Operation Great American Fair
Oregon's seat on the National Mall did not stay empty. Friends of the Klamath Basin carried the message to the nation's 250th birthday celebration — and told the story of the farms and ranches that feed America.
When the Great American State Fair opened on the National Mall this summer as a centerpiece of the nation's 250th birthday, Oregon was one of roughly ten states that chose not to send an official state delegation. Our friends in Washington, D.C. saw something else in that decision: an opening.
Rather than let the Klamath Basin go unrepresented at the largest gathering of its kind in a generation, they stepped forward on their own initiative and made sure Oregon agriculture had a presence. They handed literature to thousands of visitors from every corner of the country. They explained what the Klamath Reclamation Project is, how it works, and who it feeds.
Thank you
Our thanks go first to the advocates in Washington, D.C. who did this on their own time and their own dime. Nobody asked them to. They did it because the Basin matters to them.
We also want to recognize our partners at the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and across the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The technical assistance and conservation programs they deliver here — irrigation efficiency, soil health, wetland and habitat work — are part of the daily working relationship between this District's patrons and the federal government. That partnership is one of the reasons the Klamath Basin has a story worth telling on the National Mall in the first place.
To everyone who carried the Klamath Basin to the nation's front lawn: thank you. The voice of the Klamath Basin farmer travels farther than most people realize — because people like you carry it.
Carry it further
Transfer the title. Finish the mission.
Our friends spent sixteen days telling Washington what the Klamath Project is and who it feeds. Here is the ask that goes with it. The District's patrons finished paying for the Project's Transferred Works in 1965. Congress authorized the transfer in 2019. The request has been on Reclamation's desk since June 2021. We are still waiting for a written answer.
At 10,000 verified signatures, the District takes this to Capitol Hill. One signature is a name. Ten thousand is a record that cannot be filed away.
Sign the petition →New to this? Title Transfer 101 tells the whole story, start to finish.
The Great American State Fair ran June 25 – July 10, 2026 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., organized by Freedom 250 as part of the nation's 250th anniversary observances.
