[0:04] This committee was formed over 10 years
ago of citizens of Woodburn who have a
[0:10] passion for art and want to preserve the
history and the cultural aspects and the
[0:15] diversity of our community.
>> They're usually very active in the city
[0:19] and they're very strong supporters of
Woodburn. This committee is very down to
[0:24] earth and kind of adamant though on what
colors they want and what they want to
[0:30] ultimately depict. It's a good
relationship between the artist and the
[0:34] committee to be able to get this final
product done.
[0:37] » I think my favorite part of being on the
committee is being able to collaborate.
[0:43] » It's a good group that can work together
and work things out and come up with
[0:48] really good ideas. We want to bring in
cultural significance as well as
[0:54] historical significance.
>> The aim is is to make art available and
[0:59] to try to enhance the city as well as
honor the people. Being in the
[1:04] committee, I'm learning and it it makes
me giddy cuz it there's so much history
[1:08] that's unknown and we're finally opening
it. It's commemorating and honoring what
[1:13] Woodburn was and what it could be. It's
about feeling pride in where you live
[1:17] and also wanting to create inspiration
for other people to feel that way about
[1:23] their community too.
>> What they have done over the last 10
[1:27] years is is put these art masterpieces
on the on walls that has brought the
[1:33] city together.
>> The arts and murals committee could not
[1:36] exist without volunteer and people
engaged in truly the beautifification of
[1:43] downtown Woodburn. Art brings a
community together.
[1:59] The memories I have of the Pix Theater
um would be when it was Linda's
[2:04] furniture and I remember going in to buy
a bed with my mom. She says that that
[2:08] was her first theater she's ever been to
and she came there and her dad when her
[2:13] dad migrated. Anytime I think about it,
I think about family.
[2:16] » It was a gathering place on Friday
nights, Saturday nights for my friends
[2:22] and siblings. This was a gathering point
for not just Wood community but more
[2:29] communities around. Yeah, a lot of first
kisses were gained there. Not I can't
[2:34] speak personally but we were really
saddened and angry that it had to be
[2:39] taken down and we didn't understand that
it was beyond the point of salvage. The
[2:44] day they decided to
actually functionally take it down. It's
[2:50] like observing part of your childhood
finally going away. There was a group of
[2:55] people, the arts and murals, that made a
kind of a promise to the citizens
[3:03] that if it gets torn down, we're going
to do something with the wall to try and
[3:09] represent what the theater was to the
town. Kind of a homage, a legacy that
[3:14] this had for the city. They came up with
this great plan of representing what
[3:19] downtown Woodburn might have looked like
when the theater was being used. The
[3:23] words on the mural um are my favorite.
The translation in there is beautiful
[3:28] because it's open to the community. So,
it's telling you to enjoy Woodburn,
[3:32] enjoy the wonderful things that we have
here.
[3:35] » That's like you enjoy the finest movie,
enjoy the finest environment. It was the
[3:39] finest movie theater in the area.
>> It is translated beautiful and it has
[3:44] elements of Woodburn like the plaza and
the colors are a little retro that kind
[3:48] of give the feeling of like when it was
built. built a panoramic mural, so you
[3:53] can see a lot of little elements of
Woodburn and what it used to be. They
[3:57] incorporated part of the downtown
structures like city hall and the
[4:01] fountain. You'll see a flatbed truck
that represents the community because
[4:06] Woodburn was such a farming community.
The mural was designed to make it appear
[4:11] like it was the actual wall of the
theater. So, it's almost like a visual
[4:16] illusion,
which makes it so cool because to me,
[4:20] the theater is still alive to some
degree.
[4:24] » Anytime I think about the theater, I I
think about the big pig sign.
[4:29] » The old marquee is actually standing in
the Woodburn Bungalow Museum.
[4:33] » I think for Woodburn, taking down the
theater was hard because we are hopeful.
[4:38] It was important to commemorate it
because maybe it'll give inspiration for
[4:42] future generations to bring it up again.
[4:52] » Oh, it's so important to know where you
came from. You know, that's why we've
[4:56] preserved a lot of historic buildings.
It's important for our future and our
[5:00] legacy for the people that move here to
understand where this town came from as
[5:07] well as where we plan it to go to.
>> Being able to preserve that and and show
[5:14] the uh the historic aspect plus the the
cultural aspect that that Woodburn is
[5:19] unique in being one of the most diverse
cities in in Oregon. One of our first
[5:23] projects was the art sculpture located
in our plaza. a grass sculpture of a
[5:29] little boy and girl playing.
>> The committee worked really hard to get
[5:32] the children just right. They wanted to
be sure that everybody felt like they
[5:37] belonged, that everybody felt like these
children could be their children. It
[5:42] felt like it communicated to us and to
everybody else the future of Woodburn.
[5:47] » We were able to bring in our high school
mascot, little bulldog and a soccer ball
[5:52] depicting the soccer programs that
Woodburn High School is so proud of.
