In 2016, 'our' town Newberg was proclaimed as "Oregon's Camellia City" by a City Council resolution and the move was echoed a year later by the state Senate.
So, by no small wonder of course, the Camellia is the official flower in this town.
And while most cities have official flowers, not many have their own registered variety but Newberg does:

'The City of Newberg' is the common name or 'C. complex reticulata hybrid seedling of (C.pit.var.yun. x 'Purple Gown' x  C.pit.var.yun. x 'Guilio Nuccio') x 'Narumigata' if you want to go all fancy!

Also of no surprise, the city boosts an annual all-day festival in April celebrating its official flower and its Asian origins at the Newberg Camellia Festival.



The day kicks off with a 5k and 10k Run/Walk coordinated by Chehalem Parks and Recreation District (CPRD) followed by performances, kids activities, vendors, and more at the Chehalem Cultural Center and of course (Camellia) plant sales run throughout the day.
The festival also host to the Oregon Camellia Society’s annual statewide bloom show; a camellia bloom competition judged by size, color, form and condition.

We went over after lunch, when the sun came out for a little bit.
I was blown away by the variety of single camellia blooms in any possible iteration and color on display, each in it's individual cup:

I never new there were so may varieties!

Look at this little cutie, named Baby Bear!

                                                  

There was a 'sprig' category as well ..

Gorgeous!

We briefly stopped at an Ikebana demonstration by Nana Goto Bellerud, a very charming Japanese lady ..

                      

And we sat down for a while to watch a very powerful demonstration of the Japanese Taiko drumming group 'Monmouth Taiko':

Followed by a delightful performance of a Dragon and Lion Dance by the Lee's Association Dragon & Lion Dance Team.



They even brought the Dragon and Lions through the public on the floor ..

                                                    

    

One thing I learned that afternoon, which came as a big surprise to me, is that (all) tea is made from Camellia Sinensis!
How come I never knew that? James and I were both into the landscaping business, heck, I've been to real tea plantations in Malaysia, and I never realized this? Duhhh ..
They actually grow them here in the Willamette Valley, we might go for a visit one of these days.

Any-who, we checked out the vendors and I managed to only buy a few samples of .. tea ..  they had some interesting, very different, ones from locally grown plants that I like to try out.

Since the forecast mentioned a nice and sunny afternoon  I had, rather optimistically, bought some hamburgers so, although it quickly cooled of in the late afternoon, we did fire up the BBQ!

As you can see James was a little on the cool side out there ..

I made a big steaming batch of 15-Bean Soup the next day, which was more 'in sync' with the weather situation which had turned back to wintry temperatures of 33F that night and 42F for a day-time high!

In my own (orch)yard, a fourth raised bed has appeared:

                                                    

And since it's so bloody cold right now, I am covering my seedlings up at night. They look like alien pods in the fading light ..

I'm starting to run out of seeds for the birds .. again .. and was debating if I should stop feeding them, it being Spring now and all, but after some googling if you should, and why, I've decided to keep at it for a while longer.
Migrating birds, coming back to Oregon, tend to be rather exhausted and hungry, than they have to do their whole courtship thing which takes energy and than there's the laying of eggs and raising of chicks .. if anything I should double their feed!

This pretty Golden-crowned Sparrow probably agrees ..