EUGENE, Ore. - After two years, it's time.

The Eugene 08 Festival opens at 11 a.m. Friday, and competition begins at 1 p.m. in the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team trials.

The top finishers earn the right to represent the U.S. at the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

The Eugene City Council will help get things started by giving away eight pairs of tickets to the competition, one pair for each of the eight days of competition.

A drawing for the tickets will be held on the Track Town Plaza Stage on 15th Avenue inside the Festival at noon on Friday. | HOW TO ENTER

The Eugene 08 Festival is free and open to the public. Due to street closures and parking restrictions, however, you are encouraged to use Lane Transit District busses or shuttles to reach Hayward Field. Valet bicycle parking is also available. | MORE INFO

The Eugene 08 Festival is free and open to all community members with live video of the competition on jumbo screens, free entertainment, and fun, interactive youth and family activities.

COMPETITION SCHEDULE Track and field event days and times	FESTIVAL SCHEDULE Free and open to the public
TRANSPORTATION How to get around Eugene	EXPLORE THE EUGENE AREA What to do in Eugene and Oregon

Questions? Check the FAQs, or ask us.

Because of the limited number of tickets available in Hayward Field, the high demand and the cost, the City partnered with the organizing committee to create a Ticket Scholarship Program that donated a total of 320 individual day tickets to four community agencies that serve low-income families and at-risk youth:  Head Start of Lane County, Catholic Charities of Lane County, Committed Partners for Youth, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

The City of Eugene also purchased an additional 160 individual day tickets and distributed them to low-income and underserved community members through the City’s Youth and Family Recreation programs, and the Human Rights program.

The City Council’s open public drawing for the eight pairs of tickets (or 16 individual day tickets) provides one more opportunity for some lucky community members to get seats in Hayward Field. 

The theme for opening day is 1980 Team Day, honoring the last Olympic Team to be selected at Hayward Field. Members of the 1980 team will be present on the Festival stage at 3:00 p.m. later that afternoon to greet fans and members of the public.

Logistics for entering the drawing:

To enter the drawing for the tickets, people should plan to arrive by or before 11 a.m. to get through security checks at the entrances, and proceed to the Track Town Plaza to enter their name for the drawing.  People must be present to enter the drawing and to win.

Those wanting to enter the drawing should plan plenty of time to travel via LTD bus, shuttle or bike as there will be no public parking available near Hayward Field.  Although the Festival is open to the public, everyone entering the Festival will go through a security check at the public entrances.