Willamette University and the State Fair in Salem
Two long-running Salem institutions, one on a campus downtown and one on the fairgrounds in the north of town.
Willamette University
Willamette's website says the university has been learning and leading since its founding in 1842. The Salem campus is at 900 State Street. It lists Willamette College, the Atkinson Graduate School of Management, the School of Law, the School of Computing and Information Sciences and the Pacific Northwest College of Art, which is in Portland. Public events are on the university events calendar, and the Bearcats athletics site has game schedules.
The Oregon State Fair
Wikipedia reports that the first official state fair was held in 1861 near Oregon City and that the fair has been held in Salem since 1862. It is held each year on the 185-acre Oregon State Fairgrounds in north Salem, in August and September and over Labor Day. Since 2006 it has been run by the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department as the Oregon State Fair and Exposition Center. The fair's official address is oregonstatefair.org, which forwards to the Expo Center site.