Portland, August 9th, 2015. From the coast to the Cascades and canyons, the Bite of Oregon is a celebration of Oregon’s bounty and people. More than 25 breweries, wineries, distilleries, cideries, and distilleries poured craft beverages to help quench thirsts. Tom McCall Waterfront Park was packed with over 50,000 people during the three-day event, Oregon’s top chefs, best wineries, breweries, ciders-makers and distilleries, along with celebrity chef demonstrations and challenges, like the Iron Chef competition, were featured. (photo credit, Peter Van Houten Photography)
This year’s Iron Chef winner was James Williams from Omar’s Restaurant in Ashland. The winning dish included braised pork jowl, served with bacon corn puree, along with chili honey-glazed bacon.
All proceeds benefit Special Olympic Oregon. (This photo is from the 2015 summer state games.)
“Eat” the Oregon Bounty Chef’s table returned. In true farm-to-festival spirit, chef’s from around the state partnered with Oregon’s various agriculture commissions to prepare locally-sourced, gourmet bites for $4.
This year, the Chef’s table expanded and featured many Oregon Agricultural Commissions, including blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, potato, seafood and beef. Busy volunteers passes out the goodies.
SE Wine Collective, a unique urban winery in Portland, returned as the official host of the Wine Bar. Local wines were also honored.
Ice cream was a favorite with kids and their parents. The Bite offered a variety of kid-friendly activities including a stage with hourly interactive performances, puppeteers, arts and crafts projects and face painting.
Special Olympics Oregon provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children, youth and adults living with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community.
Special Olympics Oregon serves more than 12,000 participants each year with intellectual disabilities, serving the largest disability population in the state. Every day, every month and every year, our programs and services provide our constituents with immense opportunities in life, yet nearly 100,000 individuals could still benefit from participating in Special Olympics Oregon programs.
Still growing, Special Olympics Oregon is efficiently expanding programs to get closer and closer to serving every individual with intellectual disabilities that qualifies to participate in Special Olympics. Our vision is to help bring all persons with intellectual disabilities into the larger society under conditions whereby they are accepted, respected and given the chance to become useful and productive citizens.
Salem, August 12th, 2015. Statewide cultural organizations will receive a record $2.6 million in grants from the Oregon Cultural Trust in fiscal year 2015-16, up a full 30 percent over last year and surpassing $2 million for the first time. One recipient is BodyVox who received $20,045 to support “The Spin”, a new dance show that blends live performance and audience participation in the fall of 2015.
The overall dramatic increase in funding from the Oregon Trust results from a record fundraising year and a new distribution formula approved by the Oregon legislature.
The awards include a total of $644,959 to the Cultural Trust’s five statewide partners (Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Heritage Commission, Oregon Humanities, Oregon Historical Society and the State Historic Preservation Office); $644,959 to 45 county and tribal cultural coalitions (who re-grant the funds through local programs); and $1,260,945 to 84 cultural organizations through competitive Cultural Development Grants, more than double the amount awarded last fiscal year. The Cultural Development Grants include first-time awards to 25 organizations and the largest grants ever awarded – $35,000 – to six of the state’s largest cultural nonprofits. The grants are awarded for projects that address access, capacity, creativity and preservation.
The Oregon Children’s Museum was another grateful recipient of an Oregon Cultural Trust grant. Leaders there will use the funds to renovate a theatre.
The theater renovation will increase capacity of the theater as an environment for daily open-ended play and the Museum’s capacity to host community events and performances.
“We are extremely grateful to members of the legislature for giving us the flexibility to provide deeper support to the groups who ensure Oregon’s cultural vitality,” said Cultural Trust Executive Director Brian Rogers. “The increased funds will allow them to have an even greater impact on creating the quality of life we Oregonians expect and appreciate.”
“We couldn’t have considered renovation of our theater without help from the Oregon Cultural Trust,” said Museum Executive Director Ruth Shelly. “In the new space, children will exercise their creativity and imaginations in putting on performances for their caregivers and each other, expanding their confidence and budding skills in the theater and performing arts. We look forward to talks by our Artists in Residence, and performances by our community partners. Finally, we anticipate using the renovated theater as a venue for forums and seminars, to serve as a space for adults to gather and learn as well.”
