​The Annual Dallas Summerfest Parade is hosted by the Dallas Area Visitors Center and kicks off at 11 am on Saturday, July 28th during Dallas Summerfest. You never know what kind of fun and flashy parade floats that our city will come up with, especially with this year’s theme being Black and Orange: Hometown Pride! Come out and celebrate our amazing community with us!

We are also selling Dallas Summerfest Hometown Pride commemorative pennants for a limited time only! Just $5. We will be selling these pennants Sounds of Summer, Bounty Market, as well as our office. Our goal is to sell out and have parade attendees waiving them as the parade participants go by, plus it’s a cool keepsake for years to come.

If you are local business looking to promote yourself the Dallas Summerfest Parade is an amazing opportunity. We are currently accepting applications for the parade and would love to see your company involved. It’s a great day of sun and fun, all while getting your name out into the community. We have applications available online at exploredallasoregon.org, in our office, or available at the information booth during Bounty Market.

​ 
“One of the world’s premier Beatles cover bands” – US News and World Report
 
“Unquestionably expert at what they do.” – Indyweek
 
“I loved the Abbey Road LIVE! Band! They were awesome! I would go see them anywhere I could. If it wasn’t so fun watching them enjoy playing, one could close their eyes and have a great idea of what an Abbey Road tour by the Beatles would have sounded like, just Awesome!”
 
Since 2002, Abbey Road LIVE! Has been rocking the music of the Beatles at clubs, theaters, festivals, and private events. Initially a tribute to the monumental “Abbey Road” album, the band has expanded its scope to include more than a 100 Beatles tunes, from all ears of the Fab Four’s career. The band specializes in complete, start-to-finish album performances of masterpieces such as “Abbey Road”, “Magical Mystery Tour”, “Rubber Soul”, “Revolver”, and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band”.
 
Abbey Road LIVE! Is made up of four all-star musicians from the infamous Athens GA music scene that gave the world R.E.M., Widespread Panic, and B-52s. Collectively the band members have recorded and toured regularly with Cosmic Charlie, Charlie Mars, and Fuzzy Sprouts. Individual band members have also collaborated with acts such as Indigo Girls, Juliana Hatfield, Mike house (Widespread Panic), Danielle Howle and Lemonheads.
 
While the four lads from Athens GA generally perform as a quartet, they have also been known to recruit the “Magical Mystery Horns” and the “Lonely Hearts Strings”, lending authentic accompaniment to the more elaborately orchestrated tunes. The latest addition to the Abbey Road LIVE! Musical arsenal is a real Indian sitar and tablas.
 
At a typical Abbey Road LIVE! Show, audiences young and old can be found gleefully singing along with every word, many in utter disbelief at getting to hear this monumental music performed live; something that even the Beatles themselves never did, since they stopped touring in 1966.
 
We hope to see you when they perform at Sounds of Summer this Thursday, July 5th! The music will kick off at 6:30 pm until 8:30 pm, with food vendors and beer garden on site.

​Independence Day 2018, also known as Fourth of July, is a federal holiday observed yearly on July fourth. It is the anniversary of the publication of the declaration of independence of the United States of America from Great Britain in 1776.
 
The history of Independence Day 2018 dates back to the 18th century and the American Revolution, 1775-17783. In June 1779, representatives of the 13 colonies then fighting in the revolutionary struggle weighed a resolution that would declare independence of the United States from Great Britain. On July 2, the legal separation of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain occurred, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. Two days later its delegates adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin.
 
Historians have long disputed whether Congress actually signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4 and most have concluded that the Declaration was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4 as it is commonly believed. The holiday remains to be celebrated on the fourth of July. Coincidentally, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the only signers of the Declaration of Independence later to serve as Presidents of the United States, died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration.
 
Dallas will once again be celebrating the Fourth of July in a big way; Freedomfest! We invite you to join us Wednesday for a spectacular day and evening for family fun as we recognize our service men and women with a pickleball tournament, BBQ competition, beer garden, vendors, non-profit hosted games, field games, music, food trucks, bingo, and of course the first-rate fireworks show at dusk. All activities will be held at the Roger Jorden Community Park. Dallas Fire and EMS Department will light off the show from LaCreole Middle School. Citizens are encouraged to grab their chairs, blankets and family for the celebration. Come down early to pick your spot!

