For full function use INTERNET EXPLORER to view this site.

                                                            
  

 


 

 

 

 


 



 

  SISTER CITIES: USA - RUSSIA   

   OUR MISSION: GRANTS PASS, OREGON & RUBTSOVSK, RUSSIA -  ENRICHING LIVES, EXPANDING HORIZONS, MAKING A DIFFERENCE
   AND BUILDING COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS WORLDWIDE. OUR
BOARD MEETS 5:30, SECOND THURSDAY EACH MONTH,
   Community Outreach Room at OHMS (Oregon Health Management) Bldg. You are welcome.
 Parking is available
in lot at corner
   of 5th and H Streets, across the street from Sunshine Health Foods.

   FEBRUARY 11 ANNUAL SISTER CITY WINTERFEST Celebration at GP Museum of Art on G Street. 6-8 pm
   Suggested donation $5 pp.  INVITATION:
WINTERFEST 2010 INVITE.pdf

   DECEMBER 2009 Sister City was an Official Entrant in Christmas Trees/Winterfest Event at the Bear Hotel. Carolyn Rice was
   the coordinator of this project. The committee included Andrea Dougan, the artist who made  the "Snow Maiden" figure
   for the top of the tree, and the doves; Betty and Glen Erps, Lena Green, and Ruth Pepple.
   See Christmas Tree photo below.

   Other Recent Events:

   An Evening of Friendship, Thursday August 6, 2009 6:30 pm at the Fruitdale Grange,
   corner of Parkdale Drive and Rogue River Highway.
  

  
OCTOBER 15, 2009: Annual Meeting was held at JJ Norths, Russian music was provided.

   2009 OPEN WORLD DELEGATION 

2009 ART COMPETITION 2009 SISTER CITY QUILT 

   SISTER CITY BEAR!              

SISTER CITY BEAR-2  2006 DELEGATIONS TO RUBTSOVSK

   RUBTSOVSK TEACHERS MAY 2007        OCTOBER 2007 OPEN WORLD                    RUBTSOVSK MAR 07 Youth Delegation

   LIST OF HISTORICAL EXCHANGES        OCTOBER 2006: OPEN WORLD                   2006 DELEGATIONS

   RECIPES ZAKUSKI             08/ 09 SCENES AROUND GRANTS PASS       Student Exchange 2003    Changing Lives

   Medical Delegations:   2005    2004            The Young Artists Competition 2005: 2005                  On TV         Maps

   WINTER IN RUBTSOVSK (Brian Pike)                    SHARING A YURT IN GRANTS PASS (Brian Robinson)   

   GWEN'S AMAZING RED SQUARE ENCOUNTER            LOCAL WEBSITE FEATURES SISTER CITY!

   WINTERFEST CELEBRATIONS:  2003     2004     2005     2006     2007   2008    2009    Thanks, Grants Pass Mayor Mike Murphy

   2005 Sister Cities Annual Conference Connecting Global Villages             HEART-TO-HEART              PHOTO ALBUM 

   Books for Rubtsovsk:  South Middle School Builders' Club-2005     2005 Evergreen Federal Bank Community Book Sale

   Exchange Highlights       Official Exch. May 1993      1997 to Rubtsovsk     In a Russian Garden     Russian Art

   NEWSLETTERS:  2009  FALL 2008   FALL 2006     JAN 2006   SEPT 2005     APR 2005     JAN 2005     July 2004     MAR 2004

   http://www.visitgrantspass.org/       GP Chamber/Commerce       City of Grants Pass
 

   CONTACT INFORMATION       BOARD MEMBERS     SC Member Application     Our History          VIDEO LIBRARY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

   Посмотреть сайт на русском языке  
   English-Russian translation by Dominic McIntyre

   GRANTS PASS-RUBTSOVSK ARE MEMBERS OF SISTER CITIES INTERNATIONAL:

   In 1956, President Eisenhower proposed a people-to-people program at a White House conference. Originally
   a part of the National League of Cities, Sister Cities International (SCI) became a separate, nonprofit corporation
   in 1967.

   The Grants Pass Sister City Committee was formed in 1990, after white-water rafters from the two cities met at
   an international competition during the late years of the Cold War. Candace Bartow and Lev Korshunov, then
   respectively the mayors of Grants Pass and Rubtsovsk, signed the agreement in 1990, "to develop friendship
   between people of the Soviet Union and the United States and to stimulate economic and cultural cooperation..."

