Shady Rest 2025, What a time to be alive!

Mason Peckels
Jul 22
6 min read

Hello Peaceful Valley People! Mason here to give you the scoop on our latest event. We had an amazing time at Shady Rest for the Oregon Country Fair 2025. Like last year, it was such a refreshing experience. Spending four days with like-minded people, dancing into the wee hours of the morning at the main stage while watching the fire dancers and drum circles. Enjoying sweating it out in the sauna with friends, and checking out the awesome new vendors and attractions, was absolutely spectacular. We came once again with the Zen Camp, providing a relaxed place to vibe out during the festivities. We also had great success with the morning yoga sessions and cacao ceremonies. The people of Peaceful Valley came together and created an experience for all to enjoy, and we are so excited to come back bigger and better next year! Please use this blog to post your pictures and share your experiences in the comments.

I personally am always so stoked to be a part of this whole experience. Everybody, coming from all walks of life, migrates to the small town of Veneta for four days of fun and excitement. There is so much to see at Shady, from the people, camps, attractions and vendors that all come together to create this experience. I'll try and highlight here, how all these aspects came together to create Shady Rest.

First, while walking around the winding roads at Shady, the public and private camps decorate the road. People come early on Thursday to personalize their personal camps with tapestries, lights of all varieties, and art. One favorite of mine was a personal camp right behind the small stage, where two people had a wall of trippy tapestries that they sat in front of on lawn chairs. They wore colorful clothes and sunglasses, and had four strobe lights pointed at them while they talked with big smiles on their faces. Just one of the many cool private camps that make you take a second look or stop and take a picture.

The public camps, that can be enjoyed by all, offered a place to stop and hang out while walking the expanse of the Shady Rest. A favorite of mine was Salmon camp where they had plenty of cool lights, a game system and lounge for chilling. The coolest part of this camp was they had a huge ring suspended above the ground that you could swing and spin around on, so much fun! The camps at Shady Rest are so spectacular. You can spend hours walking around and you still won't see everything!

Second, and this goes hand and hand with the camps, are the beautiful people of Shady Rest. During the day a lot of people go to the fair, or spend the day resting and preparing for the evening festivities. So once the temperature drops and fair ends, you will see people from all walks of life, all decked out in their Fair gear and their nighttime rave outfits. Fashion is such an amazing form of expression and there was no shortage of it at Shady! From bodies covered in glitter, to hats with lighted mushrooms, and custom outfits from top to bottom you wont see the same thing twice. Then we have the dancers and artists. From the people dancing at Moink's Marsh to the electronic music, to the people stomping their feet around the fire to the drums at Heartwood Stage, there are many ways to get down and dirty to the music at Shady Rest. And we can't forget about the stellar fire dancers and stage dancers. Every night you can expect to get blown away by the artistic talent of the Shady Rest artists. They spend hours entertaining us with their spinning, tossing, throwing and blowing of fire and entrancing us with their performances on stage. And the musicians are absolutely masters of their crafts on all stages and camps. Objective Collective did an amazing job with coordinating the main stage and events, and really bringing the bass! One person I’d like to give a big shout out to, who I totally forgot his name, but the guy tending the bonfire was an absolute saint. I watched him tend to that fire like a baby into the early morning, and before my yoga classes at 10 AM he would be tending to the ashes for another night! I’d like to give a big shoutout to these people for really making the experience so memorable.

Thirdly, Shady Rest did amazing this year with providing new and cool attractions and food/drink options. Some of my memorable ones were the live painting, art gallery, non-alcoholic bar, Crepe Oh Holics, arcade bus, and sauna. I had a blast ending Friday with friends at the Sauna. The cold shower was so refreshing and the craftsmanship of the sauna was impeccable. This was an authentic sauna too! You can pour the water on the hot rocks yourself! It was so amazing to cleanse the body and end with a cold shower! We also really enjoyed having the non-alcoholic option this year. The octagon dome they had set up for the bar had such a vibe! And the drink and service was top notch. I can recommend the Champagne Jun with a Blue Lotus tincture! My favorite food was definitely the Crepes! My favorite was the smoked salmon! Sooooooo good! You can really spend the whole four days in Shady enjoying the vendors and attractions. Thank you to all these amazing people coming and bringing these awesome things to Shady!

For our part this year, we had such a good time providing a chill space, free water, books to read, hammocks to swing and snooze in and plenty of pillows! I taught the Yoga classes and it was truly a blessing to practice with the early risers of Shady. We had 80+ people sign up this year! It was so interesting and unique to teach because a lot of the people coming to the class were people I saw and danced with in the early morning. We all got up and practiced yoga early, so we could stay up late and dance! Some people came back from last year and it was so beautiful to see the familiar faces. The age range was from 20-75 years old! It was so cool having a beautiful blend of people coming together and practicing yoga!

Our cacao ceremonies were also a big hit and was an awesome way to start the evening off in a mindful way and get an added mind and energy boost! I led a short yoga exercise and DJ led the ceremonies and prepared the cacao. He began by honoring the origin of cacao and its spiritual benefits, and highlighted the scientific benefits of the tasty beverage. He truly opened the ceremony with grace and purpose. After thanking those before and those after and each other, we all sipped the drink and everyone shared their names and mingled. It was a beautiful experience to be a part of.

We had 400-500 people come through the Zen Camp this year and are so happy to be a part of their experiences! Thank you to our Peaceful Valley members who came together and helped put everything together this year! From setting up the Zen camp and our vendors, it was a beautiful process to be a part of, and such a good example of what we are creating at Peaceful Valley.

And lastly I’d like to highlight the owners of Shady Rest and the amazing workers who made it all happen. Heidi and Cody, the owners, are truly excellent people who love what they do. It's so obvious how much they care about Shady, by the thought and passion they put into the experiences they provide for people and by the work they put in before, during and after the event. Frequently throughout the event you can spot Heidi coordinating with the workers and Cody coordinating as well as keeping the roads nice and wet to keep down the dust. They have a great team of workers who make sure everyone gets in and settled and taken care of, and safe! From the administration crew, the sanitation crew and security, to the people who clean and prep the land for thousands to camp and meander. All these people play such a vital role in creating an amazing experience for all to enjoy.

I’d like to end by reinforcing this idea that it really takes all of us coming together to make an experience like this happen. It really hit me while I watched the drum circle at 2 AM on Saturday night. As I listened to each drum, each stomp of a foot and holler from a dancer, and all the people sitting or standing taking it all in, and the man who tended the fire. It takes many pieces to make a beautiful puzzle, and that can be found at Shady Rest! Each and every one of you are so important in making Shady Rest a truly beautiful thing to be part of. Thank you! We’ll be back next year and are so excited to see you all again!

Big thank you to our vendors and sponsors!