Save the date! The cutest party on the Columbia is back for its fifth year! Join the Cascade Locks Historical Museum and celebrate trains and community at this year's PONY PARTY on Saturday, July 25 from 10am-2pm. Tickets are available now!

Become a member today and get free entry to this event! Join during this week during our annual membership drive and get an excursion for two aboard the sternwheeler in addition to all our fun membership benefits. Join now!

The museum will be open this July 4! Join us for a Cascade Locks-themed sidewalk chalk art contest outside the museum, or go inside and explore our exhibits and get your history fix for the 250.

The art contest theme is "Cascade Locks: then, now, and tomorrow." The contest is open to all ages,. No entry fee or preregistration required, but donations are always appreciated. Judging will be for fun, with a surprise "Spirit of Cascade Locks" grand prize, and silly superlatives from "most googly eyes" to "most historically accurate."

Drawing time is from 10am-4pm, judging at 4:30pm, and awards at 5pm. Chalk provided.

Join us Wednesday, December 3, 2025, from 6pm to 8pm at Thunder Island Brewing Co. for a pub talk! We are kicking of the Bridge of the Gods Centennial Year with Riveting History: 100 Years of the Bridge of the Gods.

Join Executive Director Janice Crane for an overview of the history of the Bridge of the Gods and a preview of the upcoming digital and traveling exhibits. Bridge engineer David McCurry will discuss the historic preservation work completed on the bridge so far and making it last for the next 100 years.

This is a Thunder Island Brewing Co. Community Night. Thunder Island will donate $1 from every drink sold to the museum.

🎲 All Aboard for the Casino Cruise! 🚢✨

On Saturday, October 4, 2025, get ready to Double Down for Cascade Locks with a night of high stakes fun, riverboat glamour, and community spirit! The Friends of the Cascade Locks Historical Museum and the Cascade Locks Elementary PTO are shuffling the deck and combining two beloved traditions—the Magical History Tour and Casino Night—into one unforgettable evening aboard the Sternwheeler.

Try your luck at classic casino games, enjoy a jackpot of local hospitality, and place your bets on a future where history and education both come out winners. From rolling the dice on the Columbia to cashing in on lively entertainment, this riverboat rendezvous is sure to be the ace up your sleeve this fall.

Your ticket isn’t just a gamble—it’s a guaranteed investment in our town’s heritage and its future leaders. So, ante up, call your friends, and let’s raise the stakes for Cascade Locks—because when the community comes together, the house (always) wins.

Tickets include: a two hour sunset cruise, Monte Carlo-style gaming with $25 of starting funny money, appetizer buffet, and non-alcoholic drinks. Cash bar.

Don’t fold—reserve your spot today and set sail for an evening that’s truly all in!

Thank you to our event sponsors!

Presenting Sponsors

Platinum Sponsors

Silver sponsors

Bronze sponsors

Bike the Gorge

The cutest party on the Columbia is back for its fourth year! Join the Cascade Locks Historical Museum and celebrate trains and community at this year's PONY PARTY on Saturday, July 26 from 10am-2pm.

Come learn about trains, make train crafts, play games, and check out the museum. The inflatable water slide will return this year, so come prepared to make a splash! NEW THIS YEAR: Home Valley Farm will bring their mobile petting zoo to the Pony Party!

Admission is $5 for ages 6 and up, and FREE for museum members and Cascade Locks residents. Tickets may be purchased in advance or at the gate. Entry to the event includes the inflatable water slide, petting zoo, games, crafts, photo ops, and museum admission. Concessions, souvenirs, and prize drawing tickets will be available for purchase.

Become a member today and get free entry to this event!

Join us for a pub talk at Gorges Beer Co. on Monday, June 16, 2025 at 6pm.

Take a voyage down the Columbia River without leaving the dock. Retired river pilot Captain Thomas N. Thomayer shares his experiences on ships from around the world, talks about building his home in Hells Canyon on the Snake River, and tells the story of his grandfather, Captain Lewis Scott Russell Sr., who founded Tidewater Barge Lines in 1932. 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.

Our live artist for this event will be painter Meghan Smyth. We will draw a raffle benefiting the museum at the conclusion of the pub talk. Win fun prizes, including gift baskets and wine from Mt. Hood Senior Solutions, or even Meghan’s piece! Do not need to be present to win.

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 favorite winter fundraiser is back! This year, you could win one of THREE beautiful lap quilts! Locally made by Lady VanWinkle’s quilting, these classic couch cozies could be yours.

Tickets are $5 each and are on sale now. You can purchase tickets online for local pickup. Tickets are also available for purchase in-person from your favorite museum board member and at some of our local business partners, including Thunder Island Brewing and the Port of Cascade Locks office. We will also have them available at the PTO Holiday Marketplace before the drawing. Only 300 tickets will be sold, so get yours ASAP.

The drawing will take place on Saturday, 12/7 at 3:45 pm at PTO Holiday Marketplace in the Cascade Locks School gym. The great Cascade Locks bard John Stipan will be singing carols for the hour preceding the drawing. Join us in person, or tune into the livestream on our Facebook page to sing along and see who won.

