Dave Knows Portland

Labor Day Weekend 2011 – Portland-Area Amusements

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The end of summer may be nigh, but the summery events aren’t over yet. This Portland weekend has something for everyone: the Pirate Festival, the State Fair, Movies in the Park, a big ol’ union picnic, and much more!

Ongoing

Oregon State FairOregon State Fair 2011

The 2011 Oregon State Fair runs from Friday, August 26 through September 5, at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem. Heather and I had a blast at last year’s fair.

Competitions this year include 4-H of course, along with categories such as fine art, farm and garden, photography, floral, creative living, and grill offs. And of course there will be horse shows, and exhibits of livestock and the best part: small animals. [more]

Movies in ParksMovies in the Park

Movies in the park this weekend:

Thursday: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 @ Columbia Park
Friday: Roman Holiday @ Director Park
Saturday: Gulliver’s Travels @ Wallace Park [more]

Swift WatchChapman Vaux’s Swift Watch 2011

So here’s the deal. Every September thousands of Vaux’s Swifts come to Portland. They spend their days eating lots of bugs. In the late afternoon the Swifts begin flying in a giant undulating swirl in the sky about the school. Around sunset they swirl more tightly, like a ground pepper tornado, and begin disappearing, measure by measure, down the chimney. On the lawn below, hundreds of Portlanders gather on lawn chairs and blankets to stare at the sky, mesmerized. Boos erupt when opportunistic Peregrine falcons occasionally get lucky. The crowd cheers, however, when the predators are thwarted. Meanwhile unruly oblivious children scream and roll down the grassy hill. [more]

Portland Timbers NASL era logoSoccer City USA: The Portland Timbers and the NASL Years, 1975-1982

The Oregon Historical Society‘s newest exhibit, Soccer City USA: The Portland Timbers and the NASL Years, 1975-1982, kicked off the day after the Timber’s home opener, and runs through Sunday, September 4, 2011.

The exhibit curators have assembled an exhibit which focuses on the years the Timbers played in the original North American Soccer League, and is the largest collection of Timbers artifacts in one place at one time. [more]

Friday-Sunday

Art In The Pearl

Our 15th annual festival will be held this coming September 3th to September 5th, 2011 and hopes to be one of our best ever. Our festival fills the Northwest Portland Park blocks with art, theater, music, and hands-on activities for people of all ages …

Art In The Pearl® is a wonderful community event. Over one hundred artists show and sell work ranging from fine wooden furniture to beautiful paintings to photography, glass, clay, metal, jewelry, and much more! Art In The Pearl is ranked in the TOP 25 Fine Art events nationwide by the Art Fair Sourcebook. [more]

Reptiles and Amphibian ShowOMSI Reptile and Amphibian Show

Crawl, creep, and slither your way to one of the largest gatherings of reptiles and amphibians in the Pacific Northwest when OMSI presents the Reptile and Amphibian Show, Labor Day weekend, Sept. 3-5, 2011. Over 100 exotic animals will be on display at this popular event, including a large variety of captive-bred snakes, lizards, turtles, alligators, and more. [more]

Friday

Who Framed Roger RabbitCort and Fatboy’s Midnight Movie: Who Framed Roger Rabbit

This is the original 35mm film, filling the Bagdad’s screen with Bob Zemeckis’ genius, Bob Hoskins’ grumpiness, Roger’s ridiculousness and Jessica’s allure, with Bugs, Mickey, Donald, Daffy, Betty Boop, Droopy Dog and about a hundred other classic cartoons sharing the screen for the first and likely only time together. [more]

Saturday-Sunday

Portland Pirate FestivalPortland Pirate Festival

The sixth annual Portland Pirate Festival invades Historic St. Helens, Oregon this Saturday and Sunday, September 3 and 4, 2011.

I have never made it to this event (for one thing I have no swashbuckling outfit), so all I can vouch for is what they say on the website – looks like fun! The fest features pirate-themed and non-pirate-themed music, dance and performance, historical reenactments (with cannons!), stuff for kids, and of course there grub and grog! [more]

Monday

Union YesLabor Day Picnic at Oaks Park

Oregon was the first state to officially recognize the Labor Day holiday in 1887, so it’s only fitting that to this day we throw huge Labor Day picnics throughout the state.

The largest local union picnic, which an estimated 20,000 people attended last year, is the Northwest Oregon Labor Council‘s Labor Day Picnic held Monday, September 5 at Oaks Amusement Park from 10am until 5pm. [more]

And for even more weekend events and activities, check out the Dave Knows Calendar, and visit Blogging Portland on the Cheap, PDX Pipeline, and Oregon Events at OregonLive.com.