   Since then, the sister city committees in Rubtsovsk and in Grants Pass have facilitated visits of over 200 citizens
   between our cities. Pen and email pals correspond; books have been donated to each other's libraries; special
   sewing machines for the blind and medical supplies were donated and delivered, and videotapes and gifts have
   been exchanged.

   GRANTS PASS SISTER CITY COMMITTEE MISSION:
   To foster goodwill and understanding between the cities of Rubtsovsk, Russia and Grants Pass, Oregon, and to provide
   a conduit for citizen exchange.

   The Grants Pass Sister City Committee: a non-profit membership organization affiliated with Sister Cities International.

   Our sister city is Rubtsovsk, Russia, located in south central Siberia, three times zones east of Moscow, near the
   point where the borders of Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan and Russia meet. It has a population of about 170,000
   people. Founded in the 1880s, it was built on the Siberian steppe (plains), where rich black soil produces wheat,
   sunflowers (for cooking oil), and grazing for dairy cattle. Not far from the rugged Altai Mountains to the south where
   rich mineral ores are found, it became a manufacturing center in the mid-20th century.

   After WWII, a large tractor factory became the major industry in Rubtsovsk. In the 1980's, it employed about 22,000
   people and provided housing, health services, and cultural activities, for its employees and their families.

   Rubtsovsk, like other former Soviet cities, has experienced unbelievable changes over the past decade. The people
   active in sister city activities tell their Grants Pass friends that their sister city connection has many times
   sustained their hope.
 


    

OUR TWO BRIDGES...Rogue River & Alei River

  

Photos from Rubtsovsk

MORE Postcards           

                                     


    This website is maintained by the Grants Pass
    Sister City Committee, Grants Pass, Oregon, USA                 

    Webmaster Judy Gosnell
   Web hosting originally provided by Mark Kellenbeck,
    now provided by Grants Pass company VISP, with
    many thanks to Mark for making this
happen.

    Photos above from Rubtsovsk web site
    Background map
© Defense Mapping Agency

  Evening Bells MUSIC (VECHERNIY ZVON)  Works well with WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

THE "RUSSIAN WINTER" CHRISTMAS TREE 2009 at the Bear Hotel      
Christmas tree decoration team coordinated by Carolyn Rice.

CHRISTMAS IN RUSSIA, contributed by Carolyn Rice

In Russia, after a long period of communist leadership, Christmas is taking root as a
major holiday. Now Christmas is full of spiritual meaning and is celebrated both at
home and at church. Christmas service is one of the most beautiful and important
services in the year. On Christmas Day, hymns and carols are sung. People gather
in churches which have been decorated with Christmas trees, or yelka, flowers and
colored lights. Most Russian families cannot imagine the holiday season without a Christmas tree
in the house. Children enjoy decorating the trees, and the somewhat hectic New Year
preparations, and receive the richest gifts of all members of the family. Both New Year night and Christmas are
marked by festive dinners. If you were to visit a family for New Year’s dinner you would be surprised to see that even the
poorest of families would have a beautifully set table with a lot of good food. Most Russians believe that
the way you meet the New Year sets the tone for the whole year lying ahead. Lena Green


Instead of Santa Claus, the character most often associated with the holiday season in Russia is Father Frost.
When he makes his appearance he is often accompanied by the Snow Maiden. Both of them are figures from Russian folk tales.
Father Frost is actually called Grandfather Frost, but the name Father Frost is more euphonious in English, so that is the name
he is given in translation. He has a long, long white beard. He wears a long, fur lined coat, a peaked hat like a bishop's, and
shoes that turn up at the toes. He carries a staff with a moon or a star at its tip, and makes his appearance at New Year's
celebrations, carrying a pack full of toys for children. After giving out the toys, he passes around one of his gloves,
and into it the people put slips of paper on which they have written their worries and concerns for the coming year.
When Old Father Frost leaves, he takes all those worries away with him.

The Snow Maiden, the story goes, is the magical child of a poor woodcutter and his wife who were childless,
though they wanted a child very much. One day they made a figure out of snow, and while they were admiring
her and wishing she was their daughter, she came to life.