Reub's journey

18 December 2009

Friday My Town Shoot-Out: Dressed for Christmas

The idea of the My Town Shoot-Out is to post photos of your local community every Friday. This week's assignment was chosen by The Town Blogger Team.

All photos taken in Corvallis, Oregon.

Downtown Corvallis is resplendent with little white lights and nice nutcracker characters on light poles; it would have made an elegant set of photos. Especially at night.

But that's not the place you would go if you had a car full of 5-year olds; nope, the first place you would head for is the Pepsi Bottling Company, whose president is the vibrant Corvallis philanthropist Mario Pastega. I had some fun wandering around in broad daylight last week:

Mario's wife Alma, who died last year at age 90, had the idea many years ago of decorating the grounds for Christmas with hand-painted figures.



Each year she added to the collection, and people chipped in to help.



Company employees start putting everything up in early November. There are hundreds of figures lit at night, and piped-in music while lines of cars slowly drive the winding route through the parking lots. Thousands of folks do the tour each year.



So. Go through these photos fast; think of it as a flip book! That way you won't notice when I occasionally give in to the overwhelming desire for irony. (It's just that when you have a ninja turtle coming between Cinderella & the fairy godmother, irony happens.)













































OK, I know, this isn't Christmas (not like the three little pigs, Donald Duck, ET, or much of what you just zipped through) but these gigantic bales of smashed Pepsi cans were so amazing. I just wanted you to see them. There must be a BILLION cans.


Next week I'll just put up one photo, promise.

20 comments:

  1. Wow, there is a lot of work in that display. I love the way you took the photo of the carolers reflected in the water and I also love the Peanuts characters on the swing.

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  2. Yipes!! I don't think I've ever seen so many decorations in one place before!! But WHERE'S THE SNOW????

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  3. Oh, my. That place has it all. If I'm ever in Corvallis in December, I've GOT to stop and see it for myself. I think the partriges whose pears are not actually attached to their tree is my favorite.

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  4. How beautiful! Everything is so bright and colorful. :) I'm happy just looking at it.

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  5. Well Merry, while you got 17 inches of snow we got a long cold rain: it's a green Christmas for us, as usual! If I had just taken these pics at night maybe you wouldn't have noticed.

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  6. And NAnU, this place is definitely your kinda place; I thought of you when I was there!

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  7. what a really great idea - the characters are very well done BUT hire a babysitter and go back at night, I want to see them in lights - PLEASE!

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  8. Isn't it weird, there are so many photos and the two that caught Rebecca's eye also appealed to me. I always love reflections in puddles and the Peanuts on the swings brought such a smile to my face! That is a truly amazing display, I like that you shared the story, too.

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  9. What a wonderful story. The Pastega family sound like amazing people. Bah Hum Bug to all those people who say that businesses don't give back.

    I really liked the photo of the carolers too and I also liked the disney characters in the train. This is an excellent post. I love seeing how other towns celebrate.

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  10. What a great post!! I felt like a little one again, marveling over all of the Disney characters and everything. Thank you :)

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  11. That was sensational! You really out did yourself. Corvallis has it all!

    That was so much fun, thank you.

    And please, we want more than one next time!!

    Barry & Linda

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  12. Such colorful decorations, amazing!

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  13. Love it love it love it! My kind of fun walking around shooting those carvings, that artist deserves to be mentioned for their efforts! Great post...

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  14. I confess that when I first thought about this week's theme I was expecting blog after blog of Christmas lights but there has been so much variety...yours was unique! And wonderful.

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  15. There's no snow?

    I like the reflection of the carolers, had there been rain?

    You did a great job.

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  16. Tremendous post! I enjoyed the smiles and fun.
    However, I do have a very serious request, one shot of Ed and Reub dressed for the holidays. Please!!!
    I think Reub is the coolest dog ever.

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  17. Oh so much fun..what a huge amount of work they did over the years! My kids would just adore that..every one!! I really enjoyed the history of it also!!
    Merry Christmas hon, Sarah

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  18. Rudolph in the tree is great but my favorite is the reflected angels. Nice collection. Thanks for the tour.

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  19. This is astonishing! Isn't it amazing what a few dedicated people can accomplish.

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  20. Wow, really cool place! I particularly liked the way the carolers are reflected in a nearby puddle.

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