The new distribution formula, put in place through the passage of Senate Bill 441, allows the Trust to allocate a larger percentage of the funds it raises to grant making and administration. The Trust raised a record $4.4 million in fiscal year 2014-15, through donor participation in the cultural tax credit, allowing it to allocate $2.6 million to statewide grants.
Here’s a long list of all the grateful recipients:
Oregon Cultural Trust Cultural Development Grants were awarded to:
(Note: Grants are organized alphabetically by region. * denotes a first-time grant.)
Central Oregon
Arts Central, Bend (Capacity): $12,296
Central Oregon Creative Economy Development: To support the creation of an actionable plan to enhance the Central Oregon cultural economy.
Deschutes County Historical Society, Bend (Preservation): $14,164
Winter Comes: Oregon’s Nordic Ski History: To support Deschutes Historical Museum’s exhibit Winter Comes: Oregon’s Nordic Ski History in 2016.
High Desert Museum, Bend (Access): $16,645
Arts for the People: To support an exhibit exploring the history and cultural legacy of the Works Progress Administration
Coast
Bay City Arts Center,* Bay City (Preservation): $5,839
Hoquarton Historical Interpretive Center Roof Replacement: To support the replacement of the roof of the Hoquarton Historical Interpretive Center building.
Liberty Restoration, Inc., Astoria (Preservation): $8,445
Theater Preservation and Restoration: To support the preservation and restoration of the Historic Liberty Theater building.
North Tillamook Library Board,* Manzanita (Capacity): $21,201
Creating Community Technology and Education Room: To support repurposing existing library facility to create community technology and education room.
Eastern Oregon
Arts Council of Pendleton, Pendleton (Access): $5,000
First Draft Writers and Readers: To support First Draft, a free monthly literary arts series at the Pendleton Center for the Arts.
Drexel H. Foundation, Vale (Preservation): $10,249
Vale Hotel Restoration: To support the Vale Hotel structural stabilization, architectural and engineering project.
Fishtrap, Inc., Enterprise (Access) $10,187
The Big Read 2016: To support Wallowa County’s community-wide Big Read of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town & The Bridge of San Luis Rey” in January and February of 2016.
Four Rivers Cultural Center, Ontario (Access): $14,628
Four Rivers Community Theatre: To support the growth and increased participation of the Four Rivers Community Theatre program.
Josephy Center for Arts and Culture, Joseph (Creativity): $16,367
Exhibitions at Josephy Center: To support the ongoing Josephy Center Exhibition calendar including art, lectures, music and films.
Playa,* Summer Lake (Creativity): $24,961
Art/Science Thematic Residencies: To support the creation of exemplary artworks born from art+science residency interaction.
Wallowa Valley Arts Council,* Joseph (Access): $11,800
Nez Perce Interpretive Center at Joseph: To support the purchase of the long-established Native American interpretive center at Joseph.
Gorge
Cascadia Center for Arts & Crafts,* Government Camp (Preservation): $19,930
Roofs for Cascadia Center for Arts & Crafts: To support new roofs on an historic United States Forest Service ranger station where CCAC offers workshops to the public in the fall of 2015.
Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, TheDalles (Capacity): $5,000
Collections Equipment Improvement: To support the purchase and installation of computer/scanner equipment for the center’s collections operations.
Southern Oregon
Dancing People Company,* Ashland (Creativity): $5,993
Call Back the Sun, a Winter Solstice Community Dance and Celebration: To support the 10th year of DPC’s Call Back the Sun, a community-inclusive Winter Solstice show.
Douglas County Museum,* Roseburg (Preservation): $9,580
To support the ongoing restoration of O&C railcar #3001 at the Douglas County Museum.
Josephine Community Libraries, Inc., Grants Pass (Access): $12,972
Collection Development Project: To support the Collection Development Project and rebuild the library’s books and other materials.
Klamath Art Association,* Klamath Falls (Access): $18,319
Sugarman’s Corner Pocket Park: To support sculpture in a pocket park honoring Klamath Basin’s biological and historical diversity.
