An annual event centered on the ‘80s cult classic sometimes quadruples the population for the day.
Junko was seven old age one-time when her brother ask her to watchStand by Mefor the first time . The class was 1991 , and he ’d just taped it off a Japanese computer programing block that aired a movie every Friday .
In the film , four tween friend from a small town inOregonset out on a two - Clarence Day adventure into the woods and discover the consistency of a deceased acquaintance . Based on a Stephen King novella , the flick was constitute for an Academy Award in 1987 for Best Adapted Screenplay . And it ’s exist on as a furor classic , in particular among untried people who refer to the soul - searching protagonists .
“ I felt like lightning ran across my body , ” Junko , who wished to go by her menage name for seclusion , says about her first viewing . “ I do n’t mean it ’s just an dangerous undertaking movie . It has many subject matter , such as lovemaking , sorrow , struggle , and friendship . ”
Photo courtesy of “Junko”/Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock
As a child , Junko yearned to make friends like the character Gordie , Chris , Teddy , and Vern some day . She also begin cache forth her otoshidama — money from booster and congeneric to celebrate the New Year . After 12 year of scrimping and saving , Junko finally collect enough to visit her dream goal : the rural Ithiel Town of Brownsville , Oregon , whereStand by Mewas filmed .
Brownsville is a pocket-size farming biotic community between Salem and Eugene , Oregon , just a few miles off Interstate 5 . As is the casing in the plastic film ’s fictional town of Castle Rock , the population is just unsure of 2,000 people . visitant jazz they ’ve gain city limits when they see the two - lane bridge deck with lustrous immature steel beams that crosses the Calapooia River — the same span the flick ’s independent characters walk under at the ending of their two - day adventure in the woods .
“ Brownsville , Oregon is forever flummox in a period of time between 1890 and 1950 , ” say Allen L. Buzzard , a Brownsville resident who ’s lived in the township for more than a decade . The retired instructor has given countlessStand by Melocation tour of duty and even deal an Airbnb catering to the film ’s sports fan .
Kurt Stricker/Moment/Getty Images
For international fans of the picture palace , add up to Brownsville is like traveling through time to a gone America that no longer exist . And Buzzard , who speaks Japanese and briefly live in the country , say that ’s part of the allure — especially for Japanese tourer who still confab the townsfolk in outsize numbers .
American films , TV , and cartoon strip entered the Japanese market for the first prison term in the year accompany World War II . And that influence later on extended to everything from clothing to contrivance to trip . The Linn County Historical Museum reports that 19 people from Japan have signed its guestbook so far this twelvemonth , and that while the number of visitors from Canada and England run to fluctuate , the telephone number of folks coming from Japan is systematically high .
Meanwhile , residents like Buzzard on a regular basis ladder into Japanese tourists — his last hazard encounter was about a calendar month ago with a superfan from a Tokyo suburbia . “ His abbreviated sojourn was a pilgrim’s journey for him , ” he says . “ He was inexorable about guide photograph , especially of the oak tree . Of all the place he could ’ve chosen to call in for his very first head trip to the USA , he pick out to bring down Brownsville , Oregon . ”
Kurt Stricker/Moment/Getty Images
It took twelvemonth for Junko to work up the courageousness to take her dream trip . It would be her first metre oversea , and she did n’t speak English . Regardless of whether she flew into Portland or Salem — or demand the Amtrak down from Salem — she knew the last leg would require a car .
That ’s why she enlisted the aid of a Eugene resident name Katsuyuki Shibata , who wrote an article aboutStand by Me’sfilm locations for the Nipponese guidebook Globetrotter and has since made a name for himself as the guy who arranges Brownsville slip for Nipponese superfans .
On one occasion , Katsuyuki get an unexpected phone call from a JapaneseStand by Mefan who ’d made it all the way to Eugene , Oregon , but was take in fuss making the last 30 - mile wooden leg into Brownsville . “ He had no estimate there was no public transportation , ” Katsuyuki retrieve .
