Oregon quarter has state ready to do flips

PORTLAND — The Oregon quarter makes its appearance next month, and state officials are planning quite a coming-out party for the commemorative coin featuring Crater Lake.

Travel Oregon, Gov. Ted Kulongoski's office, Crater Lake National Park, and Southern Oregon tourism organizations hope the quarter will encourage visitors and raise money for the Crater Lake National Park Trust.

Tourism is worth $7 billion a year in Oregon.

With an estimated 140 million Americans collecting the state series, the hope is that Oregon's quarter, which features Crater Lake on the reverse side, will generate publicity.

The quarter's actual release date is June 6.

The summerlong promotion kicks off in cooperation with the U.S. Mint on June 15 at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland.

There will be an outdoor party on the South Park Blocks in downtown Portland. Attendees age 18 and under will receive a free quarter and the public will be able to buy $10 rolls of uncirculated quarters — one of the last chances to do so before the coins work their way into circulation.

A Southern Oregon group also is working on plans for a late-summer event in the Crater Lake area.

Several commercial sponsors are celebrating their own quarter-related activities.

For the Portland Rose Festival, utility PGE will create a float celebrating the state and the Oregon quarter for the Starlight Parade on June 4 and the Grand Floral Parade on June 11.

PGE also will host an Oregon Quarter Night at PGE Park in Portland on July 4, featuring a Beavers baseball game, fireworks and special Oregon-quarter activities.

"Travel Oregon's goal is to use the quarter as an invitation to enjoy our great state's scenic attractions, arts and culture, outstanding cuisine and historic treasures," said Todd Davidson, chief executive of Travel Oregon.

Crater Lake was designated in 1902 as one of the first national parks in the country.

The Crater Lake National Park Trust is providing private funding to enhance the park's attractiveness and help create a new Science and Learning Center due to open in 2006.

With a donation of $25 or more, people can become members and receive a new Crater Lake quarter.

The quarter's design was one of four finalists. The others depicted Mount Hood, a wagon and an Indian village on the Oregon Trail, and a leaping salmon.

The quarters are being released in the order that states ratified the U.S. Constitution or were admitted into the union. The Oregon quarter will be the 33rd quarter released and the third to be released this year.