Creation and Production of “Vietgone” and “The Winter’s Tale:” To support the 2016 pairing of “Vietgone” by Qui Nguyen and “The Winter’s Tale” by William Shakespeare.
Rogue Valley Chorale,*Rogue River (Capacity): $5,000
Marketing Project: To support a sustainable marketing plan including templates designed for in-house use.
Rogue Valley Symphony Association,* Ashland (Capacity): $18,300
Marketing capacity: To support the increased marketing of Rogue Valley Symphony concerts and hiring a marketing assistant.
ESYO String Academies: To support ESYO String Academies and teach music to elementary students of all backgrounds.
Grand Ronde Tribe Cultural Resources Department,* Grand Ronde (Preservation): $33,543
Curatorial and Exhibit Renovation: To support the creation of curatorial space through renovation in the Museum and Cultural Center.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University, Salem (Creativity): $27,651
The Art of Ceremony: Conversations with Oregon Tribes. To support the writing and publication of The Art of Ceremony: Conversations with Oregon Tribes.
Stabilizing DanceAbility International’s Oregon Programs: To support more access to mixed-abilities dance with additional staff and an improved office.
Lane Arts Council, Eugene (Capacity): $21,408
Arts Asset Mapping: To support development of a county-wide Arts Asset Map and accompanying interactive web-based tools.
Oregon Wine History Archive: Janis Miglavs and Oregon Pinot Camp Collections. To support the digitization of and access to interviews of contributors to Oregon’s wine industry.
Museum of Natural & Cultural History, Eugene (Preservation): $34,000
Redesign of MNCH anchor cultural exhibition hall: To support the redesign of the cultural exhibit hall, Oregon-Where Past is Present.
Oregon State Hospital Museum of Mental Health,* Salem (Preservation): $6,865
Photo and Document Archive: To support cataloging, digitizing and archiving images and documents from Oregon State Hospital sites.
Oregon State University, Corvallis (Preservation): $5,000
Oregon Black Railroad Porters Oral History Preservation Project: To support the preservation of and access to Oregon black railroad porters’ oral histories.
Portland Metro Area
All Classical Public Media, Inc., Portland (Capacity): $35,000
On-Air Programming Expansion Project: To support expansion of All Classical’s program staff, on-air services and production facilities.
Orson Welles’ “Moby Dick, Rehearsed:” To support artists’ wages for our production of Orson Welles’ “Moby Dick, Rehearsed” in the spring of 2016.
BodyVox, Portland (Creativity): $20,045
The Spin: To support The Spin, a bold new dance show that blends live performance and audience participation in the fall of 2015.
c3:initiative,* Portland (Creativity): $10,407
Demos Exhibition and Programs: To support the exhibition and Community Dialogues Series of Demos: Wapato Correctional Facility in the fall of 2015.
Caldera, Portland (Creativity): $12,645
Caldera’s Artists in Residence Program: To support the development of artists from Oregon and around the world through one-month residencies at Caldera.
Cappella Romana, Portland (Creativity): $16,285
The Choral Works off Michael Adamis: Performances & Recording. To support concerts in Oregon and a recording of choral works by Greek composer Michael Adamis.
Circus Project, Portland (Access): $13,099
Increased Access to Hands-On Circus Arts Instruction and Performance for Youth: To support 2015-16 circus arts training in schools as well as social services and a new studio.
CoHo Productions, Portland (Capacity): $9,886
Theatre Consultation Program: To support a program providing resource and administrative management to professional artists.
Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, Portland (Creativity): $24,866
Portland2016: A Biennial of Contemporary Art. To support the production and exhibition of Portland2016: A Biennial of Contemporary Art.
Ethos, Portland (Access): $17,024
Music Across Oregon: To support music education opportunities for youth in rural Oregon communities.
Friends of the Cornelius Public Library,* Cornelius (Capacity): $8,212
New Library and Community Convening Space: To support a new library to expand collections and provide space for more community involvement.
Friends of William Stafford,* Lake Oswego (Capacity): $4,000
Website Update: To support a website upgrade that will allow the organization to advance its mission and build membership.
