Even if you don’t have tickets to the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, the free festival surrounding the events has enough giveaways, food and kid-friendly attractions to entertain an entire family.
On opening day Friday, Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy, six Eugene city councilors and City Manager Jon Ruiz each gave away a pair of free tickets to the Trials.
University alumnus Kelly Gregorson, class of 1992, was the first to win a pair of tickets.
“My dad and I already had tickets for today and tomorrow,” Gregorson said. But those tickets had an obstructed view, and the tickets he won came with a better view. Gregorson said he would give his other tickets to a friend who didn’t have any.

The festival is a family-friendly environment, where several organizations set up interactive displays to educate and entertain children.
The 2Rivers Track Club designed a miniature track and field event area for children to compete in short races, field events and other competitions in the lawn on the corner of Agate Street and 15th Avenue.
Emily Liu, a nine-year-old member of the Crystal Children’s Choir in the San Francisco Bay Area, spent the day exploring and playing at the Eugene 08 Festival with her friends. The children went from activity to activity, jumping as high and running as fast as they could. Volunteers would then measure or time the kids so they could be awarded prizes.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Liu said. “It’s our rec time right now, so we’ve just been wandering around.”
Trent Davis, a track club member and recent high school graduate, volunteered to spend the day at the event with the children measuring their jumps and offering words of encouragement.
“I’m having a blast – it’s hot,” Davis said. He said he enjoys volunteering because “I like track, and I like coaching and helping out the kids and getting them involved in track at an early age.”
Liu’s choir drove up from the Bay Area for the Pacific International Children’s Choir Festival that runs from June 24 through June 30, said Jane Li, the trip leader and choir director.
“We’re very lucky to have the Trials going on at the same time,” said Li. “We’re very happy to be able to bring the kids here.”
Right next to the Track Club event area, the Pacific Tree Climbing Institute hung five climbing ropes from a tree on the corner of the lawn so that children and anyone else interested could use the company’s equipment to reach the top of the tree.
“A lot of the time we’re climbing old growth trees, where the first limb is 125 feet up,” Rob Miron, the company founder, said. “This (exhibit) is around 25 feet, but still it gives a sense of what it is all about.”
Children were waiting in line to ascend one of the five ropes in order to get a birds-eye view of the Eugene 08 Festival and sit in the branches of the tree.
“We’re going to put a lot of people on rope,” said Miron, who hopes that by being here he will help educate people about the importance of nature and trees.
“If they leave here with a deeper reverence of the forest and the trees then we will have fulfilled our purpose,” he said.
Most vendors at the festival are also giving away free merchandise. An eager visitor can acquire at least three different backpacks by walking through the entire fair, usually in exchange for an address or an answer to a trivia question.
Johnson & Johnson offers free back massages, and Tyson Foods is giving away free chicken samples every half hour.
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