Ahoy, mateys! Prepare to embark on a grand adventure as the Friends of the Cascade Locks Historical Museum invites ye to an evening of swashbuckling fun at Magical History Tou-AARR aboard the mighty sternwheeler! For just $80 a ticket, ye be treated to a treasure trove of delights – including a sunset cruise down the majestic Columbia River, a fine feast fit for the likes of Blackbeard himself, and an evening filled with jolly entertainment. Get tickets here.

Set yer sights on a silent auction packed with treasures beyond yer wildest dreams, a raffle with prizes that'll have ye shouting "Shiver me timbers!" and sea shanties that’ll have yer toes tappin' and hearts sailin' high. Don’t forget to don yer finest pirate garb for the costume contest – may the best scallywag win! Yarrr, who knows what treasures ye might claim?

This night of revelry promises to be a bounty of merriment, with every doubloon raised going to support the Friends of the Cascade Locks Historical Museum's efforts to preserve and share our region's storied past. So hoist the sails, gather yer crew, and join us for an unforgettable evening of plunder, pillage, and philanthropy! Tickets be sellin’ fast – don’t get left behind like a landlubber. Secure yer place aboard by September 15 and get a special pre-sale ticket price of just $65. Set sail for a night ye won’t soon forget!

Remember, me hearties, the sea be callin’ – will ye answer?

It’s back! Join us for our annual community and membership celebration! All the usual fun of the museum, featuring the Oregon Pony. We’ll have that bounce house, activities, crafts, and snacks! It’ll be off-the-rails!

EDIT: Due to expected temperatures, this event will end at 2pm and we have upgraded the bouncy house to an INFLATABLE WATER SLIDE. Come make a splash with us!

GET TICKETS

The cutest party on the Columbia is back for its third year! Join the Cascade Locks Historical Museum and celebrate trains and community at this year's PONY PARTY on Saturday, July 6 from 10am-3pm.  🚂

Come learn about trains, make train crafts, play games, bounce bounce bounce in the bouncy house, check out the museum, sing along with John Stipan, then bounce some more!  

Admission is $5 for ages 6 and up, and FREE for museum members. Tickets may be purchased in advance or at the gate. Entry to the event includes the bounce house, live music, games, crafts, photo ops, and museum admission. Concessions, souvenirs, and prize drawing tickets will be available for purchase. 

Become a member today and get free entry to this event! 

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!

Our favorite winter fundraiser is back! This year, you could win this beautiful twin-sized Christmas quilt! Locally made by JoAnn Wittenberg and quilted by Diana Reedy Van Winkle, this quilt has a cotton front, 80/20 batting, and cozy flannel backing.

Tickets are on sale now. Get one chance to win for $5, or 5 chances to win for $20. You can purchase tickets online for local pickup. To purchase in person, come see Janice at the PTO Holiday Marketplace, Deb at Hometown Christmas, or catch your favorite museum board member or employee around town. Only 200 tickets will be sold, so get yours ASAP.

The drawing will take place on Friday, 12/22 at 12:22 pm. The great Cascade Locks bard John Stipan will be singing carols outside the museum starting at 12:15pm. Join us in person, or tune into the live broadcast on our Facebook page to sing along and see who won.

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!

Join Cascade Locks Museum Director Janice Crane at the History Museum of Hood River County for November’s “Hidden History” event!

A stretch of tumbling whitewater five miles long, the Cascades of the Columbia River were the greatest barrier to inland river trade and travel in the Pacific Northwest. One solution, the Cascade Locks and Canal, took nearly 18 years, hundreds of laborers, and the removal of over 800,000 cubic yards of rock and debris to complete. Opened in 1896, millions of dollars in freight and hundreds of thousands of passengers made their way through the locks. Made redundant in 1938 by the completion of the Bonneville Dam, the remnants of the structure are still visible today in Cascade Locks, Oregon.

FREE – $10 Donation appreciated

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.

Join us to celebrate the end of “museum season” with a special TUESDAY opening! Get in the spirit with our creepy dolls, mannequins, taxidermy, and rusty tools. Free admission for costumed visitors. Candy provided, but must be consumed outside.

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

It’s finally museum season! Join us to celebrate our seasonal opening on Thursday, March 2, between 10am and 5pm. Be the first to see the new and updated exhibits, and maybe even win a prize.

Cascade Locks Historical Museum will be open from 10am-5pm Thursday-Monday, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, in 2023.

CANCELLED- We will NOT be able to host bingo games this Wednesday, March 1, but you can still visit Thunder Island Brewing.

Thunder Island Brewing will donate $1 from each drink purchased during the event to the Friends of the Cascade Locks Museum from all purchases between 5pm and closing. Thunder Island Brewing has graciously invited us to host a second event this year since the weather for our January event was a mess, so let’s show them how grateful we are with a big turnout to celebrate!

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! Join us to play some bingo at Thunder Island Brewing while staying cozy in your favorite winter onesie! Community night runs from 5pm-closing, bingo games will start at 6pm and go until we run out of prizes.

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!