Colorful Mural Trails Around the Willamette Valley

Perhaps the Willamette Valley's newest series of murals, the 20x21EUG Mural Project was developed to celebrate the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 event, which brought some of the world's best track-and-field athletes to Eugene in 2022.

The 20x21EUG Mural Project featured works by nearly two dozen artists from around the world—including painters from Brazil, Japan, France, Argentina, Afghanistan, and several from the Eugene-Springfield area—to create colorful displays all over town. See where to find 20x21EUG murals around the city, and work the mural trip into a weekend of family fun on your next trip to Eugene.

Since 2016, the Corvallis Mural Project has worked to add more than a splash of color around downtown. Over the years, the project has spawned about 40 murals throughout the Corvallis core, with a handful of others around town.

But the murals don't just brighten up otherwise drab walls: They pay tribute to (and connect with) the region's Native American cultures, birds and other local wildlife, the Willamette Valley's bountiful farmland, and the natural beauty around Corvallis.

Given how common the murals are around town, they're a convenient and easy addition to a car-free trip to Corvallis.

Since 1992, the Silverton Mural Society has celebrated the city's history and personalities with more than 30 murals around its downtown core.

One of the murals, for instance, celebrates June Drake—a local photographer who in 1931 used his photos of Silver Falls to convince lawmakers to protect the waterfalls as a state park. Another celebrates Bobbie the Wonder Dog, a scotch-collie mix who was separated from his owners while on vacation in Indiana in 1923—but who reappeared on their doorstep in Silverton, six months later, having traveled more than 2,500 miles on his return trip.

Guided, 90-minute tours of Silverton's murals are available, as are self-guided tours using a Google Map with each location.

At the southern edge of the Willamette Valley, Cottage Grove is awash in history—and celebrates its past with roughly 20 murals around town.

Start with a walking tour of about 10 colorful paintings in downtown; the murals cover a variety of subjects with close connections to Cottage Grove—including the endangered Taylor's Checkerspot butterfly, the 1926 Buster Keaton film The General (which was filmed in Cottage Grove), and the community's storied covered bridges.

Learn more about the murals around Cottage Grove, along with where to see each, and get the skinny on other murals in the area. If you worked up an appetite browsing the works of art, find your next favorite meal on the South Willamette Valley Food Trail.

The community of Springfield boasts a wide-ranging history: It's the namesake for Homer and Marge's hometown in The Simpsons, and anglers have fished the waters of the McKenzie River—which flows through town—for generations.

That history appears on the many murals—nearly 20, in all—along Springfield's popular Mural Walking Tour. Most of the paintings can be found along Main Street, but others are sprinkled throughout downtown. (Click here for a PDF map of Springfield's murals.) The paintings honor Springfield's multi-faceted history, with nods to its agricultural roots, the Oregon Trail, author Ken Kesey, and—of course—the Simpsons.

In recent years, a trio of murals have been painted on walls around the community of Woodburn—connecting with the city's rich history and celebrating its dedicated farmers.

The largest measures 100 feet long, showcasing the historic Pix Theatre and its iconic marquee—emblazoned not with the latest films, but with a warm message: "Welcome to Woodburn".

Another painting is of colorful dahlias, a popular crop in the mid-Willamette Valley, and the third honors the different communities that have made Woodburn such a diverse, welcoming home for so many—with nods to the annual Fiesta Mexicana celebration and early Russian Orthodox emigrants. For more fun ideas around town, check out our guide to spending a Hispanic-inspired weekend around Woodburn.