Dave Knows Portland

Archives for June 2011

Rose Festival Fleet Week (June 8-13, 2011)

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Update: 2012 Fleet Week details here!

Rose Festival 2010The 2011 Rose Festival Fleet Week begins Wednesday, June 8 – so you know what that means, bridge lifts!

The raising and lowering of the bridges, as I like to call this annual event, begins with ship arrivals Wednesday and Thursday, and then ends Monday when the last of the visiting ships leaves the Portland sea wall.

Hard Drive, the OregonLive.com commuter blog, reports that the Broadway, Steel, Burnside, and Morrison bridges will be lifted at times Wednesday, June 8 from 11am to 5pm.

For more specific arrival and departure times, check out the Columbia River Pilots website dispatch status page (CWALL, I believe, refers to the sea wall along Waterfont Park).

The 2011 Rose Festival Fleet consists of the following ships:

United States Navy
USS Lake Champlain (CG 57)
USS Ingraham (FFG 61)
USS McClusky (FFG 41)

Canadian Maritime Forces
HCMS Saskatoon
HMCS Whitehorse

United States Coast Guard
USCGC Active
USCGC Fir
USCGC Bluebell
USCGC Henry Blake

Army Corps of Engineers
ACOE Redlinger
ACOE Essayons

Historic Ships
Sternwheeler Portland
PT 658

Public tours will be available from 9:30am to 3:30pm from Thursday to Sunday, but the ships make their own schedules, so the times are estimates. The free tours are on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Dill Pickle Club Wants Your Factoids!

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Dill Pickle ClubPortland’s Dill Pickle Club has announced an upcoming publication, the City Works Scout Book, a pocket guide to our 2011 tours, with facts about Portland (ala Harper’s Index), drawings and graphics, and plenty of space for notes. And they are asking for your help! – Contribute your favorite stat or fact about Portland and it may be published in the book. In addition each contributor is automatically entered to win a bundle of Dill Pickle Club books, comics, and other good – a winner will be drawn next week.

Send your links and factoids to ask@dillpickleclub.com by Sunday, June 12, 2011.

The scout books and the upcoming Dill Pickle Club tour schedule will be made available at the club’s 2nd birthday party, on Thursday, July 28.

The Dill Pickle Club is a Portland creative cultural club, which organizes educational tours, lectures, and publications. For more information visit the website, and consider becoming a member.

Cirque Du Cycling (12-June-2011)

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Cirque du CyclingThis year’s Cirque du Cycling takes place Sunday, June 12, 2011. A benefit for Albina Youth Opportunity School, it’s a street festival, a circus, a bike race and a parade on North Mississippi.

The Cirque features an art bike parade, a criterium-style street race, a cargo bike race, and a family ride. And to accompany the festivities? Exhibitors and a beer garden!

Check out the website for the schedule of events (beer garden opens at 2pm!).

Below is a taste (of the 2009 festival), in video form, by Brewcaster (and check out my 2010 sideways race footage!):

Cirque du Cycling Bike Parade from brewcaster on Vimeo.

June 7, 1985: The Goonies Released to Theaters

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Oregon Film Museum (formerly Clatsop County Jail)The Goonies opened in theaters on June 7, 1985. The Oregonian film reviewer Ted Mahar’s description of the film appeared in the paper that day:

“Goonies,” is a whizzingly paced adventure comedy about eight misfits who have the time (and fright) of their lives when one of them literally stumbled across a pirate treasure map. But while pursuing the treasure, they are also fleeing two cretinous bandit brothers and their gun moll mom through a dangerous maze of caves.

Personally I would describe the film as “eight pre-teens screaming for two hours,” but apparently I’m in the minority with my distaste – the $20 million Spielberg-produced film grossed over $60 million.

Partly filmed in and around Astoria and Cannon Beach, The Goonies really hit a chord with a lot of people (i.e. pre-teens), and is celebrated to this day on the North Coast. In fact Astoria threw a Goonies 25th Anniversary Celebration in 2010, and Mayer Willis Van Dusen has declared today, June 7 to be Goonies Day in Astoria, Oregon. So, uh, happy Goonies Day!

Photo credit: The old Clatsop County Jail photo by Heather at Mile73.com. The film opens with the “two cretinous bandit brothers” escaping from said jail, which now houses the Oregon Film Museum.

Milk Carton Boat Races (12-June-2011)

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Milk Carton Boat Race 2011The Westmoreland Park casting pond is the place to be on Sunday, June 12: the 2011 Milk Carton Boat Race kicks off at 11am!

My favorite Rose Festival event, I have not missed a race since the 2009 revival, and I won’t miss the 2011 spectacle either.

For first time participants or spectators, I recommend checking out my reviews of the 2009 and 2010 races. My only complaints about the races are that too few participants build their boats out of actual milk cartons – most use milk jugs – and there’s no beer garden. The last two year, however, spectators have been treated to free ice cream floats and chocolate milk!

Pro-tip: Bring a blanket or lawn chairs, a picnic lunch, and enjoy the spectacle!