Goonies-mania is alive and well in Astoria – around 2,500 people attended events at the Goonies 25th Anniversary celebration this weekend.

People call the 1985 film a “cult classic” for a good reason: fans packed into school buses for tours of Astoria’s famous Goonies sites.

They waited for hours for celebrity autographs and question and answer sessions. They yelled movie quotes at each other all weekend long. They begged Jeff Cohen (“Chunk”) to do the truffle shuffle onstage at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds. He said no power on earth could make him.

“We’re all nerds here,” said Mac Burns, executive director of the Clatsop County Historical Society, grinning during the grand opening of the Oregon Film Museum in the old County Jail Saturday morning.

They came from all over … France, Japan and across the United States.

Goonies fans are a dedicated bunch: neither rain nor sleet nor hail nor mileage – or even marriage – will stop them.

Instead of the traditional ribbon-cutting, Clatsop County Historical Society director Mac Burns had everyone line up with film clappers. From left: County Commissioner Patricia Roberts, state Sen. Betsy Johnson, former CCHS board President Randy Stemper, current CCHS board President Kent Easom and actors Joey Pantoliano, Curt Hanson and Jeff Cohen, Pantoliano’s daughter Isabella, Astoria Mayor Willis Van Dusen and Burns.

Photo by KATIE WILSON – The Daily Astorian

When Kyle Cooper was going to get married, his brother, Bryan Sumner, found out that the future wife had never seen “The Goonies.” The brothers had grown up with the movie.

“You can’t marry her unless she watches it,” Sumner told Cooper.

Cooper went to his fiancee and, straight-faced, relayed his brother’s message.

Bringing the Fratelli brothers in: the Clatsop County Historical Society decided to re-enact the famous villains’ jail break at the grand opening of the Oregon Film Museum, housed in the historical County Jail in Astoria. The jeep is an almost exact replica of the movie jeep. Even the bullet holes in the back are real.

Photo by KATIE WILSON – The Daily Astorian

She must have complied because they’re married now and the brothers flew from their homes in Florida and Texas to attend the Goonies celebration together this last week.

When Goonies director Richard Donner appeared offstage at the Goonies Concert at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds Sunday night, their lives (and about 100 other fans’ lives) couldn’t seem to get any better. Sumner and Cooper even had their picture taken with Donner. Then Sean Astin’s voice boomed from the stage.

Actor and singer/songwriter Corey Feldman (“Mouth” in “The Goonies”) greets fans at the Sunday Market in Astoria.

Submitted photo

“It’s our time!” he said. And it wasn’t the voice that said that same line 25 years ago as little Mikey Walsh. This voice was older. Then the adult Sean Astin walked out on the stage, in the flesh.

Cooper later had his picture taken with Astin.

“He took this camera right out my hands and took the picture,” Cooper said. “I think my life is complete.”

KATIE WILSON – The Daily Astorian

Curt Hanson, left, and Jeff Cohen, right, chat before a VIP dinner in Astoria, the town where the famous 1985 movie “The Goonies” was filmed. In that movie, Hanson played Mr.Perkins, “the richest man in Astoria,” and Cohen played “Chunk,” who brought the world the truffle shuffle.

Corey Feldman (“Mouth”) didn’t appear at any of the cast meet and greets, but he did bring his band Truth Movement to the fairgrounds Sunday night.

Three bands Troy’s Bucket, The Whiskey Rebellion and The Ataris, opened the show.

Corey Feldman, “Mouth,” left, and Sean Astin, “Mikey Walsh,” right, croon together onstage at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds in Astoria Sunday night.

Photo by KATIE WILSON – The Daily Astorian

The Whiskey Rebellion’s Goonies-inspired song “The Ballad of Chester Copperpot” was a huge hit with the crowd. Donner even bought a copy of the movie they’d made to go along with the song.

It was a busy weekend and it’s not over yet. A Monday picnic will wrap up the four day event. Mayor Willis Van Dusen has declared today, June 7, to be Goonies Day in Astoria.

The festivities began when a “red carpet” – actually gray – printed with the Goonies logo was unfurled across the sidewalk in front of the historic Liberty Theater to welcome the first wave of Goonies stars Friday night.

Jeff Cohen (“Chunk”) and Curt Hanson (“Mr.Perkins”) were among the guests at the theater that night for the kick-off, sold-out VIP dinner and showing of the movie.

Van Dusen and state Sen. Betsy Johnson were also there.

“Talk about enthusiasm!” Johnson said later. The crowd was giddy, she said, and so happy to be right where they were.

Corey Feldman (“Mouth” from “The Goonies”), center, performs with his band Truth Movement at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds in Astoria Sunday night. The band played through the entirety of their new album, Technology/Analogy, and also paid a tribute to Michael Jackson with their rendition of “Billie Jean.”

Photo by KATIE WILSON – The Daily Astorian

Corey Feldman (“Mouth”), Sean Astin (“Mikey”) and Joe Pantoliano (“Francis Fratelli”) and Donner were also in town during the celebration.

Prior to the Friday night movie showing, Cohen and Hanson visited in the theater’s mezzanine and reminisced about when they were in Astoria more than two decades ago.

“On the first day of shooting, I am standing there with (Goonies director) Donner on one side and Spielberg on the other, and I was scared to death,” Hanson told Cohen.

The town has changed significantly since then, they agreed.

Cohen spent Thursday visiting the Astoria Column, Seaside and Fort Clatsop and wanted to make sure he spent time at the new Oregon Film Museum when it opened Saturday morning.

He wasn’t the only one eagerly awaiting the newly transformed County Jail used in a critical scene in the film. More than 100 Goonies fans showed up for the grand opening.

Astoria rolled out a perfect day for the event: blue skies and lots of sun.

Instead of your typical ribbon-cutting ceremony, executive director Burns lined up the ribbon cutters and gave them the clappers used in filming that signal the beginning of a take.

Then they re-created the Fratelli jail break scene from the film. Pantoliano blithely dumped a can of “gasoline” in front of the jail and Hanson and Cohen were on hand to dash into the getaway car – an almost exact replica of the movie jeep, even down the bullet holes in the back.

They tore out of the courthouse parking lot and raced around the block only to be chased back to the museum by Thomas Phillips of the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office, driving his squad car.

? The Goon Docks store on 15th and Marine Drive will be open until 4 p.m. today and there will be multiple showings of “The Goonies” and a “making of” documentary at the Columbian Theater (1102 Marine Drive) and Astoria Gateway Cinemas (1875 Marine Drive).