to breed. There’s only one problem: the frogs have to cross Highway 30 to get from Forest Park to the wetland and back. About ten years ago, a local resident saw the road covered with the bodies of frogs...

When you hear the words ‘craft’ or ‘artisan’ mentioned together with Portland, you might tend to think of beer or coffee. But it could also easily be artisan amplifiers and handcrafted cables. From custom-made guitars to individually soldered effects pedals, the city has a vibrant boutique audio manufacturing industry closely intertwined with the local music scene.   P...

Right now, there’s a lot happening in the State Capitol that will affect all Oregonians in some way. And because it’s an odd-numbered year, which means the Oregon Legislature has a session that stretches from January to June, we’re nearing the busiest time of the legislative session. This is when lawmakers have to pass a two-year budget and, of course, some other bills that are c...

World-class cheese is all around us in Oregon.    From our largest cheese producers like Tillamook and Rogue, who won the world’s best cheese in 2019, to some of our smallest producers like Helvetia Creamery and Don Froylan, who won the best string cheese in the country for two years in a row.    And while Oregon doesn’t produce the quantity of cheese like Wisconsin...

For our latest “At Work With” episode, where we talk to Pacific Northwesterners with interesting jobs and ask them your questions about what it’s like to do what they do, we bring you along as we visit a queseria where Mexican cheese is made , hit the streets at dawn with a garbage collector and meet a biologist whose job it is to protect birds at the airport.    For ou...

This month marks 50 years since the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. It’s also the anniversary of many Vietnamese families arriving to start a new life in the Pacific Northwest. Thousands of people fled the country and became refugees in 1975, and many of those people ended up on the west coast of the United States. According to the census data, there are now more than 37,000 V...

The United States’ entry into World War II presented a challenge to American farmers. On the one hand, demand for agricultural products skyrocketed. On the other hand, a dire labor shortage emerged, as tens of thousands of American farm workers joined the military and others headed from rural areas to bigger cities in search of wartime industry jobs.   So, the governments of the United...

On “The Evergreen,” we’ve talked about the history behind the largest dam removal project in the United States: the long fight over water in the Klamath basin between Tribes and farmers, the process of getting the dams out, and what dam removal means to the Tribes along the river.    Today, we’re bringing you up to date. What’s on folks’ minds now that...

Food is obviously part of our lives every day. We literally need it to survive. But it can also be an art form and serve as creative inspiration. From fifteenth century still life paintings to pop art, food and art have gone hand in hand for a long time. In this episode, we’ll introduce you to three Pacific Northwest artists whose creativity is inseparable from food.    Julie Beele...

It’s hard to keep up with the dizzying pace of changes being made by the Trump Administration. This episode, we take a tour of OPB’s newsroom and hear from reporters covering politics , climate , health , business and more about what those changes mean for people in the Northwest, and what it’s like to be covering them as a journalist right now.    You can find even mor...

In the fruit orchards of the Hood River Valley, spring means rolling fields blanketed with blossoms and a view of Mount Hood that looks so close you could reach out and touch it. And at the Kiyokawa Family Orchards in Parkdale, the apples are beginning to grow. The family-owned farm was once called the best apple orchard in America , and is known for its wide selection of 125 apple varieties. The...

Scientists at Oregon State University and Oregon Health and Science University have teamed up to find new ways to treat endometriosis, ovarian cancer and other health conditions using nanoparticles and magnetic fields. Joining us to tell us more about this fascinating research are OPB science reporter Jes Burns , who is also the host and producer behind the “All Science. No Fiction.” v...

Quiet can be an elusive thing, especially in an urban environment. Going out into nature is a good way to escape the sounds of the city, but trails are often full of people talking, dogs barking and you can still hear road noise from a lot of parks and hiking spots. Some people even feel the need to bring a Bluetooth speaker along with them when they’re out in nature. So how can you find a p...

You might encounter an ice sculpture of a swan at a fancy banquet, or an ice luge on a night out. But have you ever seen an 18-foot-tall punk baby with a mohawk made of ice? That’s one of the massive ice sculptures dreamt up by world-class ice carver Chris Foltz. Every winter, master sculptors from across the globe converge for the World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks, where the temps ar...

Esta es la versión en español de este episodio del podcast. Click here to listen in English.   Los años 60s marcaron el comienzo del Movimiento Chicano denominado: El Movimiento.    Activistas como César Chávez y Dolores Huerta lideraban demostraciones, demandando derechos civiles y justicia social para la comunidad Mexicana Americana despué...

This is the English version of this podcast episode. Haga clic aquí para escuchar en español.   The 1960s was the start of the Chicano movement: El Movimiento.    Activists like César Chávez and Dolores Huerta were on the front lines calling for civil rights and social justice for Mexican Americans after facing decades of discrimination.    And...

Photographer Esther Godoy identifies as butch or masculine-of-center. She grew up in Australia and came to Portland more than a decade ago. She says she saw a distinct difference in how her masculine way of presenting herself was received in Portland compared to her hometown in a suburb of Melbourne. She credits the queer community she found in Portland with helping her embrace her butch identity...

For our latest “At Work With” episode, where we talk to Pacific Northwesterners with interesting jobs and ask them your questions about what it’s like to do what they do, we bring you along as we go to work with a haunted house actor , a Zamboni driver and an outreach worker who helps homeless families access stable housing.    For our “At Work With” series,...

If you listen to OPB on the radio, you’ve heard hosts and announcers say a long list of letters and places at the end of every hour. We’re required to do this by the Federal Communications Commission - but it also gave OPB Weekend Edition host Lillian Karabaic , who’s read this roll call of Oregon cities where OPB can be heard hundreds of times, a creative idea. She and OPB video...