[5:56] After the sculptures were put into the
plaza, the committee felt that the
[6:00] downtown water fountain needed to be
enhanced. They spent an afternoon taking
[6:05] all kinds of different tiles and holding
them up against the fountain until they
[6:10] chose one. The tiles that were selected
were handmade from Mexico and put on the
[6:15] water fountain.
[6:22] Directly across the street from
Woodburn's downtown plaza, there had
[6:27] been a fire and the old brick building
after the fire was just closed up. you
[6:36] know, that was a boarded up building for
30 years with a bunch of plywood there
[6:41] and people just drove by it. So, the
city in 2019
[6:47] uh obtained possession of that property.
They wanted to do what we would refer to
[6:53] as a pocket park, Dalia Plaza Park. The
reason I especially like it is because
[7:02] it solved a problem. It wasn't just
something pretty to look at. We helped
[7:06] create a space that people could
actually come into and enjoy.
[7:10] » Just to be able to sit there and
feel the ambiance of all the flowers
[7:16] around you.
>> We wanted to do floral, a floral theme.
[7:19] We figured that was something given the
size of the wall kind of makes it feel
[7:25] more open in a way.
>> It's bright.
[7:29] It's colorful. A happy place. Come sit
down. and have a cup of coffee, just
[7:34] relax, talk with your friends, and the
fact that you're right across the street
[7:39] from the plaza.
>> The parks and recreation installed the
[7:43] seating and string lights across the top
of the area. I'm just so happy the city
[7:48] stepped in.
>> As mayor Woodburn, on behalf of the
[7:51] city, I'm so proud of of this system
working and the committee working with
[7:56] well within it. It's the way it is
because of the staff that works for this
[8:00] city.
>> The collaboration between urban renewal,
[8:05] arts and mural and you know just the
city crew.
[8:10] » The committee works so well with city
staff and uh through the urban renewal
[8:17] uh program to get high quality work here
in in Woodburn.
[8:21] » You know, the arts and mural committee
on its own can't do anything. We need
[8:25] the assistance of, you know, this
fantastic staff that Woodburn has.
[8:32] » Our fire department, the main department
was redone completely. Uh, and and part
[8:38] of that uh was that they wanted an area
that their firemen or that the public
[8:44] could come and sit and relax and enjoy.
So, they wanted a sculpture and some
[8:51] landscaping in front of the fire
department. The committee finally
[8:54] settled on a sculpture that resembles
flames.
[8:58] » We had all these pictures of these
flames and everything. And once the fire
[9:03] chief saw it, it oh yes, they were all
excited about it. Arts and mural
[9:09] committee wanted to um make sure that
you know we had a little bit of um
[9:16] pizzazz to it like lights, water,
action, you know how that goes. when
[9:21] they had the dedication, it was made us
very proud to see that and to see
[9:26] something that the fire department
themselves chose out of something that
[9:30] we had presented to them.
[9:37] » So, one of our our murals on the back of
the independent office down on Lincoln
[9:42] Street became a very large project for
the city depicting so many aspects of
[9:47] the city. Starting out with the founder
of Woodburn, Jesse Settlemire, his his
[9:52] homestead going into so the logging
concept and how Woodburn initially was
[9:56] founded. In front of the Settlemmer
house is a beautiful Hispanic dancer
[10:00] with the beautiful tulips that annually
come and draw a lot of people to. And
[10:05] this mural depicts a Russian church that
is so prevalent in in the surrounding
[10:10] areas of our community. It's so much
about our history uh going back to the
[10:14] beginning of Woodburn to the farming
aspect to uh the cultural diversity that
[10:20] we have with the the Hispanic Latino
culture. So, it's not only our past but
[10:27] a glimpse into our future.
>> It's a wonderful melting pot. I think um
[10:32] the cultural
diversity
[10:36] of Woodburn
um means um I it touches my heart. It's
[10:45] kind of this little melting pot we have
here. Love it.
[10:48] » When you plate that pot of like the the
culture, what Woodburn has, it's
[10:53] creating a pathway to the American
dream. It's been a place where I've been
[10:58] able to be prideful of where I come from
because I am first generation.
[11:02] Woodbrin's been able to give me that
because it's been a safe place and it
[11:05] welcomes that and they're very open to
change and it's it's showing cuz we're
[11:11] we're bringing out artwork that is very
reflective to Woodburn.
[11:15] » As the arts and mural committee, we're
always cognizant to be inclusive and
[11:20] acknowledge that we have many cultures
in town. It's showing that, you know, we
[11:25] see you, we understand, and we're going
to welcome you in. And by being
[11:29] inclusive, we thrive.
[11:34] The building that the city owns, called
the engineering building, was once first
[11:38] interstate banked. It's on the corner of
Garfield and First Street.
[11:42] » We were looking for an artist to be able
to capture everything that that Woodbury
[11:46] represents, and she did a a fantastic
job putting it together. We tried to
[11:52] make sure that in each of those small
windows and the letters, it represents
[11:56] something that is significant to
Woodburn. You can relate to something in
[12:01] that picture and you feel at home.
>> Everything from the sunrise you could
[12:06] see from downtown Woodburn to Mount Hood
to what is celebrated in Woodburn, the
[12:12] the women dancing, soccer, low rider,
the flowers, the tulips, the berries.
