Spirit of Bohemia Mining Days

No. Spirit of Bohemia Mining Days is a separate nonprofit organization founded in 2024. Bohemia Mining Days Inc. was the previous organization responsible for the festival. After it announced that it would not produce the festival in 2024 and later closed, Spirit of Bohemia Mining Days was created independently to continue the community tradition.

Because the organization and the festival have different founding dates. Spirit of Bohemia Mining Days was founded in 2024, but the Bohemia Mining Days festival tradition began in Cottage Grove in 1959. SBMD is the current nonprofit organization carrying that long-running community tradition forward.

SBMD was created when it became clear that Bohemia Mining Days would not be produced in 2024 under the previous organization. Matthew Hewlett, Jeremy Ferguson, Linda Oxley, Cathy Simmons & Dylan Mann formed Spirit of Bohemia Mining Days so the tradition would continue rather than disappear, while also creating a new organizational structure capable of supporting the festival and broader year-round heritage work.

No. Bohemia Mining Days is our flagship public celebration, but Spirit of Bohemia Mining Days operates throughout the year. Our work includes heritage education, school and youth programming, Senior Connections, historical research, storytelling and media, preservation, community events, partnerships, and developing new ways for people to experience local history.

Our Mission is to preserve and share our local history and heritage through celebration, education, storytelling, and community connection.

Our Vision is to create a community where our heritage is understood, celebrated, and carried forward for generations to come.

SBMD's four pillars — Celebrate, Educate, Create, and Collaborate — provide the framework through which we put that mission into practice.

SBMD is based in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Much of our work focuses on Cottage Grove, the Bohemia Mining District, and the surrounding region, although some of our historical storytelling and partnerships explore stories from elsewhere in Oregon when they connect naturally to our mission.

Yes. Spirit of Bohemia Mining Days is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our Tax ID is 99-5011689 .

SBMD is governed by a Board of Directors and supported by year-round organizational leadership, volunteer coordinators, program leads, community partners, and project-based teams. Festival weekend requires a much larger volunteer operation, while programs, partnerships, development, media, and educational work continue throughout the rest of the year.

SBMD is supported through donations, sponsorships, grants, in-kind contributions, partnerships, volunteers, fundraising activities, and community support. Some support is connected to a specific event or program, while other funding helps provide the year-round capacity necessary to operate the organization, develop programs, preserve history, and plan for the future.

General admission to Bohemia Mining Days is free. Keeping the festival publicly accessible is made possible through sponsors, donors, partners, vendors, volunteers, fundraising, and other community support. Individual vendors, food purchases, or certain optional activities may have their own costs.

Bohemia Mining Days is recognized as an Oregon Heritage Tradition because it is a long-running community event with more than fifty years of history that reflects Oregon's heritage and helps tell the state's story. The designation recognizes the festival's cultural significance. It is an honorary designation and does not itself provide funding to SBMD.

Yes. Collaboration is one of SBMD's four organizational pillars. We work with schools, nonprofits, businesses, historians, museums, educators, civic organizations, community groups, funders, venues, artists, and volunteers. Partnerships can involve programs, historical research, events, education, locations, resources, promotion, funding, expertise, or entirely new ideas.

Absolutely. Preserving community knowledge is an important part of our work. We welcome historical leads, family stories, photographs, documents, recordings, research, and introductions to people who may have knowledge worth preserving. Contact us and tell us what you have.

No. While we gladly accept donations of historic photographs, documents, and other materials, donation is not required.

We can professionally scan photographs and documents of nearly any size or format so the original material can remain with you while a high-quality digital copy is preserved for historical use.

We also offer photo restoration services to help preserve damaged, faded, or aging images.

If you have photographs, documents, or other historical material you think may be important, contact us. We are happy to talk through the best way to preserve it while respecting ownership of the original item.

There are many ways to participate. You can attend an event, volunteer, participate in a program, share historical knowledge, propose a partnership, sponsor the organization, make a donation, or help us connect with people and resources that advance the mission.