We’re back for a museum season kick-off party! Join us for a Thunder Island Brewing Co. Community Night on Wednesday, February 26, 2025. Executive Director Janice Crane will talk about the ups and downs of building the Cascade Locks and Canal starting at 6pm. The talk will last for approximately 1 hour and includes lots of photos. We request that attendees contribute a suggested donation of $5 per person to benefit the museum.

The artist popup for this event will be Lorang Studios and Gardens. Get finished art from the Lorangs, plants for your spring garden, and watch Brad do a live drawing inspired by the pub talk.

We’ll draw a raffle benefiting the museum at the conclusion of the pub talk. Win fun prizes, including Brad’s drawing! Do not need to be present to win.

Our own JoAnn Wittenberg has been awarded an Oregon Heritage Excellence Award as a Standout Heritage Volunteer! Join us in the community room at Bridgeside Restaurant to celebrate JoAnn and thank her for her years of work with the Friends of the Cascade Locks Historical Museum and Museums of the Gorge. View Oregon Heritage’s award video here.

Join Visit Cascade Locks chair Emily Seely on the museum front porch to make a mason bee house! This FREE activity is part of the first Cascade Locks Earth Day Celebration.

The museum opens for the season on Friday, March 1, 2024. Come see the updates and seasonal exhibits!

Need something special from the gift shop for your holiday stocking stuffers? Want to win our annual quilt raffle?

We will be at the Cascade Locks PTO Holiday Marketplace with local history books, local attraction merch, and raffle tickets on Saturday, Dec 2!

We’re back with more local history trivia! Join Executive Director Janice Crane at Gorges Beer Co. for an evening of learning. Topic is the Cascade Locks and Canal.

It's time for the fall Museums of the Gorge meeting! Please join us on Tuesday, November 7, from 10am-2:30pm, at the History Museum of Hood River County. Please register here to attend

Agenda: 

10am-12pm - Networking time, updates roundtable, and museum tour. 

12:00pm-1pm - Lunch! Catering plan is pending. We will send out ordering and reminder information to registrants no less than one week before the meeting. Please plan to contribute $10-15 toward lunch. 

1pm-2:30pm - Presentation: Museum Collections Hazards with Averie Foster from Oregon OSHA. Averie is an Occupational Health Consultant, and has been managing a project this year consulting on hazards and hazard mitigation in museum collection objects and practices. Want to learn about how to safely identify and handle items with arsenic, mercury, lead, and other nasty stuff? Want to hear the data about what they found at other museums? This is the talk for you! Averie will speak for part of the program, and there will be time for questions and answers. 

Please register here to attend

About MOTG:
Museums of the Gorge is an informal networking and professional development group. Meetings are free to attend and open to museum pros, EMPs, volunteers, and museum supporters and enthusiasts. If you're working with a small and underserviced museum, this is a great opportunity to get face-to-face contact with museum professionals in our region.

Save the date to join us for Magical History MASQUERADE

All of the fun of the old Magical History Tour BACK ON THE BOAT with fancy masks. Join us aboard sternwheeler Columbia Gorge for a light dinner, dancing, live music, a silent auction, raffle, and costume contest.

Tickets are on sale now! Get yours today.

We’re back with more local history trivia! Join Executive Director Janice Crane at Gorges Beer Co. for an evening of laughing and learning.

Fitting with the season, this quarter's theme is "Back to School." Trivia questions will be lifted from our 2023 seasonal exhibit about Cascade Locks Schools, with a special segment for the "local legends" shared with us by CLHS alumni and faculty while they were enjoying the exhibit.

This might be the local-est history trivia we have done yet!

Join us at the Cascade Locks Historical Museum for our second annual PONY PARTY! This event is a celebration of the history of transportation in the Columbia River Gorge, featuring the Oregon Pony, the first locomotive built entirely on the West Coast.

Admission is $5 for ages 6 and up, and free for Cascade Locks residents and museum members. Entry to the event includes a bounce house, live music, games, crafts, photo ops, and museum admission. Concessions, souvenirs, and prize drawing tickets will be available for purchase.

Live music this year will be a jam session. Bring your instrument and play along with your host, museum secretary John Stipan.