Left: Junko rides her bike through Oregon. Right: A Japanese tourist and local guide Allen L. Buzzard reenacting a scene from ‘Stand by Me’.|Photos courtesy of “Junko”
But , thankfully , Junko thought ahead . She flew into Portland , where Katsuyuki picked her up from the airport . He also booked Junko to ride out in Buzzard ’s Airbnb , so she ’d have a Japanese - speaking legion while in Brownsville .
“ I was very impressed with the area , not only because of theStand by Melocation , but also because it was so wonderful as a landscape painting , ” Junko says . Brownsville has more than 60 historic buildings with architecture from the 19th and former 20th centuries , so as a lover of antique and historic architecture , Junko had flock to look up to during her sojourn . She particularly got a squawk out of the old Masonic Lodge in the heart of downtown , which has been there since 1865 though it now operates as a hardware store , and the film ’s iconic Calapooia River Bridge , which was construct in 1940 .
“ Brownsville looks exactly like the city in the movie . When I saw the metropolis , I was so moved that I lose Logos and burst into tears . ”
The Linn County Historical Museum displays artifacts from the 1985 film’s production.|Photo courtesy of the Linn County Historical Museum
Oregon ’s country motion-picture show office erected threeStand by Memarkers around Brownsville , observe vista locations and sharing behind - the - tantrum entropy about the movie ’s production . Two of the motion-picture show marking locations are on Main Street , highlight the film ’s darling gap and closing scenes .
Stand at the street corner of North Main Street and Spaulding Avenue to put yourself in the opening scene where Gordie walk out of the risible book store and walks down Spaulding . Go one stop to the south , to the Cartesian product of Main Street and Park Avenue , and you ’ll obtain a penny glue to the center of the road to highlight the space where Vern beak up a penny at the end of the film . To see the placement of the film ’s blueberry bush pie eating competition , lead Benjamin West on Park Avenue to get to Pioneer Park .
The Linn County Historical Museum also has a minor showing ofStand by Meartifacts , including paper clippings detail the celluloid work party ’s production from 1985 , and inverted comma from the shaver worker who spend a summer shoot the movie . And Pioneer Market Antiques displays a two - head sura that has become lore for the film ’s fans ever since actor Wil Wheaton speak about how he and his fellow new castmates would gawk at the sura head as they waited inside a local core market between scenes .
‘Stand by Me’ Day is now held on the fourth Saturday of every July in Brownsville.|Courtesy of Linda McCormick
Junko made herStand by Meexpedition legendary by not only visiting the Brownsville locations , but heading to nearby community as well . She saw Vern ’s house and the now torn down Quidaciolu ’s market place in Franklin , Oregon as well as Veneta , Oregon , where the junkyard prospect was filmed . With Katsuyuki ’s aid , she also drove seven hour south to Burney , California , to see the picture show ’s climactic train scene localization . Those railroad track are now a walking way , but the instinctive scene near the wagon train bridgework is still breathtaking .
After decades of watching tourists roam Main Street in hunting of hints of their best-loved picture show , local decided to cover them . In 2017 , Linda McCormick prepare the firstStand by MeDay , an one-year upshot that sometimes doubles or even quadruples the Ithiel Town ’s universe for the day . ( support by MeDay has typically been held on July 23 each year , but McCormick and other personal digital assistant have recently switch the local jubilation to fall on the fourth Saturday of July . ) fan can expect blueberry pie - consume contests , film duty tour , reenactment of the tantrum in which Vern finds a penny in the middle of Main Street . Organizers elect local residents to act as crossing guards while fans take their penny pictures . That fashion , the remarkably large crowds are safe from the occasional farm tractor build its way of life through town .
People from around the US , and as far away as Australia , Ireland — and yes , Japan — have made the pilgrim’s journey .
For her part , Junko , who live in westerly Japan , remains earnestly connected to the township . Every twenty-four hour period she scan , and now and then posts to , a Facebook mathematical group for people who populate in Brownsville . And she plans to one sidereal day attendStand by MeDays , where she ’ll hopefully be able to make lifelong friends with other superfans who get it on the film enough to travel around the world for it .
