Eunique Eugene

Every city, town or country village has its own unique flavor, but where we live, a phrase can be frequently overheard among locals, “only in Eugene...”

Each year in September, a city-wide party called the Eugene Celebration selects its campy monarch, the Slug Queen. The 2009 theme was “Strange we can believe in.” True to form, the panel of celebrity judges crowned Grand Duchess Anislugsia as our current Royal Gastropod, who reigned over the masquerade Slime Ball. Tee hee, our Queen, well, his majesty’s civilian name is Mark van Beever and Oregon is the beaver state.

Oui, Madames et Monsieurs, Eugene is a very unique place to call home.

Voila! a cross-section of our local town’s people. Don’t pass over this photo too quickly, for it deserves a second glance. Notice the variety of hairstyles and apparel. We’ve got a person with a blue coif, facial hair, jeans, a black shirt and a flame tie. Don’t assume that’s the child’s father. Here, that could be its mother. See the guy squatting down to the right wearing a pink shirt? He’s also wearing a green skirt and I saw him later holding the baby.

In the back row, there’s a dude sporting tropical shorts and a woman in Bo Derek braids, a style popularized by the movie “10” released in 1979, just a mere 30 years ago. However, that tri-decade old hairstyle is a whole ten years ahead of the game, because the third largest (or thereabouts) city in Oregon has an unofficial subtitle. Eugene: where it’s always 1969.

This is not too difficult to fathom considering the fellow on the lower far right is wearing The Uniform: Requisite Tie-Dye T-shirt, glasses, baseball cap and Jerry Garcia hair and matching beard. Half the population in Eugene looks exactly like this and I’m not just talking about the men.

While at the booth, I amaze tourists with my uncanny intuitive ability to guess they are from out of town. “How did you know?” they ask. But if they are not wearing a skirt, a skort, a utili-kilt, The Uniform, or Birkenstocks, their clothes tend to match which is a dead giveaway. That, or their hair is combed.

Speaking of Jerry Garcia and Dead giveaways, the car is typical of the luxury automobiles crowding our streets. Those and bicycles of every size, shape and configuration.

Eugene (pronounced yoo-JEAN, not YOO-jean), was named after Eugene Skinner, a New Yorker who decided to “winter in California” with his wife in the year 1845. Or maybe they just came west and got stuck there for awhile before continuing on to what eventually became the 33rd State on Valentine’s Day, 1859. How romantic. Ahem, mayhaps Oregon is actually the 29th state as four in the Union are considered Commonwealths (Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia).

Our burg, Track Town, is known for Phil Knight and his Nike Kingdom (ever heard of the University of Oregon?), the tragic death of distance running phenomenon, Steve Prefontaine, the Olympic Team Trials, and The Arts.

The Eugene Saturday Market has the distinction of being the oldest continuing outdoor Market in the United States, the one upon which many are patterned.

As you can see, there’s no place like home.