any info about Junction City? (Portland, Eugene: sales, real estate, how much)

[Jennifer&Bob]

Hi all. We are thinking of moving to Oregon and are considering the area of Junction City. What can anyone tell me about it? We are moving from the San Francisco Bay Area so it's a safe bet real estate prices will be cheaper ANYWHERE we move. We have a 2 year old and I'm wondering about the school system and playgrounds, kid's play areas and activities there and in Harrisburg and Eugene? Any feedback would be great!

Almost forgot, can anyone tell me how much of a music scene, specifically zydeco, there is or isn't, in Eugene? I know there's a bit of it in Portland and if anyone can tell me more about that I'd love it! Thanks!

[buzzkirk]

Don't know about zydecko but there's a decent music scene here in Eugene. If you want to check some venues out, here's some web addresses which have upcoming shows:

WOW Hall - wowhall.org

McDonald Theatre - mcdonaldtheatre.com (note spelling)

Winery outdoors concert series - secrethousewinery.com

The Cuthbert Theater - thecuthbert.com

And here's the local weekly alt paper - eugeneweekly.com

You may have to add www or http to those addresses as needed. Don't know much about Junction City, sorry. But Eugene area has a high quality of life.

[Eugguy]

Forget Junction City. Just move to Eugene.

[Jennifer&Bob]

Hey, thanks for this info! Buzzkirk for the links, the newspaper especially is very useful and Eugguy, good to know Eugene is so highly recommended. We're hoping to find a small bit of acreage so have been looking outside Eugene but since that would be the nearest "big" city, it would be important to know if we'd be bored there. Can you recommend any small venues, bars, pubs etc, that might have regular live music events? Folky music of various types? Bluegrass, Irish, Blues, etc?

[buzzkirk]

Seems kinda ironic recommending music in little Eugene to folks from the Bay Area ... the bars here gear toward the college crowd so a lot of hip-hop and reggae but it varies, just have to look around. Here's a few of the more major bars' web sites, you can check their music lineups. Luna has the most consistent of what you're looking for locally. Went to Diablos a few weeks ago to see New Riders of the Purple Sage for the historical aspect and because the Merry Pranksters were there. It's often a bit on the rowdy side. Never been to the Landmark but it's supposed to be a killer venue (on the coast 1.5 hrs from Eugene) with emphasis on blues and folk. I go to Portland a lot. Recently saw Dan Hicks and Funkadelic there. Neither played in Eugene. Portland has pretty much everything. Unfortunately, not as much of that works its way down here.

Links to commercial sites

[QuintusCinna]

Junction City is a decent place. Great for antiques also. They also have a fun local Scandinavian Festival in late July. It's close enough to Eugene to do your regular shopping and far enough away to not get annoyed with city troubles. Eugene will be expensive. As for "little Eugene"- as many professors reminded me jokingly, Eugene is more Berkeley then Berkeley is.

[Jennifer&Bob]

Hey Buzzkirk, I know it IS ironic...mainly trying to see if I'd be bored silly living there, while my hubby grew up 10 miles outside the nearest town of 600 in Montana so thinks EVERYWHERE is crowded. But we think there's better places than here to raise a child...The links you posted didn't really show themselves as links, but I think I can locate sites by the names.

QuintusCinna, thanks for the info on Junction City itself. The Scandinavian Festival sounds fun! Interesting observation about Eugene, I've never heard that. Does that mean there's a lot of crazies, hippies, homeless people, and rich "progressives" (i.e. hippie yuppies) or just alot of students and political activism? Eugene would be expensive in what way?

[Steve97415]

Junction City is basically just that -- the point where highways 99E and 99W converge. It is a small town but industrial/commercial in nature with lots of through traffic. If you want to go into RV sales or to have a door and window warehouse, it might be what you are looking for.
If you're looking for a quaint -- but not hickey -- small town with a rural character near Eugene, look into Coburg.

[sharonaly]

Rural but close to Eugene and gorgeous country. Less than half an hour from town. Good schools too, from what I hear.
For Eugene music don't forget Sam Bonds Garage. But the Weekly will tell you all of that.

[Jennifer&Bob]

Wow, you guys are great! Sharon, that's great to know, and Steve, I've heard good things like you mention about Coburg but I thought it was such a small school district the kids go to schools in Eugene and we'd rather have our little guy go to school in a smaller district. Is that the case, or am I mistaken about that? My impression so far is it's close enough to Eugene and to the coast that there's fun stuff and great scenery outside of town but it seems like a good place in itself and not TOO small so there's enough going on to entertain a city slicker like me ; ).