​Dallas is truly a unique and special community of people. Sometimes we can forget how much our little town is a gem, and it takes new comers to remind us of just how special what we have here is.
 
Almost a year ago Bruce and Claudia McGillivray began looking for a new home in Salem. They had lived in a small community, Lake Almanor in Plumas County CA, but wanted to relocate to be closer to their five grandchildren. Lake Almanor is a small, resort community with only 3 stop lights, and 5,000 people. They were convinced that they knew about friendliness.
 
The couple had very specific ideas in mind in just what they wanted from their new home; one story, with no steps, and close to the kids so they didn’t have to move again. However, they were having no luck finding that forever home in south Salem. Finally, they looked at Dallas. They found the perfect home, and moved in knowing nothing about Dallas or the surrounding area. “We were blank slates essentially.” Bruce said.
 
They were taken with our community. After joining Faith Free Church, which they love, they began to explore the area. The Aquatic Center, local bike trails, proximity to the coast, and the City Park, they were pleasantly surprised with them all. Both Bruce and Claudia feel that Dallas strives to take care of their senior citizens with discounts or free swims at the Aquatic center, something that does not happen in California according to them. That Oregon works to take care for its parks and wildlife is evident in their mind, and makes our state the beauty that it is. Bruce loves the Dallas Golf Course, and goes almost once a week. He finds that the grounds are inexpensive, well-maintained, and friendly.
 
Friendliness, is what has impressed them both. “Even going to the DMV.” They laughingly informed me that the DMV was their first stop to remove their California plates. Bruce claims that he once spent thirty minutes speaking to a woman that he didn’t know at the post office. They love how polite everyone is here, and willing to chat with complete strangers. Bruce mentioned that the Visitors Center was a great example while Claudia chuckled. “We came in for a brochure, and now are being interviewed.”
 
Dallas has not just impressed Bruce and Claudia however. When I asked what their family thought of the area they both smiled. Their parents compliment them on their choice in moving here, commenting on how clean everything is. Their grandkids often have sleepovers with Grandma and Grandpa, and love the bike trails as well.
 
“We haven’t found anything that we don’t like about Dallas.” Claudia McGillvray

​“Straight up, I should be dead,” Kurt Van Meter once cheerfully told a reporter. At 1:30 pm Friday, November 21, 2009, then police officer Van Meter responded to a call from his sergeant saying that shots had been fired in downtown Hillsboro. When the high-speed car chase through the busiest stretch of Portland’s sprawling suburb ended, Van Meter stood only a few paces from the deranged gunman.
 
“He jumped out of the Honda with the silver .50 caliber Desert Eagle in one hand and a black .45 caliber Desert Eagle in the other,” Van Meter told a reporter from Police One shortly after the incident. Van Meter remembers the man leveling one of the pistols directly at him before two officers from neighboring Cornelius opened fire and killed the gunman.
 
Van Meter’s brush with death gave way to a moment of clarity in which he decided to pursue his life-long dream and follow in the footsteps of his country music hero, Garth Brooks.
 
Van Meter can remember the moment he knew he wanted to be a singer.
 
“My brother was giving me a ride to school – I think I was a freshman or sophomore – and he put in this CD and told me that I had to hear this song,” Van Meter said. “It was ‘Friends in Low Places’ by Garth Brooks. I was instantly hooked. I was like, I don’t know what this is, but whatever it is, I want to be a part of it.”
 
But life seemed to take him in every direction but the music. Van Meter played football and became a bull rider at Oregon State University before entering the police force. There, he would sing in the office – but his coworkers didn’t seem to share in the joy.
 
“My first gig was marine patrol and they give you a partner. He told me one day, ‘Kurt have I ever told you how much I love your singing?’ I said no and he goes, ‘then shut up.’” Van Meter figured maybe he wasn’t that good of a singer, after all. The first person who told him he had a good voice was an ex-girlfriend. But music seemed to be an out-of-reach dream.
 
