Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum — Attraction in McMinnville

Are you looking for a unique and stunning venue that all of your guests will be sure to rave over? Seriously, look no further. Let me tell you about our phenomenal experience.

On Friday, 5/13/22, we had a customized bbq buffet put on by Evergreen’s in-house catering team for our rehearsal dinner on the second floor inside the Space Museum. The dinner was excellent. Our guests couldn’t wait to walk down and take photos/video of the aviation-themed elements.

The next day, 5/14/22, our wedding day, was everything I dreamed about, and so much more. We had the ceremony outside of The Lodge building, followed by the reception inside The Lodge. The inside of the building was mesmerizing with a log cabin type-feel, high vaulted ceilings, gorgeous lighting, with a view overlooking a lush green field straight through the giant windows. Not to mention, there was a fireplace on both wings inside the building and a huge amount of space for tables to be spread out.

The amount of flexibility I was given and countless email correspondence made the planning process a breeze! Shannon, who was just starting her first year as the new Event Sales Manager absolutely blew me away! She made me feel as if anything I wanted, I was given. She helped make the entire day go smoothly. I kept hearing from other brides that something will go wrong on your day as there are so many factors that tie together, and that’s just a given, but we just have to deal with it. I honestly couldn’t place my finger on ANYTHING that went awry. I am still in awe over the perfection of our special day.

Shannon and her team even gave me until the last minute (literally 2 hours before the ceremony) to change my mind of the location of the ceremony due to the weather being iffy. Luckily, the weather ended up being perfect so we were able to have the ceremony outdoors, as originally planned. But just knowing they were willing to shuffle things around and use all hands on deck to make me feel special and at-ease is something I will hold onto forever. There were so many photo ops at the venue, including our sparkler send-off along the stairwell of the reception building. Our guests danced the night away, and we didn’t feel rushed to leave. The staff members also helped load our cars and cleanup. Shannon even let us store a few big items overnight and opened the doors for us on a Sunday to grab the remainder of our things.

I would recommend anywhere on the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum’s property for a wedding or special event! All of my vendors seemed to work so well together, making it a seamless experience. Shannon and her team killed it!! It felt like...

You're not going to find a more fulfilling experience when it comes to aviation history. This place is a literal museum of the coolest airplanes that have flown in the skies some that have fought in world war II and others that only were about to. I personally was able to get inside of the spruce goose and the Sea its enormous size and by all accounts it was truly one of the largest airplanes I had ever seen. I'm not sure if it would top the Russian Anatov but I do believe that it was a very close call. There was also many other plans some of them were flying fortresses from world war II and they offer special flying deals where you can actually get inside of one of the Gunner seats and if you pay a hefty fine which is not too hefty you may experience what it was like to be right there shooting those machine guns at the Luftwaffe of the Third Reich But if old airplanes is not your style then I would believe that you might actually appreciate the SR-71 Blackbird that I saw right there in absolute beautiful black metallic paint with it slick absolutely irresistible design. Remember this airplane flew at Mach 3 which is 1,250 miles per hour. Say respect this beautiful piece of equipment and remember one day you might actually fly it. There are many other airplanes there and there are other cars and helicopters and things for you to play around with as a kid and as an adult because we are both on the same page when it comes to aviation and this is a place for both of us including women if they actually know what's best for them to enjoy the fact that we have these weapons of right destruction to fly overhead and make sure that our enemies never return. The spruce goose is the only airplane that only flew just for a bit but it's real purpose was to transport 1,000 troops at a time to land on shores of distant countries so that we could literally carry on world war II in a very unique fashion. Go check out this wonderful beautiful plain for yourself and remember there is another one that is actually being built right now that is so big that it's actually the size of an aircraft carrier and will at one point be a flying fortress with several hundred employees two nuclear reactors and and will actually have the f-35s and our stealth bombers ready to go to fight and drop their payloads at any given notice from the skies. So give your thanks to...

This museum has lots of space and a great staff. There are interesting and unusual planes: the highlight, of course, is the H-4 Hercules, or Spruce Goose, but there are some other nice displays as well. My only gripe is the high price. I'm not that big a cheapskate, I promise. It might be we're spoiled that some of the best aviation museums in the country have free admission. It's not going to be cheap to take the kids to see the Spruce Goose. For that reason, I wouldn't make a trip. There are better aviation museums. I'd recommend the National Museum of the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton (if you like the BIG planes, the B-36 here is as impressive as the H-4), the museum at Hill AFB in Utah, the Smithsonian (of course, both locations), and the museum at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona ahead of this one. None of them have a Spruce Goose, of course, but they have much more of everything else, and they're free to the public.

That aside, I did enjoy several hours here. Among my favorites:

It's always nice to see an SR-71, and this display also has the J58 engines very accessible for you to look at in some detail. I also appreciated the display of the different payloads and countermeasures that could be equipped. A nice D-21 drone as well. The X-38 is very interesting, if a little depressing. It's depressing because development got so far on what could have been a relatively cheap space vehicle. Very nice to see, though. The Titan missile display is very good. Nice mock-up of the silo and control room. I enjoyed the crazy Hiller helicopter contraptions. Also a very nice PBY Catalina and a Grumman Goose. some really nice experimental and racing planes

To sum up, it's worth a stop. I wouldn't make a special trip, but if you're in the area, stop in. Might be too much money for families on a budget to...