The success of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival vaulted Ashland, a tiny city on the state’s southern border, into a travel destination. Since 1935, the venerable tourism powerhouse has lured in theatergoers willing to stay, shop and dine.
Ashland also has nature trails and is an easy stop off of Interstate 5, but a third of its visitors vacation here specifically to see the festival’s performances on three downtown stages, according to the city’s tourism bureau.
On Tuesday, The Oregonian/OregonLive broke the news that the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) said it needed to raise $2.5 million to save the 2023 season and was suspending planning for 2024 to stabilize its finances.
About 40 minutes later, festival supporters received an email from board chairwoman Diane Yu and board member Bob Speltz asking for immediate financial support “to help us through this crisis.”
Oregon Shakespeare Festival released the hashtag #SaveOSF and tweeted and linked to a new page on its website: osfashland.org/saveosf.
OSF is in crisis, and we are not alone.
Whether it’s moving up your annual giving or making 1x gifts to help us through this crisis, whatever you can afford to give, we need you to give now in order to meet our critical fundraising goal. #SaveOSF
🔗https://t.co/iS8P5K8SJp pic.twitter.com/zJJ6BwDkCL
— Oregon Shakespeare Festival (@osfashland) April 11, 2023
Over the last five years, the city has survived lingering wildfire smoke, pandemic shutdown orders and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival offering shortened seasons. For decades, 11 plays were presented from March through October.
In 2022, Travel Ashland broadened its campaigns “beyond OSF” and the theater season to attract leisure travelers wanting a getaway with friends and family in a walkable city.
“Ashland recovered and survived during the pandemic without OSF,” according to Katharine Cato, director of Travel Ashland, the visitors and convention bureau of the Ashland Chamber.
In 2018-2019, lodging tax revenue collections were $3,124,448, said Cato. In 2021-22, lodging tax revenue reached $2,591,758.
On Monday, before the news hit, people dependent on tourism were optimistic about this year. Innkeepers were issued 20% off 2023 Oregon Shakespeare Festival tickets for their guests. And ample winter rain and snow dampened fears of a dangerous summer fire season.
Daniel Perry, founder of online travel agency BookStayHop in Talent that manages 150 vacation rentals with 30% in downtown Ashland, said bookings were strong for 2023.
He said guests discovered when theaters were closed during the pandemic that they still wanted to leave the Bay Area, Portland and Seattle, and they found Rogue Valley’s hiking, rafting and wineries inviting.
“Now guests stay longer and are not here for one sole reason but a combination of things, to experience the area,” Perry said Monday.
“For all the ‘woe is me’ talk, Ashland is resilient,” he said. “Towns with personalities that worked to keep out the box stores are much better off than those with empty malls. Any kind of OSF is better than no OSF. We will take what we can get because it’s still a driving motivator to a lot of people coming.”
On Tuesday, Billy Mann of Bayberry Inn Bed and Breakfast acknowledged the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s deep history and impact on the city, but he also developed a second business, the Oregon Wellness Retreat, for non-theatergoers.
Actress Katherine Heigl, astronaut Karen Nyberg and others booked an art retreat and then spread the word on social media.
“Theater is a key entity to Ashland and we hope people support it, but we also hope they come to enjoy the culinary and art scene,” he said.
On Tuesday, Mark Brouillard, who moved to Ashland in 1993 to attend Southern Oregon University, reminisced when the city “was fun, vibrant and had an incredible independent art scene.”
He said the festival provided the city with revenue and inspired galleries to open and other organizations to launch such as the Ashland Independent Film Festival.
“If we lose OSF, we will have lost a lot of our community and what still brings in tens of thousands of visitors,” he said. “Without steady visitors, we won’t have a food scene and food is art.”
— Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072
