Southern Oregon Barter Fair v. Jackson County

The Southern Oregon Barter Fair is a nonprofit corporation that held an annual fair in Oregon between 1978 and 1996. The Fair describes its event as a religious gathering, a “harvest celebration and gathering of ... ‘new age,’ ‘back-to-the-land’ hippies and friends,” and a “counterculture crafts fair” where artisans and vendors set up booths for people to buy crafts. In *1131 order to hold several previous events, most recently the 1996 event, the Fair had to obtain a permit from Jackson County, Oregon, under the Oregon Mass Gathering Act, OR. Rev. Stat. §§ 433.735-.770, 433.990(6) (2001). This appeal presents the question whether, as the Fair contends, the Act is facially unconstitutional under the First Amendment.

Oregon’s Mass Gathering Act is similar to mass gathering statutes found in various other states. The Oregon Legislative Assembly passed the Act in 1971, finding “that the uncontrolled outdoor gatherings of large groups of persons for extended periods of time have necessitated a need for the establishment of reasonable health and safety rules to regulate such outdoor mass gatherings.” Id. § 433.740. The Act regulates any “outdoor mass gathering,” defined as a…