Longtime staple of Sandy Mountain Festival honored as grand marshal

For decades, the image of the Mountain Man and Rusty the Dancing Bear have represented the Sandy Mountain Festival.

Now, for what is possibly his last festival, the Mountain Man himself, Daniel Stevens, will be honored as grand marshal of the parade on July 11.

“It’s probably the most exciting thing, to be recognized by a community I’ve served for so many years,” Stevens said. “You can’t get any better than that.”

Stevens has been dressing in rugged mountain style, throwing pots, telling stories and appearing in the parade for more than 40 years along with his sidekick — the Dancing Bear — and he’s lived in the Sandy area since 1969.

This year Stevens will ride in a convertible in the parade, but he won’t be able to tell stories in the park.

“Telling stories, meeting people: it’s been a joyous life,” Stevens said.

He originally became connected to the festival by a fellow teacher while he was still working as an educator in Gresham. Stevens worked as a teacher of crafts — pottery, leather work and more — for 20 years. He prides himself on having been a positive influence in the lives of several ostracized students during his career in education.

He feels the arts are a great way for people to express themselves.

“When a person makes an object, part of their spirit is involved in the making and creating of it,” he said in a past interview.

During his first festival he set up a pottery wheel at his booth and ended up making up stories for passersby at the same time. In every story is a bit of his spirit, infused in the history he is making.

From this afternoon in Meinig Park came the story of Rusty the bear and the Mountain Man, who are depicted in the Sandy Mountain Festival logo to this day.

“A lot of people don’t understand how this history came to pass,” Stevens has said. “It started with one story, (which) I created while slinging posts at the festival. (The story goes) that there was a small bear when (my uncle Trapper Ben and I) were hunting that got caught in a trap. The recovery of the bear is part of the story I tell every day at the festival. He became a companion to me in my youth.”

Stevens is now 84 years old and lives in a house he built himself in Boring.

After multiple decades of involvement with the festival, he said he’d like to thank the volunteer-run board that organizes the festival.

“No matter what and who was in charge, they’ve done a wonderful job,” Stevens explained. “My thanks go out to them all for their contributions.”