The biggest Labor Day picnic in the Portland area will return to Oaks Amusement Park in 2025 for the first time since 2019. The annual event, sponsored by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, AFL-CIO, was held there for more than two decades. But the labor council declined to return following a two-year COVID hiatus because of changes at the park in 2022, including steeply increased prices and less favorable terms. In 2023 and 2024 the picnic was held at Clackamas County Fairground in Canby, but with fewer amenities and a location 20 miles outside of Portland, attendance was down sharply.
Oaks Park management may have regretted the loss; this year the park offered much improved terms, including a first-ever agreement that the park will be reserved exclusively for union members and their families on Labor Day. The Labor Council’s executive board voted at its Feb. 10 meeting to return.
