Dave Knows Portland

Archives for June 2011

Portland’s Outdoor Pools Open (20-June-2011)

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2012 info here!

Peninsula PoolPortland’s outdoor pools open for summer 2011 today Monday, June 20. All of them remain open until early to mid September.

The outdoor pools:

Photo credits: Peninsula Pool image from Portland Parks website. Rooftop pool image (only visible on homepage) from Wikimedia Commons – photographer: Hu Totya.

June 20, 1907: First Portland Rose Festival Opens

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The first annual Portland Rose Show and Fiesta opened with a rose exhibit and competition at the Forestry building on June 20, 1907 (Morning Oregonian, 20-June-1907). The afternoon featured a children’s floral parade.

The Morning Oregonian editorialized the next day that the Rose Festival should be made an annual event:

There is no reason in the world why Portland should not hold a rose festival every year. Our weather in June, the month of roses, is always beautiful. The mountains are clad in their tenderest green. The fields and orchards are at the height of their charm. . .

Everybody will be happier and better all the rest of the year for the festival of roses. Old men will be younger, young men wiser; for there is nothing that contributes so much to wisdom as innocent joy. The happiest people in the world are the wisest. Let us therefore be happy, at least for a day or two every year. Let us banish care and worry and bask in the odor of roses. Let the bands play and the children march and the crowds shout with the clear sky over all and the sun bestowing his abundant blessing upon earth and man. And with every recurring June may the flowers be sweeter, the sky softer and the children lovelier until we shall forget how to begin the Summer without our Festival of Roses.

The second day of the festival featured a two mile long Grand Fiesta parade, an organ recital, and public viewing (free admission!) of the rose exhibit (Morning Oregonian, 21-June-1907).

On day three the throngs took in an automobile race at Irvington track, an exhibition of fire fighting apparatus, and baseball games – the day time game, a benefit for Flower Mission, pitted a team of bankers against a team of doctors and lawyers at Multnomah field. In a night game under electric light the Portland railroad men took on the Spokane railroad men (Morning Oregonian, 22-June-1907). The doctors and lawyers defeated the bankers 5-2 and the Portland railroad men won their game 6-3 (The Sunday Oregonian, 23-June-1907)

June 19, 1959: Zoo Train “Oregon” Makes Debut

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Zoo Train "Oregon" (photo from The Oregonian, 20-June-1959)The Oregon Zoo steam engine Oregon was completed and delivered on June 19, 1959.

But she wasn’t ready for the zoo just yet. Her first stop was the Oregon Centennial Exposition and International Trade Fair (The Oregonian, 20-June-1959).

The prettiest little steam locomotive anywhere, its red and green paint and polished brass sparkling in the sunshine, was revealed to the world Friday for the first time and will begin hauling passengers at the Centennial Exposition Saturday.

It’s the third train of the famed Portland Zoo Line, and judging by the first ecstatic remarks of Friday morning viewers, it’s going to be a great favorite.

The mini-locomotive has 9″ by 12″ cylinders, 30″ diameter driving wheels, and operates at a maximum steam pressure of 170 psi. The tender carries 150 gallons of fuel oil and 400 gallons of water. She was moved to the Zoo after the Centennial Expo closed in September of 1959, where she remains in service to this day.

Match Day (19-June-2011): Portland Timbers vs. New York Red Bulls

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Portland TimbersThe Portland Timbers (5-6-2) aim once again to regain form at home as the New York Red Bulls (5-2-7) visit Jeld-Wen field for their first time tonight – kick off is at 7pm.

New York leads the league in goals scored (24), lead by French superstar Thierry Henry with 7 in 11 games played. The Timbers have lost the last three matches, but played well last week (unfortunately losing the match in stoppage time).

Match previews and intrigue

OMSI Science Pub (21-June-2011)

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Omsi Science PubThe Discovery of Insulin: Lifting the Death Sentence of Diabetes is the topic of of the next OMSI Science Pub on Tuesday, June 21 2011:

On October 31, 1920, Frederick Banting was an orthopedic surgeon looking for work when, half-asleep in the midst of a restless night, he scrawled 25 words that would lead to the life-saving solution to a problem that had confounded scientists for centuries. Less than two years later, the fourteen-year-old diabetic daughter of the U.S. Secretary of State, Elizabeth Hughes, became one of the first recipients of an experimental drug called insulin. This improbable meeting would change both of their lives—and millions of others. But for nearly 60 years, Elizabeth’s story was virtually lost to history. More than 23 million people in the United States, or about 8% of the population, have diabetes, and 5 to 10% of these have Type 1 diabetes. Yet many do not know the amazing story that led to the medical breakthrough on which they depend.

The presenter is writer Thea Cooper, author of Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin and the Making of a Medical Miracle.

This science pub 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! There’s a $5.00 suggested donation/cover charge. Minors with adults are welcome, otherwise this event is 21 and over.