A team of local artisans and craft people have helped finish a 14-year effort to raise the curtain on the historic Holly Theatre in downtown Medford. The movie palace with its massive 1,008-seat auditorium will debut the first two acts next week, announcing the theater as a major performing arts center
A chance to see and learn about the historic U.S. Hotel building in Jacksonville will be offered during the Britt Festival Open House from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, March 2. People are invited to explore the hotel before it undergoes a significant transformation into Britt Festival’s new home.
A stretch of approximately 2,000 acres of privately owned land in the Rogue Valley with historical significance, including the likely location of a treaty signing and near the site of a massacre, is returning to the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.
If you step into the Ashland Springs Hotel in 2025, you’re standing amid 100 years of history. When the grand hotel opened in 1925, it was the tallest structure between San Francisco and Portland — and it remained so for decades.
A management advisory committee will begin meeting to investigate the best course of action for the historic Ashland Community Center on Winburn Way, according to a release from the city. Plans call for the committee to meet three times before coming up with recommendations for the building’s future.
The “Playwrights Walk,” a new series of art installations, will bring history to the streets Ashlanders walk. Initially a dozen plaques, and eventually many more, the installation will celebrate the rich and dynamic theater culture in and around Ashland.
Established in 1904, Mountain View Cemetery is the largest of three town cemeteries owned and operated by the city of Ashland. Just over 18 acres, this tranquil oasis is bordered by the Central Bike Path, Normal Avenue, and Ashland Street.
Ashland’s 150th birthday dates from its incorporation as the City of Ashland on Oct. 13, 1874. The Oregon legislature passed a bill that was signed on that day by Governor La Fayette Grover. Ashland celebrates its 150th birthday party from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct 20, at Butler Bandshell in Lithia Park.
Remodel efforts in the city’s long-shuttered Community Center have revealed more structural deficiencies than anticipated, raising the question whether to do extensive repair work or raze and rebuild. At its study session Monday, the Ashland City Council directed staff to investigate how best to proceed with the historic building on Winburn Way, adjacent to Pioneer Hall and across the street from Lithia Park.
A wind-driven grass fire ignited near Almeda Drive on Sept. 8, 2020, ravaged its way northwest through the wildland urban interface, destroying thousands of structures through Talent and Phoenix. The direction of the wind that day is often credited with preserving Ashland from the fire. But there was also a quick intervention from the south, when firefighters with the Greensprings Rural Fire District extinguished a vehicle fire intentionally set on fire at Emigrant Lake.
As of Nov. 3, Ashland Community Food Bank has a new director at the reins. Catie Mahoney will serve in the role with guidance from outgoing director Amey Broeker, who will officially retire on Dec. 31 after serving in the food bank role since 2022.
The Ashland City Council will review a proposal from a potential provider to oversee its extreme weather shelter during its regular business meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
The Ashland Independent Film Festival has added a second screening showcasing Indigenous filmmakers on Sunday, Nov. 23.
Three and a half years into the war with Russia, Ashland violinist and longtime music teacher Faina Podolnaya is still finding ways to help Ukrainian refugees.
Herbert Rothschild: As the number of ads in The New Yorker has shrunk, it seems as if the wealth of its readership has concentrated, just as one might concentrate the flavor of a sauce by reducing it on the stovetop.
Local artist MaryAnn Shank will share the thoughts behind her newest novel “Sor Juana, My Beloved” at Bloomsbury Books Jan. 26. Shank is a finalist of The Isabel Allende Most Inspirational Book of the Year 2025 award, awarded by the International Latino Book Association.
(It’s free)