Imago Theatre, Portland (Creativity): $7,262
La Belle: The Lost Art of the Automaton. To support the creation of a new family show, “La Belle: The Art of the Automaton.”
Independent Publishing Resource Center, Portland (Capacity): $22,827
IPRC Staffing and Retail Capacity-Building Project: To support capacity building and sustainability via staffing increases and retail space improvement.
Outreach and Tuition Assistance: To create access to music via peer-to-peer education at underserved schools with tuition assistance.
Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland (Preservation): $11,787
Collections and Archives Accessibility Project: To support the creation of a publically searchable online database of the museum’s permanent collection.
My Voice Music,* Portland (Capacity): $12,123
Preparatory Assessment and Strategic Staff Increases for A Community Music Space: To support preparations for a capital campaign to move into a long-term community music space.
The Journey Play is the Whole Thing: A Constellation of Art Events, Objects and Experience. To support the creation and production of a series of integrated works of art.
Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland (Access): $15,627
TBA:15: To support the planning and implementation of the 13th edition of the Time-Based Art (TBA) Festival in September of 2015.
Portland Opera Association, Inc., Portland (Access): $35,000
Opera ala Cart: To support the creation and pilot of Portland Opera’s outreach project OPERA ALA CART in May of 2016.
Bridge to the Future: Year 2. To nurture PYP as a relevant, visible, accessible, stable and historic resource for young musicians.
RASIKA,* Portland (Creativity): $8,208
Duality: Indian musical dance. To support the first major three-day music and dance Festival of India in three Oregon cities.
Regional Arts & Culture Council, Portland (Capacity): $12,369
Work for Art: Battle of the Bands. To support Battle of the Bands in May of 2016 to raise money for and celebrate employee engagement in the arts.
Scandinavian Heritage Foundation , Portland (Capacity): $24,034
Data Driven Decision and Outreach Improvement Project: To improve capacity for data-driven decision-making, optimizing human and financial resources.
Tavern Books , Portland (Creativity): $17,052
The Living Library Publishing Program 2015-2016: To support the growth of Tavern Books’ Living Library publishing program.
The Library Foundation, Portland (Access): $6,128
Everybody Reads 2016: To support the purchase of 2,000 books and transportation for 750 teens for Everybody Reads.
The Northwest Photography Archive, Portland (Preservation): $16,369
Enduring Spirit: Photographs of Northwest Native Americans, 1855–1928. To support research and image restoration for “Enduring Spirits” a book of historical photographs.
The Shadow Project,* Portland (Access): $12,786
Increasing Access to Literature for Children with Special Needs: To support the installation of SuperSensory Literacy Spaces in eight schools’ special education classrooms.
Third Angle New Music Ensemble, Portland (Creativity): $6,140
Frozen Music: light and music in Aalto’s library. To support a musical installation designed by architect Alvar Aalto at the Mt. Angel Abbey Library.
Third Rail Repertory Theatre, Portland (Capacity): $10,203
New Membership Model: To support an innovative membership model that will deepen participation and attract new audiences.
triangle productions!,* Portland (Access): $8,273
The Jim Pepper Project Touring: To support touring a new Native American-themed work to underserved, tribal communities.
Write Around Portland, Portland (Access): $12,925
Creative Writing in Washington County: To support creative writing workshops for those with the least access in Washington County.
Young Audiences of Oregon & SW Washington, Portland (Creativity): $11,799
The Teaching Artist Studio: To serve 45 artists in three communities with training through The Teaching Artist Studio.
Portland, August 22nd, 2015. As home to some of the oldest animals on the planet, the Oregon Zoo has earned a stellar reputation for the specialized geriatric care it provides. For example, Hermosa the Humboldt Penguin has lived a record 33 years. Zoo veterinarians and keeper staff work together, developing innovative ways to make sure the animals in their care have a great quality of life throughout their golden years — teaching an aging sea otter to dunk a basketball, for example — and many of the zoo’s residents live far beyond the median life expectancy for their species. (photo credit, Michael Durham, courtesy of the Oregon Zoo.)