Sponsored by Buddy’s Arcade

We’re back with more local history trivia! Join Executive Director Janice Crane at Gorges Beer Co. for an evening of learning.

This May, come prove you’re smarter than a 4th grader! We’re doing a refresher on Oregon State history at the 4th grade level. Show off your knowledge, or catch up on what you missed growing up in another state.

Join Executive Director Janice Crane up at Thunder Island Brewing to get your signed copy of our new publication, Images of America: Cascade Locks and Canal.

GET TICKETS HERE

We’re bringing PROM back to the Cascade Locks School Gym. Join us for decades of dancing in your fancy finery.

This event will be open to community members of all ages. Tickets on sale now.

In response to community feedback, we have adjusted the ticket prices for this event. Tickets are now $15 for youth (6-17) and seniors (60+) and $25 for adults. It’s a new event, and we thank you for bearing with us while we ironed it out!

FAQs:

What’s included?

• 3 hours of dancing hosted by DJ G. Request your favorite dance hits!

• Heavy snacks (deli platters, cheese and crackers, fruit & veggie trays, chips, cookies, etc.) and soft drinks

• A photo booth with prom props

What’s the theme?

“Prom.” We combed through the Cascade Locks High School yearbooks. The decorations are all blue and gold, and inspired by decades of dances in the gym.

Can we buy tickets at the door?

Tickets will be available at the door pending availability. We encourage guests to buy tickets in advance to keep the check-in line moving.

Is there a dress code?

We are not enforcing a dress code at this event. We encourage attendees to dress for what “prom” means to you. Is it taffeta and poofy sleeves? Powder blue leisure suit? Full-skirted rhinestone evening gown? Stayed home in your pjs? Tuxedo? The same dress you wear to every nice event? Clubby mini dress? Dad’s oversized suit? It’s open to interpretation.

Will we be able to go into the school?

The ADA restrooms for this event are inside the main school building. You will be able to access the hallway between the gym and the entrance to the school.

Please note: no alcohol, tobacco, or drugs are allowed on school grounds.

We thank our sponsors

Hood River County Prevention Department

Steve Irving- Cascade Locks High School Alumni Registrar

Join us at Gorges Beer for a pub night! Join us for local history trivia, bad movie jokes, learning, and prizes! $1 from each drink will be donated to the museum.

It’s back! You could win this beautiful twin-sized quilt, made just for us by the Bridge of the Gods Quilters. This Christmas-themed quilt features poinsettia and Santa prints with a cozy flannel backing.

The drawing will be held on Thursday, December 15, 2022 at 10:30am PST. Join Board Secretary and Port Commissioner John Stipan on the front porch of the Cascade Locks Historical Museum for musical entertainment before the drawing. The drawing and performance will also be streamed on Facebook live.

Raffle tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20. Only 200 tickets will be sold, so reserve yours today!

Looking for holiday gift ideas? Come see our table at the Cascade Locks Elementary PTO’s Holiday Marketplace! Get your holiday shopping on in the gym at Cascade Locks Elementary School.

Janice will be signing copies of Images of America: Cascade Locks and Canal. This is also your chance to preview this year’s quilt in-person and get your holiday quilt raffle tickets! We also have those super-cool train conductor hats for your stockings.

Join Executive Director Janice Crane on the front porch of the Cascade Locks Historical Museum to get your signed copy of our new publication, Images of America: Cascade Locks and Canal.

Join us for bingo and brews at Thunder Island Brewing Company! Thunder Island will donate $1 from every drink purchased from 5pm-9pm.

The museum will host bingo games beginning at 6:30 pm. Bingo cards are $2 each. Prizes include several gift baskets. Minors under 18 are allowed to play with a parent or guardian present.

Come in costume to celebrate the last day of the museum season. Admission is free for costumed trick-or-treaters of all ages. Candy will be provided, but must be consumed outside.

Join us for our 7th Annual Magical History Tour! This gala fundraiser event takes place aboard sternwheeler Columbia Gorge, thanks to the generosity of our friends at Portland Spirit.

In addition to the sunset cruise, there will be dinner, music, dancing, and a silent auction. Join us for the best party on the river!

Tickets for this event are $60 for members, $75 for non-members. Tickets are on sale now at the museum and online now.