Fourth Annual
A celebration of the cultural, ecological and artistic significance of camas
Friday, May 9, 2025
10 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.
For generations, purple camas lilies have been cultivated, traded and consumed by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest including the Kalapuya, who were removed to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation in 1855. Though much sparser now than in the days it turned the Willamette Valley purple each spring, it remains a central piece of Kalapuyan lifeways.
All events take place in and around Nicholson Library unless otherwise noted.
1662 S.E. Lever St., McMinnville, OR
10 a.m. – Opening remarks (Linfield and Tribal leaders)
Ongoing activities:
Guided tours of Cozine Creek Camas Patch - tour shuttles depart from the Nicholson Library at:
10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. – Indigenous Creators Marketplace
11:00 a.m.-1:15 p.m. - Indigenous-inspired menu available in Dillin Hall (meal plan or payment required)
1:30 p.m. – Speaker: Joe Scott, director of the Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program, presenting "Revitalizing Cultural Burning in the Willamette Valley"
3 p.m. – Speaker: David Lewis, assistant professor of anthropology at OSU, presenting Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley
4:20 p.m. - Closing remarks
4:30 p.m. – Festival closes
Nicholson Library is located off SE Lever Street in McMinnville. Parking is available in several lots adjacent to the library, and visitors may park in any non-reserved location.
For more information or to request disability accommodations related to this event, please contact Dr. William Fleeger at wfleeger@linfield.edu or 503-883-2341
May 10, 2024
Third-annual Camas Festival features pop-up restaurant, Indigenous Creator’s Market, panel on food sovereignty and more
The hills of the Willamette Valley may no longer turn purple with blooms of camas, but in one small patch of land, the flower is once again getting its day in the sun.
May 24, 2024
A wildflower is teaching the non-Native public about food sovereignty
Oregon's third Camas Festival highlights the joys and responsibilities of tending the iconic northwestern plant.
May 9, 2023
Community celebrates important wildflower at Camas Festival in McMinnville
The hills of the Willamette Valley may no longer turn purple with blooms of camas, but in one small patch of land, the flower is once again getting its day in the sun.
Linfield University
At Linfield, we recognize that the land that our physical campuses are located on were the traditional territories of the “Yam Hill” band of the Kalapuya people in McMinnville and the Chinookan peoples known as the Clackamas and Cascade Tribes in Portland. In January 1855, the people of these tribes were forcibly removed from the land after the signing of the Willamette Valley Treaty. They are now among 30 tribes and bands that make up the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
