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Portland Weekend Amusements (7-9 October 2016)

October 6, 2016 by Dave Leave a Comment

Apple tasting, H.P. Lovecraft, Oktoberfest, Bikes and Beer, Archives – and more! A weekend with something for everyone.

All Weekend

Portland Nursery Apple Tasting Event

About the time the leaves begin to change color, it’s time to celebrate the abundance of apples and pears. We’re always well-supplied with a large variety of apples and pears to taste and purchase by the pound, as many as 60 different varieties in all!

Tasting lines, as well as our fresh-pressed cider demonstration and tasting, will be open during all six days of this free event.

H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival

The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival® & CthulhuCon™ promotes the works of H.P. Lovecraft, literary horror, and weird tales through cinematic adaptations by professional and amateur filmmakers, panel discussions, author readings, gaming, art, and sometimes live music. The festival was founded in Portland, OR in 1995 by Andrew Migliore, with the desire that H.P. Lovecraft would be rightly recognized as a master of gothic horror and his work more faithfully adapted to film and television.

Friday-Saturday

Handmade Bike & Beer Fest

The ninth annual Handmade Bike and Beer Festival is a collaboration between the Oregon Bicycle Constructors Association (OBCA) and the Oregon Brewers Guild. This family friendly, event pairs renowned bike frame and parts builders with great, local craft beer.

Saturday

2016 Oregon Archives Crawl

The Oregon Archives Crawl is back and we want YOU to “crawl” between the City of Portland Archives & Records Center, the Oregon Historical Society and the Multnomah County Library where you can explore our region’s history with 28 local archives, special collections and heritage organizations. Celebrate National Archives Month while discovering the wealth of information that can be found in your local archives. Whether your interests include the history of Japanese internment, the impacts of urban renewal on Portland, or resources for finding your family’s history, the Oregon Archives Crawl has something for everyone.

Widmer Brothers Brewering 12th Annual Oktoberfest

Unleash… the beer! Get ready for the most brew-bubbling, belly-busting, lederhosen-loving event of the year: The Widmer Brothers Brewing 12th Annual Oktoberfest October 8th from 12pm – 9pm at Pioneer Courthouse Square. It’s a beer lover’s paradise, with all of your favorite Widmer brews, like Hefeweizen, Steel Bridge Porter, Upheaval IPA, PDX Pilsner, Okto Festival Ale and introducing specialty small-batch brews you can only sample at Oktoberfest!

Portland Weekend Amusements (Sept. 30 – October 2)

September 29, 2016 by Dave Leave a Comment

Ease your transition to real Autumn weather with beer, cheese, and Greek food this weekend. And if you have the gumption, ride your bike a bit around Sellwood and Milwaukie.

All Weekend

Portland Greek Festival

After six decades, The Greek Festival has become one of the largest festivals of its kind, sharing our Greek Orthodox faith and rich culture with over 15,000 guests annually. The festival is an iconic event in the Portland Metropolitan area and has been designated as an Oregon Heritage Tradition by the Oregon Heritage Commission. Each year a portion of proceeds from the festival go toward worthy philanthropic endeavors in the greater Portland community.

Prost! Portland Oktoberfest

It’s the biggest party of the year at Prost!

Everything kicks off on Friday Night with a ceremonial keg tapping at 7pm. We will also be selling a limited amount of our 2016 Oktoberfest Liter Steins.

Saturday and Sunday we are taking the party outside. We will have the entire Marketplace, with extra biers available on tap outside, German BBQ on a charcoal grill, games, a face painter and more!

Portland Juggling Festival and Vaudeville Extravaganza

One of the largest regional juggling festivals in the country, the festival provides a venue for jugglers from around the world to come together to share knowledge and hone skills in workshops and juggling sessions.

The Juggling and Vaudeville Extravaganza highlights the festival on Saturday night. In past years it’s featured a family-friendly assortment of local and national juggling and variety acts in one live performance.

Friday-Saturday

Portland Fresh Hops Fest

The Portland Fresh Hops Fest is a celebration of the annual hop harvest that takes place from mid-August to mid-September in Oregon. This year’s 13th annual event will take place Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at Oaks Amusement Park, 7805 SE Oaks Park Way. Hours are 5pm to 9pm on Friday and 12pm to 8pm on Saturday. The festival features more than 60 Oregon craft beers made with hops that are freshly picked off the vine and used within hours of harvesting.

This year’s festival will feature more than 60 Oregon brewed fresh hop beers . . . Beers may run out; for the greatest selection, arrive on Friday or before 3pm on Saturday.

