Despite the thoroughly irritating website (flash splash screen and navigation, music that starts automatically?!), the Wordstock Book Fair this weekend at the convention center looks interesting (10am-6pm Saturday and Sunday).
Wordstock is an annual festival of books, writers, and storytelling in Portland, Oregon. . . . Wordstock features ten author stages, a book fair with over 150 exhibitors, a special children’s area and children’s literature stage, a series of workshops for writers and for K-12 teachers, a special broadcast of Live Wire!, the popular public radio variety show, featuring writers from the festival, and more.
If you can tolerate the website you can find a full list of events.
Saturday the Architectural Heritage Center presents The Road Not Taken: The Mt. Hood Freeway and the Preservation of Southeast Portland
Join urban planner Richard Ross and our own education manager/historian Val Ballestrem for a look back at the post-World War II era of freeway building in Portland, a time society became oriented around the automobile. How did Portland change from a bicycle and streetcar city in the early 20th century to a Freeway City by mid-century? Where did the idea come from that freeways could solve our traffic woes? And why did the freeway antagonists prevail in this case?
If you are unfamiliar with the defeat of the Mt. Hood Freeway plan, NYC Street Renaissance has an informative video, Lessons from Portland. One of Portland’s finer moments.
And of course, with this lovely weather, you’ll want to spend some time outside! Portland Japanese Garden presents a Fall Bonsai Exhibition Saturday and Sunday, 10am-4pm. Bonsai plants will be on display inside the Garden’s Pavilion.
Members of the Bonsai Society of Portland will be on hand throughout the day to offer informal demonstrations, give exhibition tours in the Pavilion, and answer questions. The event is free with Garden admission.
Related posts:
- October 9-12: Wordstock Book Fair and the Friends of the Multnomah County Library 36th Annual Fall Book Sale
- October 9-12: Fresh Hop Beer Tastival, Apple Tasting, Harvest Festival, Wordstock, and a book sale
- May 22-25: Timbers, Rose Fest, bus mall, Wordstock films, and cheap stuff
- November 5-8: Siren Nation, Coffee Fair, Adidas sale, and Raising Arizona with Cort and Fatboy
- November 14-15: Hair of the Dog Dock Sale, Keep Portland Weird Fest, and Cheese Anniversaries
