Police Busted a Crowded Wake in Downtown Woodburn—Then Returned the Next Day and Found It Still Going

“The unidentified male stated, ‘We’re just saying goodbye to my nephew,’ and pointed towards the casket.”

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm in Woodburn, Ore. (Bonnie Moreland / Flickr)

Police in the small town of Woodburn, Ore., broke up a wake that drew dozens of mourners to a rented venue in the farming community's downtown. By the time officers successfully dispersed the wake, it had been going for three days, police reports say.

Perhaps no town in Oregon has been hit so hard by COVID-19 as Woodburn.

Nearly 30 residents of the Marion County town (population 26,078) tested positive for the virus between April 25 and 27—The Salem Reporter calculated that toll is double the number in nearby Salem, a much larger city. Half the population of Woodburn is Latinx, and many of its residents are farmworkers. Both groups have been disproportionately exposed to COVID-19.

Yet the wake was held in a second-story events venue along Front Street—Woodburn's main street—while a restaurant continued take-out service downstairs.

Police reports show the wake organizers' disregard for stay-home orders that have caused many Oregonians to hold funerals remotely. They also show the tension between community rituals and the reality of COVID-19's spread. It's the same friction that caused New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to lash out at a Hasidic funeral in that city that drew thousands of mourners.

Woodburn police, by contrast, quietly wrote up two reports and filed a warning with state officials. The reports were obtained today by WW via a public records request after Woodburn police sent out a press release with few details.

On April 28, Woodburn police responded to a call about a large gathering of people "dressed in business casual, as if they were attending a social event." An officer arrived at the event venue and, as he headed upstairs, overheard the event coordinator speak a directive to attendees into his radio: "Maintain social distancing."

"When I reached the top of the stairs," Officer Jorge Gaspar wrote in a police report obtained by WW, "I saw several groups of people congregating….The large venue was well decorated and had floral arrangements. The white chairs were very well laid out. It appeared that there were over 100 chairs. As I looked to the east of the venue, I noticed a very large coffin laying on an elevated platform."

Approximately 40 people were in attendance, the police report says, and not everyone was maintaining 6 feet of social distancing—a violation of Gov. Kate Brown's executive order, which prohibits large social gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Several unidentified males came up to us and and inquired why we were here," the police report says. "I advised them that I was inquiring about the social gathering which was against Gov. Brown's orders. The unidentified male stated, 'We're just saying goodbye to my nephew,' and pointed towards the casket."

Police spoke with the event coordinator, Noe Valenzuela Valles, who told them he had been enforcing a 3-foot social distancing rule, and that he couldn't pay rent because of a lack of social gatherings. "This is the only call I've been able to get," Valenzuela Valles allegedly told the officers.

Reached by phone, Valenzuela Valles declined to comment.

"Noe stated that it had been going on since yesterday and was scheduled to end at [9 o'clock] tonight," the police report says. "We cleared the location, ending contact with Noe."

But the next day, Woodburn police were called back to the same location. The wake had continued into a third day.

"I looked around the venue and saw approximately 25 to 40 people inside," says the second police report, filed April 29, also by Gaspar. "Some were in groups, others were sitting in chairs. Some were further than 6 feet away and some were not."

"I came back downstairs and was met by Noe Valenzuela Valles, the individual in charge/lease of the facility," the report continues. "He acknowledged and stated that today was the third and last day of the event."

Valenzuela Valles then asked all of the guests to leave the event, the report says. Later that day, Valenzuela Valles left one of the officers a voicemail: "We cleared everything out, everybody is gone, body is gone, we've been shut down so everything is back to normal."

Police cited Valenzuela Valles for failing to comply with a public health emergency, the police report says. The Woodburn Police Department forwarded its reports of the events to the Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Occupational Safety & Health, and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, according to spokesman Tommy Moore.

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