Category Archives: on the river

2016 Wooden Boat Show at Eagle Rock Lodge

Posted on by

2016 wooden boat show (c) West Coast Action Photos

It was another successful year for the 2016 McKenzie River Wooden Boat Festival. A light rain didn’t dampen spirits as boat owners and those that appreciate them gathered to view boats and watch demonstrations of fly tying and casting. A fundraising lunch was provided by the McKenzie Guides and raised money for the Free Life Jacket loan program. We also thank Cascade Family Fly Fishers for their support. You can view great photographs of this event at This LINK Thank you Lilly and West Coast Action Photos for being there.

Spring Events on the McKenzie

Posted on by

April 16th
The MRGA Boat Safety Rodeo and Dutch Oven Cook-off is April 16th at Hendricks Bridge Wayside. In addition to the boat inspections by OSP and the cook-off, the steelheaders will be holding a garage sale with used fishing gear to sold to raise money for them.

April 23
The McKenzie River Wooden Boat Festival will be held on Saturday, April 23rd at Eagle Rock Lodge. It is the eleventh year of this community event where boat builders and boat enthusiasts gather to compare different boat design, use, and history. Admission is free but parking is limited. See you there

May 13
The KKNU Radio auction will be held on May 13 from 7-9 am on KKNU 93.3 with Barrett, Fox & Berry. The float is on Saturday May 21st. We do have all the guides for that event. 1/2 of the proceeds from the radio auction goes to A Family For Every Child.

June 26th
The Family for Every Child float is on June 26th. Dick Evans, Todd Linklatter, Ron Van Iderstine, Chris Olsen, Barrett Christiansen and I are the guides for that trip. We donate the day at their winter auction and it has raised over $10,000 for the charity since we began doing this. We have a child from their program and a mentor in each boat.

July 28th
The Kids With Cancer trip for the Candlelighters from Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital will be held on July 28th. We are still looking for guides for that event. We run about 20 boats with a child and players from Oregon and Oregon State athletic teams joining them. People can contact me at 541-915-0368 if they want to be a guide for the day. The Emerald Empire Chapter of the Association of Northwest Steelheaders put on a breakfast for the participants at Deerhorn Park and Don Adams of the MRGA sponsors a BBQ at Hendricks at the end of the day.

Community, agencies team up to clean up river

Posted on by
Reply

Sucessful clean up of the McKenzie River from Bellinger Landing to Marcola.

RiverCleanUP

Community volunteers joined six agencies on Saturday February 27th to collect and remove garbage and other debris from lower McKenzie River riparian areas.

About three weeks ago, McKenzie River Guide Association voiced concerns about garbage from dispersed camp sites and illegal dumping, along with old boat dock debris that contains Styrofoam, strewn along the banks of the river on private and public properties. The Eugene Water & Electric Board convened a meeting to address the issue and several partners joined together to come
up with a cost-effective clean-up plan.

The riparian clean-up area runs from the Bellinger Landing County Park off Camp Creek Road east to Marcola Road. Five jet boats will carry volunteers to the various debris sites and haul filled garbage bags back to the Hayden Bridge Boat Ramp.

Volunteers collected and removed the garbage Saturday before the next high water event washes the debris into the McKenzie River – the sole source of drinking water for nearly
200,000 Eugene-area residents.

A special thanks to everyone involved.