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Eugene, Eugene: You can make it there.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Carolyn Lamberson The Register-Guard

You remember the 2004 Eugene Celebration, right?

No? Well that's not too surprising. The weekend's torrential downpour kept all but the hardiest of celebrants at home.

The festival had struggled in recent years, since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacks on the East Coast put a damper on that year's event. The near rain-out in 2004 proved to be a final straw.

Downtown Events Management Inc., the private nonprofit organization that had run the celebration since 1998, closed its door and laid off its director, citing poor revenue from the '04 event.

Think of the 2005 Eugene Celebration as the step-back-and-take-a-breath year. Big Green Events, the event management firm DEMI hired to run this year's celebration, has concentrated the event to center on Broadway in downtown Eugene. Hence, this year's theme: "Live on Broadway."

The new, condensed footprint is designed to "bring the critical mass together and the energy together as a whole," Big Green Events owner Bob Jensen said.

Brendan Relaford, the managing partner of Big Green Events, said there used to be enough activity to spread out the celebration across downtown. But even in recent years, it's been more difficult to connect the event with some of the far-flung stages, such as the one on Fifth Avenue.

"We're moving that energy to what we call the City Hall...

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