Here’s a look at six ultra-geriatric Oregon Zoo residents, each of which is the oldest of his or her kind, like Hermosa the Humboldt Penguin:
She’s on meds for arthritis and her eyesight is not so good, but Hermosa — the oldest Humboldt penguin in any AZA-accredited zoo — is as feisty as ever and a terrific foster mom, according to her Oregon Zoo keepers. In their natural habitat, the rocky South American coastline off Peru and Chile, Humboldt penguins can live to about 20 years, but Hermosa has reached the ripe old age of 33. With her egg-laying days long behind her, she’s shacking up with a male Humboldt named Tamale, and the pair still fosters eggs from other nests, raising chicks in place of less experienced penguin parents. Of the world’s 17 penguin species, Humboldts are among the most at risk, threatened by overfishing of their prey species, entanglement in fishing nets, and breeding disruption due to commercial removal of the guano deposits where the birds lay their eggs. Their population is estimated at 12,000 breeding pairs.
Inji, Sumatran orangutan, 55
At 55, Inji is the oldest Sumatran orangutan on the continent and easily one of the very oldest on the planet. “She’s in amazing shape for her age,” said Asaba Mukobi, the zoo’s senior primate keeper. “She has no trouble getting around and no major health concerns — she isn’t taking any special medication beyond aspirin.” A recent TakePart feature postulated that “what she teaches us about staying fit could help save her wild brethren.” Inji was born in the wild around 1960, came to the United States through the pet trade (legal at the time) and was donated to the Oregon Zoo by her owner in 1961. While Mukobi is thankful the zoo has been able to give her a good home, he says it’s heartbreaking to think about the circumstances that first brought her here. “The pet trade is illegal now, but it’s still around. It’s one of the major threats to orangutans’ survival, along with human encroachment and habitat loss from palm oil plantations. Orangutans right now are at the brink of extinction — especially in Sumatra, where Inji comes from.”
Packy, Asian elephant, 53
By almost any measure, Packy is majestic. Standing 10 and a half feet at the shoulder, he is thought to be the tallest Asian elephant in North America, and he cuts a lithe figure even at six tons. He is also the oldest male of his species on this continent. His 1962 birth helped scientists better understand elephants and opened the door to a new era in elephant welfare. “If you think about the time when he was born, it’s mind-boggling,” said Bob Lee, who oversees the zoo’s elephant program and has worked with Packy for more than 15 years. “Kennedy was president, the Beatles hadn’t made any records yet, cigarettes didn’t have warnings from the Surgeon General. It was a different era. They were writing the book on elephants as they went.” Though remarkably healthy for his age, keepers say Packy is noticeably slowing down. “We just want to give him the most comfortable life we can,” Lee said. “His toughness always impresses me. Sometimes it’s easy to forget he’s a geriatric elephant.”
Conrad, polar bear, 30
Weekly blood tests and meds concealed inside fishy treats — it’s all routine stuff for Conrad, a thousand-pound polar bear at the Oregon Zoo, who at 30 may be the oldest male of his species on the planet. “The median life expectancy for polar bears is 20.7 years for males, and Conrad’s a decade past that now,” said Nicole Nicassio-Hiskey, the zoo’s senior marine animal keeper. “You’d never know it to look at him though — he’s still very playful, especially in cooler weather. Our staff works hard to keep him healthy, active and engaged.” Conrad and his sister, Tasul, were born Dec. 1, 1984, at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, S.C., and came to Portland in 1986. Three years ago, the siblings became the first polar bears in the world to voluntarily give blood — a significant animal-welfare advance that allows them to participate in their own geriatric healthcare. This breakthrough has also proved a boon to scientists studying wild bears in the Arctic.
Kia, Amur leopard, 19
How many 20-year-old cats do you know? And how many of those are Amur leopards? Kia, who turns 20 on Oct. 9, is the oldest Amur leopard on the continent, and Amur leopards are perhaps the most endangered big cats in the world. Around 70 are believed to remain in their southeastern Russia home range. North American and European zoos are participating in coordinated breeding programs to help preserve these critically endangered cats. Though Kia’s reproductive years are now behind her, she has given birth to 10 cubs over her lifetime. For more information, visit www.amur-leopard.org.