The shooting changed all of that and about a year later Van Meter decided to chase his dream. He hoped on Youtube and started to learn how to play the guitar. He also began attending local jam sessions in Hillsboro. The next challenge was finding a way to get his music heard. Van Meter was put in contact with Scott Mahalick and told him, “If you believe in me, I can be the next Garth Brooks.” Van Meter had no songs, no band, and nothing to offer but his voice. Despite that, Garth Brooks and Scott attempted to contact Van Meter. A missed phone call that he still cringes about.
 
Van Meter’s career took off relatively quickly and he opened for country stars like Montgomery Gentry. In 2013, he committed to music full-time and played the Bi-Mart Country Music Festival in 2014, alongside artists Eric Church and Blake Shelton. When he started, Van Meter said his songs had a couple hundred streams and downloads per month. By 2015, those numbers were up to more than 100,000.
 
As Van Meter has seen his popularity rise, he’s quick to point to his bandmates as reasons for his success. “When you have a team as strong as this one, it’s in your best interest to get the hell out of the way,” he said. “My role is to not forget the lyrics and not suck.”
 
Van Meter hopes his kids and others can see his journey and decide to follow their passion and to not be afraid of failure. “Two things are important, one is don’t wait until you’re ready to do something. If you want to do it, just go for it. I didn’t know what I was doing. Sometimes, you just gotta go for it. The second thing is you’re never too old. I was 33 when I learned how to play the guitar.”
 
Van Meter will be performing tomorrow night at Sounds of Summer kicking off the summer series. Come join us, and enjoy good music, food, and drinks. Vendors will start serving at 6 pm and the fun will begin at 6:30 pm. His CDs will be on sale both at the info booth, as well as after the concert at the Chamber of Commerce.
 
“Kurt, you are obviously doing something right. Stay with what works.” – Garth Brooks

Congratulations to Washington Street Steakhouse & Pub! We are so excited to announce that they have won in 2018 Best of the Mid-Valley Awards! However, they won not one award but NINE awards in total!
Washington Street Steakhouse won Gold in Best Dallas Bar, Best Dallas Restaurant, Best Reason to Visit Dallas, and our own Melanie Woods won Gold in Best Local Server. They also took home Silver in Best Steak and Bronze in Best Burger. But let’s not forget the faces behind these delicious meals. Barbara Witham won Best Local Server as well. Adam Hoefler was awarded Best Local Chef, as our taste buds will attest to, and Mary Hoefler won Best Local Bartender.
Washington Street Steakhouse has been a cornerstone member of our community for years. They are a restaurant that still manages to bring home that small town feeling. As shown above, they put an emphasis not only on serving great food, but serving it with delightful customer service. They also try to incorporate local businesses when possible, like serving Eola Hills wines!
If you would like a chance to indulge in some wonderful cooking, and wonderful people then they have a few events coming up for you to take advantage of. This Sunday is Mother’s Day! If cooking isn’t your strong suit then enjoy a meal with them, no reservations necessary. They will even be giving out free flowers to mom while supplies last! If your Mother’s Day plans are already made then visit them July 21st for their 19th Anniversary Luau Party. The party will last from 6am till 11pm!
One customer had this to say:
“My wife and I were looking for a lunch stop in Dallas when she saw this place as we drove by. I’m glad we stopped as this place rocks.  My wife had the turkey wrap which was huge. She said it was very good and fresh. I had the corned beef hash breakfast. I’m kind of a connoisseur when it comes to corned beef hash. This place by far makes the best CBH I have ever eaten. Not from the can here!  Let’s not forget the great homemade biscuit. Yum!  The service was great so we will be back!”

We have a delicious resource in Dallas at West Valley Taphouse. They have unique bottled beers and ciders for sale as well as their annual Mug Club.  It is a well visited area that provides an amazingly comfortable scene where people can come to settle in and enjoy a delicious beverage from local craft breweries.

Week by week we have several people who stop by our office to share their heart and time with the community.  They offer a part of themselves to ensure that when folks walk into our doors they are greeted with a warm smile and as much information as available.  Their smiles allow us to continue to work on making sure we highlight Dallas but I came to realize that these individuals really do highlight Dallas and they actually are the highlight.  Dallas has warm welcome down to a science and we are glad to host these volunteers as they make our office part of the shine that is Dallas Oregon.