Join anniversary party.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Has it really been 20 years since the first Eugene Celebration launched an annual community festival of more or less organized madness? Twenty years of slug queens (of the male as well as female variety), of outdoor music and frolic, of the craziest parade in the Northwest latitudes?

Well, actually, no. The first Eugene Celebration was in 1983, which our calculations suggest was a mere 19 years ago. But this year's celebration will be the 20th - remember the debates over whether the new millennium began in 2000 or 2001? - so tonight will mark the onset of the celebration's 20th anniversary weekend.

Here's what we said after Celebration No. 1 in 1983: "By golly, it worked. Blessedly accommodating weather, hard work by untold numbers of volunteers, the cooperation of dozens of businesses and Eugene's own unabashed penchant for a party combined last weekend to turn the first-ever Eugene Celebration into a happy success. Downtown filled with thousands of people and proved that it's a grand place for a community toot ... with magicians mystifying, bands parading, entertainers entertaining, spoofers spoofing and - who knows? - probably even lords a-leaping."

And so it has been year after celebratory year, when musicians, magicians, bands, entertainers, food and wine/beer venders, dancers, kids, bicyclists, slug queens past and present, spoofers and citizens from Eugene and elsewhere gather in a multi-block area of downtown Eugene to party.

Beginning tonight, this weekend will follow that unconventional path to fun and games.

This year's celebration will feature around 70 musical acts on a half-dozen stages, contests of various sorts, art venues, food booths, the McCornack Elementary School's unicycle kids, the Eugene Celebration Drum Corps, Sheldon High's marching band, vintage cars, and even - are you ready for this? - another return of the Rickies, those outrageous spoofmasters who can shock and entertain all at once.

And, of course, there will be the annual Eugene Celebration parade, an indescribable and unpredictable mix of craziness. Appropriately, given the year since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, this year's parade will be led by Eugene firefighters and their families. As most parade-goers know by now, this year's Saturday morning parade will begin an hour earlier, at 8 a.m., to accommodate the traffic expected for the 12:30 p.m. University of Oregon football game against Portland State University at Autzen Stadium.

Except for last year's rather somber celebration in the wake of Sept. 11, the 20th celebration should be as memorable - in dozens of ways - as the first and all those in between. So put your celebration face on, head for downtown and have some fun. It's Eugene's weekend to party and, after 20 years, the town has definitely learned how.

Happy anniversary, Eugene Celebration!