[12:19] North uh Marian County Lan Valley is
such a beautiful place to live and this
[12:25] mural definitely shows that aspect.
>> We also have welcome to Woodburn in
[12:30] three different languages to acknowledge
that we want to embrace that we are
[12:36] different because it makes us a richer
population. We put bisons there to
[12:40] represent and have people ask why is
there a bison on the side of the
[12:44] building? And it's because you're
standing on ground that is ice age.
[12:53] 10,000 years ago or more, this was all
bog land. This Woodburn area was
[12:59] underwater. In 1987, when the city was
working on replacing a sewer line near
[13:07] Woodburn High School, they started
finding things.
[13:10] » I started teaching here in 1997. There
was a crew coming in from Oregon State
[13:15] and uh the Institute of Archaeological
Studies. Being the new biology teacher,
[13:19] I went down and introduced myself to
these people and we did some digs. We
[13:23] dig down to a layer of dirt that was
probably a pond 12, 13,000 years ago. We
[13:29] bring that soil up to the top. We go
through it. We find all kinds of bones
[13:32] of critters. Normally, we find like
frogs and muskrats and ducks and
[13:36] turtles. And when that big bone came out
of the backhoe, I looked at it. I said,
[13:40] "Oh, that's not a frog." And so we
stopped. We looked down inside and my
[13:44] heart was racing cuz I could see all
these bones down there. It was I mean I
[13:47] was pretty excited cuz this is bigger
than anything we've ever seen. We
[13:50] brought all these bones up. We took them
all up to the classroom if we cleaned
[13:54] them all up. We figured out it was a
bison 2 years ago. We dug right next to
[13:58] the 2008 site and we found more of the
skeleton. There was a a guy out in South
[14:04] Dakota. His name was Larry Agenro and he
was kind of like the bison guy in the
[14:09] United States. loaded the bones in the
back of this van and I drove out to
[14:12] South Dakota and I showed them to Dr.
Aenrod. He said, "This is probably the
[14:17] largest bison skeleton in the world
right here in Woodurn, Oregon. If you
[14:22] were to hold this bone, this would be
the right humorous." So, you can see how
[14:28] much bigger it is than than my arm. We
found this bone in 2008. This bone was
[14:34] found in 2023.
And when I we got the bone together was
[14:41] a big
[14:45] » they fit perfectly.
>> Now it's down at the Bungalow Theater
[14:49] where the whole population of Woodburn
and the world can actually visit.
[14:53] » We opened up the dig for community
events now. Anybody who wants to comes
[14:58] to Woodburn and they are there to help
look for fossils and bones of animals
[15:03] that that lived here 12 13,000 years ago
as the ice age was ending. The city's
[15:08] gracious and they volunteer all their
time and effort and resources. So, it's
[15:12] great. The reason why I like to do this
dig is because I want people who want
[15:16] people to come and find fossils. You're
the first person to see that bone, see
[15:20] that animal. The sculpture that they're
making is to represent that we do these
[15:25] digs here.
>> It's a cutout of iron work that will
[15:28] have three bisons.
>> This is an important part of the Wamut
[15:31] Valley and a Woodburn itself is that
these things are here. uh the sculptures
[15:36] there to represent that and it's going
to be exciting to have that here to
[15:39] people to see cuz it's it's people know
about what we do the digs. I don't know
[15:43] how many people know what we find and
it'll be kind of it'll be right by the
[15:46] high school really close to where we dig
do all our digs. There's still more down
[15:50] there still but maybe this year we'll
dig there and find some more. I don't
[15:54] know. We'll see.
[15:58] the arts and murals committee. I believe
our goals are to educate the population
[16:05] about the opportunities
and the beauty of what's available here.
[16:12] It is very important for um future to
see our culture and history of wood. It
[16:19] shows the history of of where we've
been. Um definitely over 125 years. And
[16:25] then uh I think it's it's starting to
show where we want to go.
[16:29] » Again, I think it's it's a matter of
pride for the city. I think that uh
[16:34] seeing those things has got to make
people feel better. The bright colors
[16:38] and the warmth.
>> Lots of accomplishments have been made
[16:42] by the arts and mural committee which
makes me very very proud to be a member.
[16:46] I think our committee is very proud of
the work we've done. It is just the
[16:51] beginning and and there's more better
stuff to come in the future.
[16:56] » The downtown Woodburn looks like a
downtown that I never imagined. I never
[17:00] imagined we'd have murals or fountains
or art. And it's very encouraging
[17:07] because it gives it a fresh look and it
shows that the city itself is protecting
[17:13] as well as respecting downtown. I just
invite all of the people that are
[17:20] interested,
please come down to Woodburn.
[17:24] » If you've never been to Woodburn, I
would suggest you come and check it out.
[17:29] I think it is just a gem of a city and I
can't say enough about it.
[17:35] » When you fall in love with Woodbury, you
always come back. It's like, come on
[17:39] down and see what we've done. Woodford's
the place to be, really.