Big Pink, lesser flamingo, 49
Wild-caught in Africa in 1968, Big Pink (officially known as B30007, the number assigned to him as part of the International Species Information System) is estimated to have hatched sometime in 1966 and is the oldest lesser flamingo on the continent. He was transferred to the San Antonio Zoo, and lived there until 2013, when he came to Oregon Zoo with the rest of his flock. The lesser flamingo is the smallest species of flamingo, and the pinkest of the two Old World species. With a global population of more than 2 million, lesser flamingos are not considered endangered, although the birds’ main breeding sites are being threatened by industrial pollution and human encroachment. Big Pink is nearly as old as the plastic lawn flamingo, invented in 1957.
Support from the Oregon Zoo Foundation enhances and expands the zoo’s efforts in conservation, education and animal welfare. Members, donors and corporate and foundation partners help the zoo make a difference across the region and around the world.
The zoo opens at 9 a.m. daily and is located five minutes from downtown Portland, just off Highway 26. The zoo is also accessible by MAX light rail line. Visitors who travel to the zoo via MAX receive $1.50 off zoo admission. Call TriMet Customer Service, 503-238-RIDE (7433), or visit www.trimet.org for fare and route information.
General zoo admission is $11.50 (ages 12-64), $10 for seniors (65 and up), $8.50 for children (ages 3-11) and free for those 2 and younger. Additional information is available atwww.oregonzoo.orgor by calling 503-226-1561
Sauvie Island, August 1st, 2015. It was a banner day for kids when Sauvie Island Center hosted its 7th annual Barn Dance and BBQ. The event, presented by Whole Foods Market, drew more than 225 people. Sponsors and guests help raise more than $17,500, which will go toward funding farm field trips for local school children.
Cory Schreiber, co-founder of Sauvie Island Center and Anna Goldrich, Executive Director of Sauvie Island Center.
Lyndsey Vaughn-Dieter, guest of Sauvie Island Center Board Member Lauren Johnson, collects her silent auction items.
Superman is in the house!
From The Sauvie Island Center:
We serve elementary school youth of Portland by providing hands-on educational field trips at our Sauvie Island location in Howell Territorial Park, managed by Metro. Through our education programs, the Center seeks to increase the food, farm and environmental literacy of the next generation.
The field trips take place on the Sauvie Island Organics farm, and the curriculum includes modules covering Soil Investigations, Plant Parts Investigations, and Wildlife and the Food Chain. Our trips also include the Grow Lunch Garden, where students plant, tend, harvest and eat fresh vegetables from their own field.
mission
Established in 2005, the Sauvie Island Center educates youth about food, farming, and the land.
what we do
The Sauvie Island Center increases food, farm and environmental literacy in the community by providing hands-on educational field trips for elementary school children. The trips, which take place on the Sauvie Island Organics farm and on the grounds of the 120 acre Howell Territorial Park managed by Metro, offer a rich and unique opportunity for Portland elementary school students to visit and explore a real, working farm.
our curriculum
Our farm-based curriculum was developed through a unique partnership between farmers, educators and culinary professionals. Currently, there are five curriculum modules, each designed to educate children about the relationship between the food they eat, farming and the land.
Soil Exploration – Students dig into the compost pile to discover what constitutes “healthy” soil, and to better understand its relationship to the farm system.
Seed to Harvest – Students plant, tend and harvest vegetables from their own farm row, the Grow Lunch Garden.
Plant Parts Investigation – Students explore the farm while searching for and tasting food that represents each of the six plant parts: roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds.
Wildlife & the Food Web – To learn about the food web, students hone their sensory awareness skills while inspecting the landscape for signs of wildlife foraging on the farm.
Pollination Station -Students search for pollinators at work in the native hedgerow, the heritage orchard and on the farm, while learning about the critical role pollinators play in our food system.
Portland, July 26th, 2015. Despite the overcast weather, The Big Float V was dubbed a success. Over a thousand water lovers, including some four-legged friends, flocked to the Willamette River in downtown Portland for the fifth annual event. The goal, according to organizers from the nonprofit Human Access Project, is to encourage people to “get into the river” and support its preservation and healthy development as a recreational resource…and they add, to have a whale of a good time in the process.
