It was Shakespeare who brought us to Ashland, home of Oregon's famous theater festival. But as we wandered through town's beautiful Lithia Park one June morning, one query kept coming up.
No, not “To be or not to be?” We were watching Macbeth later, not Hamlet, and besides, that query was more necessary than any royal monologue. How many days in a row could we order the identical outrageous raclette grilled cheese on the Skout Taphouse and Provisions, just across the road from the park, before, well, someone said something?
With its melting mountain cheese, thick slices of bacon and cranberry jam – served with truffle fries – the Ultra Meltathon ($15) is sufficient to make anyone mangle a monologue and say the entire world is a sandwich or that music is the love of food.
The Bard first forged his spell in town in 1935, when actors gathered on the local Chautauqua in Lithia Park to perform “Twelfth Night.” But Lithia Park and the multitude of charming restaurants nearby have their very own magic, tied to the theater company that dominates not only the town's economy but its vibrancy. All of those aspects have inspired greater than just puns on the menu—yes, Midwinter Night's Dram, we mean you. They've also created a literary subgenre that features 20 cozy, modern-day crime novels set in Shakespeare's theaters, restaurants, hotels and this beautiful park. (More on the books in a second.)
Designed by landscape architect John McLaren, also known for Golden Gate Park, Lithia Park now invites locals and visitors to start their woodland walks just steps from the festival's Elizabethan outdoor theater and city square. McLaren isn't the park's only connection to the Bay Area. The park's historic Butler-Perozzi Fountain was originally created for the 1915 Panama-Pacific World's Fair in San Francisco.
Here, trails meander up the canyon and into the forest. Ashland Creek burbles by in all its splashy glory. There are rolling lawns and forest clearings for picnickers, a play structure for toddlers, and pickleball courts where the clack of Wiffle balls wafts through the air. A brand new Ashland Japanese Garden—complete with koi pond, waterfall, and sand and rock garden—opened in 2022. And on the important paved trail near the duck pond, you'll find Cellist Daniel Perry enchants passers-by most mornings. It is idyllic.
The park's name, by the way in which, is a nod to Ashland's mineral springs, which contain lithium salts. For the last century, anyone with a spa interest — or no sense of smell — could sample the, er, fragrant waters bubbling from the bubblers of the plaza's drinking fountain. Oregon's water authority shut the fountain down last winter out of concern about other, less healthy minerals within the water — including barium and boron — though town argued that the bubblers weren’t a “public drinking fountain” in the standard sense. The water's sulfurous smell deters anyone from actually drinking the stuff.
Historical appeal aside, who would wish to drink these items when alternatives include hoppy Oregon IPAs and Pinot Noir? Those drinks—together with nine varieties of Moscow Mules, a Best Damn Old-Fashioned, and the aforementioned Midwinter Night's Dram—may be found on the venerable Oberon's, a Shakespearean restaurant and whiskey bar on the plaza. Its Elizabethan decor conjures up a leprechaun-like whimsy with its twinkling lit trees and wood-paneled booths, and the menu ranges from giant roasted turkey legs to hearty pies, sausages, and flatbreads.
If you desired to separate real life from imaginary, you've come to the flawed place. Not only is all of it about Shakespeare, nevertheless it's also the setting for Ellie Alexander's cozy, bestselling Bakeshop Mystery series. If you're a fan (raises hand), Oberon's is the inspiration for Puck's, where cake-making chef (and amateur detective) Juliette “Jules” Capshaw hangs out with the fictional director of the very real Oregon Shakespeare Festival Company.
So yes, we're here for Shakespeare — a stunningly powerful production of “Macbeth” that we're still talking about, and a fully delightful “Much Ado About Nothing” — but we're also here for Jules and her culinary finds. And Alexander, who now lives in Sunnyvale, understands our obsession with Skout's Ultra Meltathon grilled cheese. She also loves her gigantic Go Big Pretzel, served with beer cheese sauce, mustard pudding, house slaw and pimento cheese.
Oregon-born Alexander didn't move to Ashland until after the book series began, but she had attended the town's famous Elizabethan theater in her childhood summers – her father was a Portland-area highschool English teacher – and she or he knew the realm well, so when her agent approached her about writing a criminal offense series, “I just knew it,” she says.
“One of the things that characterizes cozy crime stories in general is that typical village atmosphere. There's such an open, generous sense of community that resonates through Ashland, and that was one of the themes of the show,” she says. “I love that it's real. There's nothing fictional about this piece.”
Alexander was still living in Ashland in 2021 when Tom and Lisa Beam opened the casual Skout Taphouse directly across from the park. Huge roll-up doors and picnic tables, camping lanterns and a vintage RV bring an outside feel to the home, while brilliant, umbrella-shaded tables line the expansive creekside patio.
Just across the corner, you'll find Jamie North's Mix Bakeshop—the inspiration for Jules' fictional tart bakery—where you’ll be able to enjoy a Stumptown Coffee Latte along with your flaky almond croissant ($5.25) or pick up sandwiches for a picnic within the park. Jules also hangs out with the Larks chef on the Twenties-era Ashland Springs Hotel, our base for the week. Larks' real-life chef, by the way in which, is Franco Console of Walnut Creek, and the whole lot on the menu is heavenly, especially the nice and cozy butter cake with pear compote and granola-milk ice cream ($13).
Can we talk concerning the bodies, though? It's true that the fictional Jules comes across them in all places – within the park, within the theater, on snow-capped Mount Ashland, and in a museum on the campus of Southern Oregon University. Several locations were even suggested by Alexander's neighbors in Ashland, including “cute little retirees with a basket of banana bread” who would show up on their porch and say, “Well, I've been thinking about this, and a good place to kill someone would be…”
The only dead bodies we saw were on the stage, thank God. And we all know who did it – Macbeth and his wife. But those creepy witches just committed the murder.
When you go
Lithia Park: Enter this public park, open each day, at 59 Winburn Way in Ashland. The Japanese Garden is open each day from 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. https://ashlandparksfoundation.org/
Skout Taproom: Open Sunday to Thursday from 11:30am to 8pm and Friday to Saturday until 9pm, 21 Winburn Way; www.skoutashland.com.
Oberon: Open Sunday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to midnight and Friday through Saturday from 1 a.m. to midnight, 45 N. Main St.; www.oberonsashland.com.
Mix Bakery: Open Sunday through Thursday from 7:00 a.m. to eight:00 p.m. and Friday through Saturday until 8:30 p.m., 57 N. Main St.; www.mixashland.com.
Cock-a-doodle-doo: Open Tuesday through Saturday from 5:00 p.m. to eight:30 p.m., 15 N. First St.; https://cocoricorestaurant.com/.
Ashland Springs Hotel: Rooms from $197, including continental breakfast. 212 E. Main St.; www.ashlandspringshotel.com The hotel's own restaurant, Larks, is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 5:00 p.m. to eight:00 p.m. and from Friday to Saturday until 8:30 p.m. https://larksashland.com/.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Performances of Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Coriolanus and several other other plays run through mid-October. Prices vary by play, but tickets for Much Ado About Nothing start at $35. For details, visit https://www.osfashionland.org.
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