Dave Knows Portland

Archives for March 2011

Portland Farmers Market Opening Day (19-March-2011)

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Farmers MarketThe winter hiatus is over! The Portland Farmers Market returns to the Park Blocks at Portland State University (SW Park & SW Montgomery) on March 19, 2011.

Celebrating its 20th season, Portland Farmers Market operates vibrant farmers markets that contribute to the success of local food growers and producers, strengthen the food economy and serve as community gathering places. The independently-run local 501(c)6 nonprofit which receives no ongoing support from government agencies employs five full-time and four part-time employees who manage six weekly farmers’ markets in the Portland area from March until December. More than 700,000 shoppers purchased farm-fresh produce, baked goods, meats, cheeses, seafood and other specialty foods from more than 250 vendors generating almost $8 million in sales in 2010. In addition to operating markets, Portland Farmers Market also serves as an incubator for emerging businesses, a leader of the local food movement, a source of education, a culinary focal point in the community, a cultural destination complete with musical entertainment, and a billboard for Portland’s sustainability movement.

New vendors this year include Cascadia Chestnuts, Food Waves/Converging Creeks Farm, La Terra Vita, Lily’s Blooming Acres, Bingo Sandwiches, Lauretta Jean’s, Cascade Naturals, Divine Pi, Heidi Ho Organics, and Queen of Hearts Baking Company.

The market is open every Saturday through December 17, 2011 (8:30am until 2pm through October, 9am until 2pm in November and December).

Offbeat Belly Dance (18-March-2011)

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Offbeat Belly DanceEvery third Friday of the month the Blue Monk (3341 SE Belmont) hosts the Offbeat Belly Dance collective, a club rocking, good timing, genre-defying gang of badass belly dancers.

And this third Friday, March 18, 2011 is no exception – the Offbeat Belly Dance collectives invites you to Offbeat Belly Dance! This Friday! Fun! Fabulous! Free!

This month we will be joined by:

The swooping and electric Ziggy!
…
The shimmering and elegant Vee!

The sparkly and excellent Jasmine! (glory bee – isn’t she one of the masterminds behind that much talked about hot ticket, the Bridgetown Fashion Review?)

We will swoon and exult in the Offbeat Belly Dance debuts of:

Margaret!

And Katherine!

And we will dazzle and delight in the triumphant return of:

Molichka!

And Erika Ryn! (my stars and garters – isn’t she also one of the fashionable and talented souls behind the upcoming Bridgetown Fashion Review? Hmmm… I sense a pattern here…)

As always, the show is freeee!

As always, the show is early!

As always, the show will be awesome!

And as always, noble Portlander, we need you – you! – to make the night complete! Join us! Partake of our painstakingly handcrafted awesome revelry and excitement! Don’t leave us dancing with ourselves, dear hearts! Come get some of the awesome!

Join Karissa, the Ringleader of Offbeat Belly Dance (pictured to the right), and the other fabulous dancers at the show Friday night.

Individually, the members of the Offbeat Belly Dance collective perform at shows throughout the Portland area, but on the 3rd Friday of the month they come together at the Blue Monk to perform in a rollicking belly dance revue. One of the things that makes it offbeat, is that the dancers choose whatever kind of music they like. Karissa tells me this has included traditional Middle Eastern music, zydeco, AC/DC, Strauss, The Pogues, hip hop, jazz, blues, Old Crow Medicine Show, the Spice Girls, and just about everything else.

The shows are free, and go from about 7pm until 10pm.

Visit OffbeatBellyDance.com for more information. You can also become a fan on Facebook, and follow the genre-defying, good timing gang of belly dancers in Portland OR, w/Karissa as ringmaster/carnival barker/propagandiston on Twitter at @OffbeatBelly

Photo credit: Offbeat Belly Dance

March 14, 1808: Asa Lovejoy’s Birthday

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Asa LovejoyOregon, and Portland, pioneer Asa Lawrence Lovejoy was born in Massachusetts on March 14, 1808. He studied at Cambridge and Amherst, and became an attorney.

Lovejoy left Boston and arrived in Oregon in 1843. He settled in Oregon City, practiced law, and began a long career in politics. He claimed a tract of land on the Willamette River in a spot that would one day become Portland, but at the time was just a small clearing.

Eventually Lovejoy decided the spot wasn’t for him and sold his claim to Francis Pettygrove, but not before losing a coin toss for naming rights. Mr. Pettygrove, from Maine, chose the name Portland. Mr. Lovejoy had preferred Boston.

Lovejoy served in the Oregon Territorial Legislature, and was a delegate to the Oregon Constitutional Convention in 1857.

OMSI Science Pub (15-March-2011)

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Omsi Science PubFriends or Foes? Facing the Facts about American Crows is the topic of the latest OMSI Science Pub, which takes place Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at the Mission Theater (1624 NW Glisan).

Come get flocked up with a crow expert to hear about some amazing new findings in crow behavior. Crows and the rest of the corvids (e.g., ravens, magpies, and jays) are famous for their intelligence and for their capacity to flourish in the company of humans and their homes, farms, and parks. Their success around people may be associated with some extraordinary cross-species social skills.

Scientists and observant naturalists who study crows and ravens often end up believing that the birds are able to identify them as an individual person, but it was not until the last few years that anyone actually tested the birds’ abilities. Researchers in Seattle and Salem, where rapid suburban (human) growth has promoted population growth of crows, researchers from the University of Washington and Willamette University have found that the American Crows can distinguish individual human faces from those in a crowd.

Come find out how the studies were done and what conclusions can be drawn about crow behavior and development. The ability to recognize us probably gives crows and their kin an evolutionary edge in the modern world—a world with more people’s faces and more habitat changes than at any other time in history. Everyone has a crow story.

This Science Pub will be presented by Willamette University Professor of Biology, David Craig, who has researched crows’ ability to recognize, and remember, human faces.

The show takes place at the Mission Theater (1624 NW Glisan) from 7pm until 9pm, but arrive early (5pm doors open) to secure your beer, grub, and a seat! The suggested donation/cover charge is $3.00. Minors with adults are welcome, otherwise this event is 21 and over.