Since 1983, the Paisley Mosquito Festival has raised money to combat the swarms of mosquitoes that breed in this small (and swampy) southern Oregon town. But a wet spring and a volunteer shortage might finally put the mosquitoes on top.
Unless festival organizer Amy Davis can find someone else to take over the annual Lake County event, this July’s celebration will be its last. In 2022, the Mosquito Festival raised $12,000 toward the city’s mosquito spraying efforts.
“If we can’t have the festival, I don’t know what we’ll do,” said Missy Walton, city recorder and one of two employees for the city of Paisley. (The other is the public works department of one.) “All of this valley is built on a marsh, so you have that, and then a lot of the ranchers around here will flood irrigate, and then we had a wet spring.”
It’s a trifecta of trouble that means the mosquitos are worse than ever.
“They’re wicked,” Walton said.
“They’re very hungry, and they’re very big this year,” Davis added. “About the time the sun goes down, they start to swarm. You’ll look down, and there will probably be 30 mosquitoes on your legs.”
This year could be a sign of things to come if mosquito spraying funds aren’t raised. The city owns a pumper truck but doesn’t yet have anyone certified to use it. There’s been no spraying this year, and it shows.
“My husband and I have lived here for our entire lives,” Davis said, “and I have never seen the mosquitoes this bad.”
Members of a Mosquito Festival parade entry line up for a photo in 2015.
Things were different when Davis was growing up in Paisley in the 1990s. Thousands of people attended the Mosquito Festival in its heyday. There was a car show, a 10K run, a dance, volleyball tournaments and the coronation of a Miss Quito. Attendees donned homemade mosquito costumes. The town formed a “SWAT team” that marched in Army fatigues and carried fly swatters, united against a common enemy.
But over the years, attendance has dwindled. In 2019, when the city decided it no longer wanted to run the event, Davis stepped up.
“I remembered how fun the Mosquito Festival was when I was a kid,” she said, “and I wanted to ensure that my children got to enjoy it just as I did.”
She’s organized the festival for the past three years, but this is the last time that Davis says she can shoulder the responsibility.
“I was diagnosed with breast cancer in December of 2021, and I battled that last year and unfortunately, Mosquito Festival weekend, I ended up overdoing it and hospitalized myself the following week,” she said. “I just did too much trying to make the festival happen.”
Beyond her health concerns, Davis has her hands full running the Chewaucan Station food cart in town. And when her father-in-law passed away in March, she and her husband took over the gas station and laundromat he owned. Davis is also planning to go back to school to get her bachelor’s degree in special education.
“For me, to try to continue tending to my family as well as put on the Mosquito Festival, it’s just too difficult,” she said.
The Paisley community has a population of about 250 people, and many of the residents are older.
“We are a very small town, and with that comes a lot of responsibility,” Davis said. “It takes an army, and unfortunately there’s just not enough people around here willing to help with that.”
The festival still includes a parade and a barbecue with live music. There’s a splash pad and bounce house for the kids. Volunteers are needed to serve plates at the barbecue, set up tents, announce the parade, and watch over the splash pad.
For the right kind of person, opportunity awaits in Paisley, where the (possibly) oldest bar in Oregon is for sale. Someone could move to town, run the saloon, and be the town hero that keeps the Paisley Mosquito Festival going.
IF YOU GO: The Paisley Mosquito Festival runs July 28-30. Events include a parade at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 29, a barbecue fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at City Park, and a pancake breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m. Sunday, July 30, at the Paisley Community Center. Rodeo events occur throughout the weekend at the City Arena. Bring your own mosquito repellant. Davis recommends “40% DEET or above.” To get more information or to volunteer, email paisleymosquitofestival@gmail.com
— Samantha Swindler, sswindler@oregonian.com, @editorswindler
