Everybody get together right now.

Byline: The Register-Guard

We noticed that the Eugene Celebration staff prominently displayed little ol' Buzzworthy on its Web site after last week we declared that the EC "pretty much rules."

As motivated as we are by praise, we feel that you should know we stand by that statement - and still would even if no one stroked our buzzy egos.

That's because the Celebration is when Eugene peeks out from behind its stuffy divisions and everyone just mashes together downtown to have a good time. It's got a reputation for being a left-leaning event, but let's be real - it's not hard to avoid politics at the celebration.

Our favorite technique involves buying an elephant ear and walking briskly through the Community Causeway as though in the middle of a huge bite, only to remove the large pastry from our faces once we've reached the soothing and electrifying sounds coming from the Broadway Stage.

Not knocking the causeway. By Sunday, we usually are in the mood to read over petitions and leaflets. But on Saturday, our focus is on running into people we haven't seen for ages, catching as many shows as possible and jumping and dancing until we get in the calorie burning zone.

To be honest, we are not thrilled by the smaller number of outdoor stages, but we understand the business side of things - contingency planning for the rain, high cost of paying entertainers, etc. We want a big extravagant party - and we want it to be free or something like it - but we don't want the city to spend taxpayer dollars to make it happen.

You can't have it both ways. But for three days, we in Eugene get to pretend it's possible. During the celebration, we are in a liveable city with a thriving, partying downtown full of happy people.

Check out our blog, www.registerguard.com/ticketfiles, for music samples from festival artists.