It takes several dozen volunteers from the Human Access Project to manage the boaters.
This group of friends is ready for the river and includes Scott Landia, Jayna Lamb, Chaska Ñahuicha, Flū Rangpor Nęsnah, Michelle Stoll and Tina-Marie Novak.
It’s a competition with bragging rights on the line to come up with the most colorful floats and, in this case, hats to boot!
The pirates were out in force and are always bent on pillaging.
This flotilla favored flamingos and swans for their afternoon on the Willamette.
Open to all ages, the event begins with a parade. Floaters gathered at Tom McCall Bowl then carried their floatation devices south, along Waterfront Park, to the put-in point at “Poet’s Beach” beneath the Marquam Bridge. Floaters paddle down river and land on the west bank at the Tom McCall Bowl. That’s where Portland’s downtown beach party was held – complete with a music barge and live bands, food carts, beer/wine garden, sponsor booths, and a kids’ activities area.
From the Human Access Project HAP:
HAP uses funds from events like the Big Float to fund important projects. is actively working on a few projects on the Willamette River (in no particular order):
1) Marquam Beach (“Poet’s Beach”) Access.
Under the Marquam Bridge on the west side of the Willamette River is a perfectly good small beach, but there has never been a safe way to access it. HAP has changed that. Working with many others, we have created a new pathway to this beach. Along the path are stones that are engraved with children’s poems and native words from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
2) Tom McCall Bowl Beach. We have UnRocked the Bowl to create a beach area at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. We will continue to do so every summer so Portland has a city beach to use. Numerous volunteers join us every year in this “unrockin'” community effort.
3) Audrey McCall Beach. This summer we will continue removing concrete, glass and debris from Audrey McCall Beach, on the eastside of the river just south of Hawthorne Bridge. Our plan is to remove 50 yards of concrete from the bank this year.
4) Operation Deep Clean. We hope to bring in a barge with an extremely heavy duty crane to work with divers to see how much junk we can pull out of the depths of the Willamette.
5) Bridge Signage. When you drive over the bridges in downtown Portland there is very little acknowledgement that you are driving over a river. We need signs that remind people that the Willamette River is indeed a river that we are proud of in this city.
6) Softening the seawall. We are hoping to enhance the ugly forboding seawall with artwork until the time it can be reengineered to provide better access to the water’s edge.
7) Concrete removal. We will continue to remove concrete from the banks of the eastside. Let’s face it, when you see chunks of discarded concrete on a riverbank it kind of communicates that we do not love our river. We are hoping to pick our river banks clean of ugly concrete chunks. More to come!
Wouldn’t it be great if everyone in Portland could actually get into the Willamette River? Simply stroll down to the water’s edge, wade out into it, and swim or paddle around to their heart’s content in a safe, public area? It’s time we did something about that. And that’s what our not-for-profit organization, Human Access Project, is all about.Let’s face it, even if you wanted to swim in the Willamette River in downtown Portland today, how would you do it? There’s no easy way to get into it. It’s like this: if you want birds to come into your yard you put up a bird feeder and plant trees to create a bird-friendly habitat. The same is true for humans and the river. If we want to make it so people can swim in the Willamette we need to create better access and a more inviting environment. For instance, imagine the Tom McCall bowl area redesigned with a beach instead of the unfriendly jagged rock river edge currently there.In short, the Human Access Project is driven to promote activating the Willamette River for recreational use that considers all the critters that live and love the water including humans.
The Human Access Project vision is simple: a city in love with its river. This grassroots not-for-profit group has three concentric goals: 1) Create a human habitat and more access points along the Willamette River in downtown Portland.2) Inspire people to get into the Willamette River.
3) Facilitate stewardship of the Willamette River and Watershed.
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From The Sauvie Island Center:
Our farm-based curriculum was developed through a unique partnership between farmers, educators and culinary professionals. Currently, there are five curriculum modules, each designed to educate children about the relationship between the food they eat, farming and the land.
