Dave Knows Portland

Archives for November 2011

ScanFair (December 3-4, 2011)

by Leave a Comment

I'm a Viking!The 27th annual Portland ScanFair, presented by the Scandinavian Heritage Foundation, takes place this Saturday and Sunday, December 3 and 4, 2011.

Scandinavians love to celebrate Christmas. It brings joy to the short and dark days of a Scandinavian winter. Those traditions run deep in the hearts and lives of the people of Scandinavian heritage and come alive every year in Portland at ScanFair.

This is the 27th year that the Scandinavian Heritage Foundation (SHF) and the Nordic community will gather to celebrate the fun, the food and the traditions of a Scandinavian Christmas with ScanFair, a holiday festival and market.

The fair will be held at a new venue this year, the Exhibit Hall in the Memorial Coliseum (300 N Winning Way). Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and students, and children under 12 are free. Saturday hours are 10am to 5pm, Sunday 11am to 4pm.

Though primarily a holiday bazaar featuring Scandinavian food, crafts, and sundry, there is also an impressive entertainment lineup (pdf) featuring live traditional music and folk dancing performances and classes.

But my absolute favorite part of the fair is the annual pickled herring eating contest! Check out Nick Capri’s impressive 2008 win below. He took home as a prize a bottle of Krogstad Aquavit, made by Portland’s House Spirits. This year’s contest goes down at noon on Saturday – don’t miss it!

November 28, 1969: Portland Agrees to Take Over Rose City Transit, Transfer to Tri-Met

by Leave a Comment

On November 28, 1969 Portland’s City Council entered into an agreement with Rose City Transit and the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District (Tri-Met) paving the way for Tri-Met to take over Portland mass transit operation (The Oregonian, 29 November 1969).

With the possibility of a bus strike 48 hours away, the City Council entered an agreement Friday by which the city Monday [December 1, 1969] will begin operating Transit buses for the first time . . .

The council passed a pair of emergency ordinances prepared in advance by City Commissioner Francis Ivancie and the city attorney’s office. They provide:

– Execution of an agreement with Rose City Transit Co. under which RCT will turn over its plant and property to the city at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

– Immediate transfer of the plant and property, following its receipt by to city, to the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District.

Before the transfer Rose City Transit was the last privately-owned and operated big-city transit system on the Pacific Coast (Sunday Oregonian, 1 September 1968).

Garden Home Community Library Book Sale (3-December-2011)

by Leave a Comment

Book SaleThe Garden Home Community Library Book Sale takes place Saturday, December 3, 2011 from 9am until 3pm at the Garden Home Recreation Center (7475 SW Garden Home Road).

You’ll find hundreds of hardback and paper bound books, CDs and DVDs including fiction, crime, history, biography, children and young readers, cooking, hobbies, health and wellness, travel, arts and literature. Prices are $.50 and $1.00, and your purchases support the Garden Home Library.

Meanwhile taking place at the same time is Garden Home Recreation Center’s 27th annual Holiday Bazaar.

OMSI After Dark: Create to Innovate (30-November-2011)

by Leave a Comment

OMSI After DarkOMSI After Dark presents the theme Create to Innovate, this Wednesday, November 30, 2011 from 6 to 10pm.

Treat yourself to childfree, brain-building science fun at OMSI After Dark! Check out live demos, new featured exhibitions, and old favorites. Sample tasty snacks and sweets along with beer and wine, and talk to regional food and beverage artisans about the science behind them. It’s geeks gone wild! (21+ only, IDs required.)

Presentations and exhibits include Cheese Heads, where Urban Cheesecraft will teach you to make your own cheese; Go Grizzly Adams where you get to help NW Trackers build a kayak; Beer and Kombucha Making with Homebrew Exchange, and a lot more!

21 and over only. Tickets are $12 for non-members, $6 for members – pre-purchase online. Visit OMSI.edu for more details.

Cort and Fatboy Holiday Event: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (2-December-2011)

by Leave a Comment

Cort and Fatboy Holiday Event: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?Join Cort and Fatboy this Friday, December 2, 2011 at the Bagdad Theater (3702 SE Hawthorne) for a very special holiday event: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

There will be a smorgasbord of mediocrity available: a live taping of cortandfatboy, featuring most of their regular guests, including Oregonian film-critic and Sabertooth Vampire creator Mike Russell, Digital Trends editor/columnist Ryan Fleming, filmmaker/author/genial misanthrope David Walker, stand-up comedian Big Jim Willig, gossip columnist Byron Beck, and other special guests.

This second annual holiday event’s lineup also includes a 35mm presentation of Die Hard, a live taping of the Cort and Fatboy podcast, a screening of Joni Derouchie‘s documentary about Cort and Fatboy, Welcome to That Whole Thing, and a screening of David Walker and Matt Haley‘s Star Wars short Blackstar Warrior. Whew!

The doors open at the Bagdad at 10pm, pre-show entertainment starts at 8:30pm, and the life show taping begins at 9pm. Admission is only $3 (at the door or online), and you have to be 21 or over.