The Special Olympics Oregon Summer State Games will be back in Corvallis for the second straight year in 2025. The event is set to run July 12-13 at locations in and around Oregon State University.
Prior to 2024’s Corvallis games, the Summer State Games had been on a hiatus since 2017.
“Last year was like a homecoming event,” said Emily Rose, vice president of development and marketing for Special Olympics Oregon. “A lot of our athletes and volunteers and coaches see this as their family.”
The games’ cancellation before 2024 was due to a “double whammy” of Covid-19 concerns and lack of funding, said Rose. She credited SOOR CEO Britt Oase, hired in 2018, for righting the ship.
“Now our numbers are back to, and larger than, our pre-pandemic numbers,” said Rose, “and we don’t see that slowing down anytime soon.”
The summer games are expected to attract approximately 4,450 attendees, including athletes, coaches, spectators, volunteers and officials. Rose said the number of athletes has increased from around 900 in 2024 to about 1,200 this year. She believes the oldest state games participant is 82; the youngest is 6.
The summer games will contain four sporting events: athletics (track and field) at OSU’s Whyte Track and Field Center, bocce at Student Legacy Park West, golf at Albany’s Golf Club of Oregon and softball at Varsity Field, Sunset Park and Student Legacy Park.
Delegates will stay in two OSU dormitories. Event set-up and athlete move-ins will take place on Friday, July 11, with the sporting events and related activities taking place over the following two days.
“Our athletes are getting that collegiate experience, even though most of them won’t have that in a sports realm,” said Rose. “But they get to stay in the dorms. They get to eat at the dining halls. They get to play on these college-level fields and courts. And that just means so much to us, to give them such an amazing experience, to be able to have those wonderful experiences that they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.”
SOOR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit accredited by Special Olympics International, facilitating free athletic opportunities for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities across the state.
Rose said the games will involve over a thousand volunteers, with SOOR still needing hundreds more. Volunteer sign-ups will be open through July 11, with available shifts ranging from two-and-a-half hours to nine.
Prior experience isn’t a requirement for potential volunteers, who can contribute by helping with score-keeping, arts and crafts, athlete move-in and move-out and more. Those interested can look at available opportunities on the sign-up website here.
“The number one thing that we need volunteers for is bocce,” said Rose. “You need zero experience.”
Athletes competing will represent most of the 30 SOOR programs across Oregon. They qualified for the state games through regional competitions.
The weekend’s state games will serve as qualifiers for the July 2026 Special Olympics USA Games in Minneapolis.
Besides the competition, other events advertised include local vendors, health screenings, opening ceremonies and a victory dance. The final leg of the Law Enforcement Torch Run, which raises awareness and funding for the Special Olympics, will conclude in Corvallis on July 11.
The event is free for both attending athletes as well as spectators. “The more the merrier,” said Rose.
You can read more about SOOR on the organization’s website here.