Kesey Square (The Storyteller)

Downtown plaza with Pete Helzer's bronze of Ken Kesey reading to three children

Address Broadway and Willamette Street

A small downtown plaza at the corner of Broadway and Willamette, dominated by Pete Helzer's 2003 bronze of Ken Kesey — Eugene's most famous literary son — seated on a stack of books and reading to three children. The sculpture is officially called The Storyteller, but everyone calls it Kesey Square.

It is the default downtown meeting point and the venue for Saturday-Market overflow, street performers, the occasional protest, and as much skateboarding as the city tolerates. Five minutes here orients you in the city centre; Broadway runs west from here through what was once the pedestrianised Eugene Mall.

things to do sight downtown
A story
Ken Kesey grew up in nearby Springfield, wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest while working as an orderly at a VA hospital, then bought a school bus, painted it psychedelic, and drove the Merry Pranksters across America. The bronze, unveiled in 2003, shows him in his trademark wool cap reading to his three grandchildren.