Dave Knows Portland

ScanFair 2008: Sights, sounds, and Pickled Herring

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Saturday morning found us at PSU’s Smith Center for the 24th annual ScanFair, celebrating the sight, sounds, tastes and traditions of a Scandinavian Christmas. The event raises funds for PSU Nordic language classes and the Scandinavian Heritage Foundation, the mission of which is to preserve, communicate and celebrate Scandinavian heritage and culture.

Events like the ScanFair are not really my scene. I’m part Norwegian, and who doesn’t occasionally crave some lutefisk? But the ScanFair is primarily a holiday bazaar; there isn’t even a beer or aquavit garden!?

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December 6-7: ScanFair, Radical Books, and Holiday Cheer

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There are other things to do this weekend in besides drinking beer.

ScanFairThe Scandinavian Heritage Foundation‘s 24th Annual ScanFair takes place this weekend at PSU’s Smith Center. Come for the Scandinavian food, crafts, and the 53rd crowning of Oregon’s Lucia Queen of Light. Stay for the Pickled Herring Eating Contest at noon Saturday!

The fair is held at PSU, on the 3rd floor of the Smith Memorial Center (1825 SW Broadway). Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and students, and children under 12 get in free.

From noon to 4pm Saturday the Portland IWW is hosting the 3rd Annual IWW Working Class Book Fair at Liberty Hall (311 N Ivy) from 11am-5pm.

Vendors include Laughing Horse Books, In Other Words, Tarantula Press, Eberhardt Press, Just Seeds, Malkriad@s, Olin, Red Letter Press, Great Northwest Books, Decentra Collective, Black Rose Collective, and others.

From noon to 5 Sunday the Oregon Historical Society hosts the 41st Annual Holiday Cheer event, A Celebration of Oregon Authors and Artists.

Gather for an afternoon with more than sixty Oregon authors and artists as they display, autograph, and sell their latest work at this popular event. It’s the perfect chance to get your holiday

Neighborhood Notes has more information.

11/29-12/2: Pickled herring, winter ales and glühwein

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Festivals are few and far between in late fall and winter, but this weekend is one of the exceptions. Fight the holiday cheer and cold: imbibe copious amounts of alcohol, sausage, and pickled herring.

Thursday-Sunday

Holiday Ale Festival 2007Pioneer Square hosts the Holiday Ale Festival once again. Stay warm and dry and claustrophobic under the big tent. Take the Max home (if you must drive, rot your teeth with root beer) after you enjoy too many beers with too high an alcohol content and too much cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Actually, there are lots of other choices besides spiced winter ales, but be careful: almost everything is strong.

You know the drill: admission is free, but the plastic mugs are $5 and the samples are a $1 each. No kids at this festival, must be over 21 to enter the tent. Go Thursday for some special beers.

(My favorite part of the Holiday Ale Festival tradition is heading to the Virginia Cafe afterwards for a Cajun Jack Gardenburger and fries.)

Saturday-Sunday

scanfair.jpgThe Scandinavian Heritage Foundation has been putting on the ScanFair for 23 years. Besides the typical xmas bazaar crap, dancers and musicians perform on two stages, there will be various how-to demonstrations of traditional crafts, Oregon’s 52nd Lucia Queen of Light will be crowned and the highlight: a pickled herring eating contest noon on Saturday!

The fair is held at PSU, on the 3rd floor of the Smith Memorial Center (1825 SW Broadway). Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and students, $3 for children 6 to 12 years, and 5 and under get in free.

germanholidaymarket.jpgMeanwhile out in Beaverton the German American School of Portland (located in the old Nike headquarters across from Kmart: 3900 SW Murray Blvd) is hosting the 8th annual German Holiday Market. This is another xmas bazaar-type thing, but with German foods, sweets, and glühwein! I have only recently become acquainted with the German mulled wine (available at Amnesia Brewing this fall and winter when their electric kettle isn’t on the fritz), but it’s fast becoming my favorite winter drink.

Being a native Portlander of German and Norwegian descent I feel obligated to attend all three of this weekend’s festivals – see you there!