Saturday

The Wedge: Portland Celebrates Cheese

The Wedge is a Farmers Market-style event, featuring cheese and foods/beverages that go well with it. Sample and purchase local, artisan cheese, specialty foods, beer, wine, and cider, take a class, snap a pic with our mascot, and try your hand at cheese wheel bowling! . . .

This is a family and pet friendly event that is open to the public. Children and well-behaved dogs on leashes are welcome . . .

8th Annual Belgianfest

Join North 45 for our 8th Annual Belgianfest!

Old World vs. New World Belgian Beer Battle:

Taste the best in Belgian beers with our expansive collection of authentic Belgian beers and try some of the best domestic craft Belgian style ales in our one-day celebration of all things Belgian!

Sunday

Sellwood-Milwaukie Sunday Parkways

This is the last event of the season, but we will end it with a bang! We are once again teaming up with the Salmon Celebration and the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) for the second year in a row. For the first time ever, we will be going to Milwaukie. It’s going to be amazing! This new route will include Westmoreland, Sellwood, and Water Tower Parks plus the Milwaukie Farmers Market and the Milwaukie Business District. Stop by this event to share in some Sunday Parkways history in the making, and also enjoy the live music, delicious food, and fun that awaits you!

OMSI Harvest Fest

Enjoy the bounty of Oregon while indulging in snacks, sweets, beer and music from the Pacific Northwest region! Learn about Oregon specialty crops from local farms, CSA’s, cooking demonstrations and artisan vendors. There’s fun for the whole family, including kids activities and live entertainment. Come celebrate the harvest season at OMSI!

3rd Annual Salmon Celebration at Westmoreland Park

Join us in celebration of the restoration of Crystal Springs Creek and the return of salmon to the city on Sunday October, 2 from 11am to 4pm at Westmoreland Park.

The program will include salmon and lamprey tasters, inter-tribal cultural activities, and wonderful storytelling. Booths will include hands-on science activities, wilderness skills, nature crafts, and games for children and adults alike. The event will be free and open to all.

Portland Weekend Amusements (23-25 September 2016)

September 22, 2016 by Dave Leave a Comment

Oktoberfesting continues – German bier, sausages and schnitzels, wiener dog races and dirndls galore!

All Weekend

Oaks Park Oktoberfest

German bier, sausages and schnitzels, wiener dog races and dirndls galore! A multitude of picnic tables in the festhallen and under the trees means there are plenty of places to sit down with your beers and friends.

I’ve been to every one of these fests since 2008 at least, and the weather is almost always perfect and I always have a fantastic time. Oaks Park is the best spot in Portland to spend the last few summer-like days of the year drinking beer with friends.

Friday-Saturday

Portland Night Market

100 of Portland’s best vendors celebrating local food, culture, music, drinks and retail.

The Portland Night Market showcases the many unique & diverse businesses that call the great City of Portland home. Blending food, culture, music, drinks and retail together for an adventurous evening in the Industrial District. The event allows people to meet some of Portland’s best makers and creators set in the unique venue of a 100+ year old produce row warehouse. The PNM is a free event and open to all ages.

Saturday

Museum Day Live

The Museum Day Live! ticket provides free admission for two people.

Museum Day Live! is an annual celebration of boundless curiosity hosted by Smithsonian magazine. Participating museums and cultural institutions across the country provide entry to anyone presenting a Museum Day Live! ticket.

Where will your curiosity lead you on Museum Day Live!?

Oktoberfest at Occidental Brewery

Are you ready for Occidental’s biggest Oktoberfest yet? You know the drill! Join us Saturday September 24th for our biggest Oktoberfest so far. As many of you know we have recently teamed up with Urban German Grill and opened Occidental Wursthaus. This year’s Oktoberfest will also serve as the grand opening of The Wursthaus so come ready to break it in! Beer (Festbier with a handful of others) will be flowing in multiple places, there will be live music and delicious food.

Portland Weekend Amusements (16-18 September 2016)

September 15, 2016 by Dave Leave a Comment

It’s the fest time of the year: Polish, Serbian, Oktoberfests, and more!

Thursday-Sunday

OMSI Animation Film Festival

A celebration of animation from independent shorts to feature films, the OMSI Animation Film Festival showcases a selection of intelligent, entertaining and provocative programming from some of the world’s most creative artists. The Festival runs from Thursday, September 15 through Sunday, September 18 at OMSI’s Empirical Theater. With highlights that include an appearance by Laika Studios’ 18-foot tall stop motion skeleton puppet, a cake-baking octopus, and an imaginative 1940’s steampunk adventure, the Empirical Theater’s giant screen will offer a fantastical smorgasbord of animation with something sure to appeal to nearly everyone.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Most cultures have a harvest festival and China is no exception. Zhong Qiu Jie (中秋节), the Mid-Autumn Festival, has roots back to ancient times and is an important traditional Chinese holiday. Taking place on the fifteenth day of the eight month of the lunar calendar, the Mid-Autumn Festival is usually on or close to the time of the “Harvest Moon” when the moon appears at its fullest during the autumnal equinox.

Celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the four most important holidays on the Chinese calendar, at Lan Su Chinese Garden this September 15 – 18!

Friday-Sunday

Stammtisch 2016 Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest season is almost here! Dust off your lederhosen and dirndls and get ready for our 3rd annual Okoberfest celebration.

Once again we will be closing down the street and throwing the best Oktoberfest celebration in the city with a BBQ, games, German music, and 10+ Oktoberfest biers on draft.

Friday

El Grito de Independencia

Come and celebrate with us!

El Grito Fiestas Patrias celebrates the independence of Mexico and other Latin American countries from Spain. As the Mexican President presents the nation’s traditional El Grito in Mexico City, so too will Portland commemorate Mexico’s independence at the Rose Quarter Commons.

Saturday

Oktoberfest at the Beermongers

Join us as we celebrate the beginning of Oktoberfest with a BEER GARDEN! We will have some classic German beers on draft from Paulaner, Ayinger, Hacker-Pschorr plus a special ceremonial Fest keg. We will have a beer garden set up outside with some of our favorite Oregon made German style beers from Heater Allen, pFriem, Rosenstadt and others. We will be encouraging costumes and awarding prizes for creative attire. We will be showing the Timbers on the Big Screen at 3pm. Then we will have a Paulaner gal hosting beer stein races, prizes will include Timbers tickets to the Final Home Game! Prost!

Saturday-Sunday

Portland Polish Festival

The Polish festival is an event for families and singles, adults and children, for food connoisseurs, music lovers, concert goers, dance enthusiasts, … It is for everyone.

During the festival, we provide non-stop stage performances, including a few dance groups and music bands, polka contest on Saturday and Sunday, a street dance, delicious Polish food and imported Polish beer.

Serbian Fest

Please join us for the 10th Annual Serbian Festival on September 17th & 18th. This is a celebration of food, wine, dance and culture of the Serbian Orthodox people.

Delicious Serbian Food: BBQ, Roast Pig and Lamb, Desserts; Live Music, National Dance, Beer and Wine, Kid’s Activities…and much more.

Ongoing

Chapman Vaux’s Swift Watch 2016

Every year in late August, one of Portland’s most spectacular natural events begins: Thousands of Vaux’s Swifts gather in the city as they prepare to migrate to Central America and Venezuela. Migrating swifts often use chimneys as roosts (places to sleep), and they are likely to return to the same roost year after year. One population has been returning to Chapman since the 1980s, and it is one of the largest known roosting sites of migrating Vaux’s Swifts.

Portland Weekend Amusements (3-5 June 2016)

June 2, 2016 by Dave Leave a Comment

Books, cold beers, and a night time parade – not a bad way to spend a scorching weekend.

Saturday

Kölsch Fest

Kölsch Fest is back!

This year we are letting the perfect summer bier, Kölsch, take over the pub completely. We will be serving five different brands on draft in traditional .2L Stange from Früh, Zunft, Reissdorf, Sünner, and Freigeist.

We will have food specials inspired by the annual Carnival in Köln. This is a completely unique event, that you don’t want to miss!

Pints in the Pearl

Pints In The Pearl is Portland’s premier beer fest! Open to all-ages, with food, music, family friendly entertainment, and exclusive beers poured for the event by Deschutes Brewery Portland Public House, 10 Barrel Brewing PDX, Fat Head’s Portland and BridgePort Brewing Company!

Tickets are available for purchase for $20, which gets you a stainless steel pint glass and 3 Tokens.

3 Tokens = 3 Pints or Food Items

The Starlight Parade

One of our most popular events, the Portland General Electric/SOLVE Starlight Parade offers funky, eclectic fun for everyone. From traditional marching bands and flood-lit floats, to glow-in-the-dark umbrellas and unique hand-built entries, you’ll see the best of Portland’s diverse community groups (and surrounding Northwest region) together in one whimsical pageant. 2016 makes for an exciting milestone, as the Starlight Parade celebrates 40 years in the city of Portland!

Saturday-Sunday

Rose City Book and Paper Fair

Held at the DoubleTree Hotel Portland (1000 NE Multnomah St, Portland, Oregon 97232) the Rose City Book and Paper Fair celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.

Offerings include thousands of used and rare books, prints, and ephemera from more than 50 independent dealers.

Admission $3. Good for both days. Proceeds benefit the Oregon Food Bank.