Cottage Grove welcomes 53rd Bohemia Mining Days by recalling its past divide
COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (KMTR) – Reliving Cottage Grove’s history, a jump back to the mining days this weekend.
The 53rd annual Bohemia Mining Days continues all weekend at Coiner Park in Cottage Grove.
This year, organizers are focusing on the history of Cottage Grove’s six year feud which started in 1893.
After several disputes over things including where to build the post office and how to pipe water around the city, the city of Cottage Grove split in to two towns in 1893: Slabtown and Lemati. The towns were split by the Coastal Fork River. By 1899, the towns came back together after working out their differences.
But in honor of the great divide, Bohemia Mining Days organizers have created two “teams” at the festival this year. Depending on where you live in Cottage Grove, people are on either the “Slabtown” or “Lemati” team.
Organizers are now holding several competitions between the two towns to see who reigns supreme.
"We've got a scoreboard hanging on the front of our gazebo and we're keeping track of how many point each side has earned so far, we've got 20 something contests going on to determine which side will end up on top at the end of this year,” says Jake Boone, president of the Bohemia Mining Days festival board.
“Cottage Grove, in general, we're very proud of the history we have here and we've got a lot of it,” says Bohemia.
In a tug of war competition between the two towns on Saturday, the rope actually broke, resulting in a tie! The Mining Days continue through Sunday. The event is free
For more information, click the following link: http://bohemiaminingdays.org/.
