Dave Knows Portland

Multnomah County Fair 2012

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Bunny at Multnomah County Fair 2010The 2012 Multnomah County Fair takes place on Memorial Day Weekend at Portland’s historic Oaks Park. The fair celebrates 106 years this year.

Seriously, don’t miss this! Heather and I had a blast at the 2010 fair – what’s not to like about red necks, funnel cakes, and award winning vegetables? And bunnies!? And this year you can have your photo taken, for free, with a 9 foot tall bigfoot!

Strengthen your urban kids’ immune systems at the E. coli petting zoo, pony rides, pig races, and the Alpaca Pavilion. And the exotic animal exhibit is bigger than ever!

Of course there will also be vendors, food booths, traditional fair exhibits, a talent show, live music, and the Oaks Park thrill rides – don’t miss a chance to ride Looping Thunder, Portland’s, uh, biggest roller coaster! 😉

Nigel the Camel is back again this year!

The fair is open from noon until 7 p.m. each day – Saturday, May 26 through Monday, May 28. Admission, and parking, is free!

Mt. Tabor Art Walk (May 19-20, 2012)

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The 7th annual Mt. Tabor Art Walk takes place this Saturday and Sunday, May 19 and 20, 2012 – on and around Mt. Tabor!

The Mt. Tabor Art Walk showcases the many artists who live in this neighborhood. This annual event is sponsored by a community of artists supporting each other. It is designed to promote high-quality visual art in a variety of media within the unique setting of the Mt. Tabor neighborhood.

Read about the artists and pick up an art walk map on the website. The walk goes from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.

Rose City Used Book Fair (May 18-19, 2012)

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Rose City Book FairThe 2012 Rose City Used Book Fair takes place Friday and Saturday, May 18 and 19 at The Double Tree Lloyd Center (1000 NE Multnomah). The fair runs from 2 to 8 p.m. Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Admission is only $2, or $1 with a can of food for the Oregon Food Bank.

This unpretentious book fair is sponsored by the Portland Area Used Booksellers’ Association, and features thousands of books from independent booksellers from Portland and beyond. Over forty exhibitors will be displaying and selling used books, bargain books, collectible books, prints, and ephemera. In addition experts will be on hand for appraisals, several seminars are scheduled, and there will be door prizes.

Visit the fair website and Facebook page for more details, including a map and list of exhibitors.

Stumptown Stories: The History of Pinball and Gaming in Portland (8-May-2012)

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These babies were mine in my bachelor days!Are you fond of pinball and Portland history like I am? Then head down to the Jack London Bar (529 SW 4th Avenue – the basement of the Rialto Pool Room) tonight (Tuesday, May 8, 2012) for a free presentation on The History of Pinball and Gaming in Portland.

Learn all about the old forms of gambling like punch-cards, fan-tan, pinball, slots, and the attendant controversies and scandals that surrounded them. Hear sordid tales of Portland vice! Discover the history of pinball! Before the reforms of the 1960s and 1970s, Portland was a very different kind of town. It was more industrial, less progressive, and in the mid twentieth century, awash with gambling. Coin machines, punch cards, and games of various sorts operated all over town, and the racketeers who ran them worked hand-in-glove with a corrupt police force. In the late 1950s, though, the whole system came crashing down.

Your presenter will be writer and Portland Walking Tours guide and researcher – and native Portlander [so few of us!] – Joe Streckert.

The presentation begins at 7:30 p.m., doors at 7:00 p.m. (no cover!) – arrive early to grab a seat. The Jack London Bar features a full menu and bar – 21 and over only!

The Stumptown Stories series, geared to everyone who loves this city we live in, takes place most Tuesdays at Jack London bar.

Kick Ass Oregon History Presents: The Seventh Day (11-May-2012)

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The Seventh DayKick Ass Oregon History presents the film The Seventh Day at 5th Avenue Cinema (510 SW Hall) on Friday, May 11, 2012.

Labeled by some in our current era as “The FIRST Occupy Portland,” The Seventh Day was made by Portland State University students, with the help and guidance of the university’s Center for the Moving Image, during the student strikes that erupted on college campuses across the nation in May of 1970. PSU’s campus became the site of a violent confrontation between the Portland police and protesters that sent over 30 to area hospitals. The events leading up to, and the melee itself are all chronicled in this important film. The Oregonian film review of June 5th, 1970 called The Seventh Day “an excellent film about a truly historic event in the history of our community.” My guess is 42 years later, this statement is even more true.

A virgin 16mm copy of the film from the Tom Taylor Collection, Gift of the Taylor Family, Special Collections, Portland State University Library, will be shown. The film’s context will be laid out by orhistory.com’s enthusiastic Resident Historian, Doug Kenck-Crispin. Witness to the 1970 riot, PSU history professor David Horowitz, will speak, and Josh Feinberg will provide live sitar music – no joke!

Admission is a mere $5, and beer and wine will be available. The show begins at 7 p.m.

Prepare yourself for the evening by listening to Park Blocks Riot, Kick Ass Oregon History podcast, Vol 4 #6! Visit ORHistory.com and stay tuned to @Oregon_History on Twitter for further details on the Kick Ass Oregon History podcasts. Catch up on missed episodes at the Kick Ass Oregon History archives.