August 24, 1975: Portland Timbers Compete in Championship Game in Debut Season

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The Oregonian sports section headlines, 25 August 1975

The expansion Portland Timbers‘ remarkable first year run in the North American Soccer League came to an end at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California on Sunday, August 24, 1975. The Timbers lost 2-0 to fellow expansion side Tampa Bay Rowdies in the championship game (The Oregonian, 25-August-1975).

“It was a miracle we were even here,” [Timbers coach Vic Crowe] said. “The team has done more for Portland and the NASL this year than any other team in this short period of time. They ought to have a Cup of their own.”

It was a remarkable run. Portland had only been awarded a franchise that January, and yet assembled a formidable team that finished at the top of the Western Division standings, defeated the Seattle Sounders and the St. Louis Stars in the playoffs, and reached the championship match.

Match Day (24-August-2011): Portland Timbers vs. Chivas USA

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Portland TimbersThe Portland Timbers (8-12-5) host Chivas USA (7-8-10) tonight at Jeld-Wen field in a match with wildcard playoff race ramifications. Kickoff is at 8pm.

In the teams’ first meeting on June 4, Chivas’ Paulo Nagamura assisted on a goal by Marcos Mondaini in the 70th minute to give Chivas USA a 1-0 victory. Juan Pablo Ángel, acquired by Chivas from the Galaxy recently, should play tonight for Chivas. He scored his first goal for the Goats in his first game with the team last Saturday.

Currently the New York Red Bulls, with 32 points, are in the wildcard playoff spot. But Chivas USA is only one point behind, with a game in hand. With a win tonight Portland (29) could leapfrog Chivas, but they then travel to face D.C. United on Saturday, who have 31 points out of only 24 matches. So basically: Portland has to keep on winning to give themselves a chance to secure the wildcard spot, but the playoff dust won’t likely clear until the last matches of the season.

Previews and intrigue

August 22, 1982: Last Timbers Match of the NASL Era

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The Oregonian sports headlines, 23 August 1982The North American Soccer League Portland Timbers thrived in the second half of the 70s, but like the league, which crumbled in the early 80s, the Timbers’ franchise also lost its luster. While the league limped along through 1984, the Timbers would play their last NASL match on Sunday, August 22, 1982.

That last match was not so well attended as those in the early days, as Ken Goe reported in The Oregonian on August 23, 1982.

There were 9,517 fans at Civic Stadium Sunday afternoon to watch the Portland Timbers end their 1982 North American Soccer League season – and maybe to say goodbye.

There were some familiar faces:

Timber Jim, the chain saw-equipped Timbers’ mascot, was there. So was ever-loyal Mildred Schwab, Portland city commissioner. Coach Vic Crowe was on the Timbers bench; Willie Anderson was on the field.

More visible, though, was the absence of those not on hand. Harry Merlo, chairman of the board of the parent Louisiana-Pacific Corp., never made it. Neither did most of what once was Soccer City, U.S.A.

Seven years ago, almost to the day, 31,523 people jammed into the stadium to watch the Timbers beat Seattle 2-1. That was Timbermania. Sunday most of the maniacs were on the beach, in the mountains, playing softball, or perhaps watching cable television.

Match Day (20-August-2011): Portland Timbers vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

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Portland TimbersThe Portland Timbers (7-12-5) try to regain form this Saturday, August 20, 2011 when the MLS Vancouver Whitecaps (3-12-9) make their first visit to Jeld-Wen Field. Kickoff is at 7pm.

The match will be shown on FOX Soccer, and you can hear it on 750 AM The Game or La Pantera 940 AM.

Portland’s woes on the road continue, but at home the team has had their best performances. But the Timbers haven’t had as hard a time of it as the Whitecaps, who sit alone at the bottom of the standings with only 18 points out of 24 matches. Portland may be only two spots higher with 26 points, but is still gunning for a wildcard playoff spot.

An honor both teams are aiming for is the 2011 Cascadia Cup. Seattle leads in points (5) with 1 win and 2 draws, but Vancouver (1) and Portland (1) play twice still this season (including tonight’s match); a pair of wins for either may be enough to claim the cup.

If you still need more soccer this weekend, head to Jeld-Wen field again on Sunday at noon when the Timbers Reserves host the Whitecaps Reserves. 10,000 cheap (i.e. $10) tickets have already been sold!

Previews and intrigue