Portland Spoke – The Official Blog of Travel Portland

MaryAnn Puls at Bite Studio.

Headed out with Bert earlier this month to Bite Studio to see some new work by our friend MaryAnn Puls. The show was part of First Friday, the Central Eastside’s loose-limbed answer to Portland’s First Thursday and Last Thursday art walks.

Bite, a cooperative printmaking studio, is emblematic of the Portland art scene: polished yet unpretentious. For a larger sampling of the city’s visual-arts offerings, check out the Portland Art Focus website.

Summertime in Portland means a number of things to me: berry season, non-stop sun, and festivals galore.

Sharon Jones (image courtesy of Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival)

The largest blues festival west of the Mississippi takes over the waterfront next week, bringing with it some of the biggest names in the business.  The four-day event features the likes of Etta James, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and numerous other performers from around the country and from Portland’s own backyard.

The Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is a jaw-droppingly large fundraiser for the Oregon Food Bank, which is in special need of donations this year.  Admission to the event is a suggested $10 donation and two cans of non-perishable food.  Hardcore fans bring their blankets and low-slung chairs and stake out valuable real estate on the grass.  Boaters can listen in close on the Willamette River, creating a mini-armada of blues lovers.

For attendees who want a bigger blues fix, the Delta Music Experience Blues Cruises take the tunes to the, er, river, with up-close-and-personal concerts as you travel.  As for after parties, the Wildhorse Super Jams are the place to be, taking over the Marriott hotel on July 3 and 4.

Piles of veggies at the downtown market (Wednesdays)

Today on my lunch break I took a walk out onto the Park Blocks, just to wander around the Portland Farmers Market. I didn’t need to buy anything, I just wanted to look at all of the beautiful flowers and produce, and be entertained by all of the people buzzing through the stalls deciding what to purchase for their lunch and dinner. It is quite a sight, and it can be difficult to choose between piles of pastries, baskets of berries, wood-fired pizzas, and sizzling sausage.
 
We’re so lucky to have so many of these markets in the Greater Portland area. In the summer season (when produce is at its peak) there are markets in the city five times a week! And then there are all of the markets in the suburbs, like Beaverton, Lake Oswego and Oregon City, selling food even closer to its source out in the country. Portlanders might assume that the Saturday market at PSU is the biggest in the area, but that distinction actually goes to the Beaverton Farmers Market. And these markets are only a tease of what is to come from our local farms — soon U-pick farms will be open, farm stands will dot our country roads and food festivals from Forest Grove to Hood River will be on the calendar every weekend.

The Portland Creme, the "Rose City's" official doughnut

It’s official.  Portland has its very own city doughnut – the Portland Creme, officially recognized via unanimous resolution of Portland’s City Council.

Our pals down at Voodoo Doughnut, a Voodoo-themed doughnut shop known for its crazy concoctions, created the idea behind Portland Creme. I say “idea,” because the Portland Creme is basically a Boston Cream doughnut with a couple of tiny tweaks: the Portland Creme has two frosting “eyes” and a rather precocious tongue of cream that protrudes from the side of the doughnut. The eyes and tongue give the pasty a whole lot of sassy personality, which, in my book, feels very Portland.

Voodoo owners Tres Shannon and Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson came up with the Portland Creme as a tongue-in-cheek challenger to the Boston varietal. They figured that since Portland had beaten Boston in the 1845 coin toss that decided Portland’s name, it was high time the two cities battled it out in the pastry arena, as well. (Portland’s original founders hailed from Portland, Maine, and Boston, Mass. Each was adamant about naming the new city for his respective hometown. They settled the argument by flipping a coin.)

Even though I’m not a big cream-doughnut fan (give me Voodoo’s Maple Bacon Bar any day), I love that the city has adopted the Portland Creme as its official doughnut. It’s fun, it’s weird and, as my nine-year-old nephew would say, “it’s sweet!”

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Elizabethan Stage

Summer may conjure up visions of beaches and bikinis for some, but for me it’s Shakespeare. Every year, as we did last week, my husband and I make our annual trek south to Ashland for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Because our visit coincided with the opening weekend for OSF’s summer season, we packed three of the four plays into our two-day stay at the festival’s open-air Elizabethan Stage, whose design was inspired by Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London. (more…)

Portland has many options for those who need to be gluten-free.

Dining out is something that many people don’t really think about — you choose a spot and order what sounds good. When my mom or sister come to visit from Alaska, though, I have to be very conscientious because they are gluten-intolerant, meaning that they have to avoid wheat, barley and rye in their diet. This can make dining out difficult because you never know where gluten might be hiding in a pre-made dish. Recently, though, I’ve found that being gluten-free (GF) in Portland is getting easier all the time.
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Aerial view of Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Known by locals as “Portland’s living room,” or just “the Square,” downtown’s Pioneer Courthouse Square is a symbol of the city’s progressive planning, a bustling meeting place, and a fine place to sit down and eat your lunch. The square, which was created in lieu of a monstrous parking garage in 1984, is a quarter of a century old this year.

In addition to a wide expanse of brick-step seating (perfect for people-watching), the square is home to TriMet, the regional transit agency; Travel Portland’s visitor information center; and a surprising collection of artwork. This map details the different sculptures and so forth; my favorites are the Weather Machine, which springs to life with a trumpet’s blare at noon every day, and the Echo Chamber, which must be heard to be appreciated. You also can’t miss the famous “man with an umbrella,” known formally as “Allow Me.”

Cool upcoming events in the square include the all-day celebration of Portland State University radio station KPSU’s 15th anniversary this Saturday, June 27 — complete with live bands, beer garden and more. Starting in July, two summer traditions come to the square:  the ”Noon Tunes” concert series offers free lunchtime entertainment every Tuesday and Thursday from July 7 – Aug. 20; and “Flicks on Bricks” presents free movies on selected Fridays at dusk.

When I was a kid I loved to go to the grocery store with my dad. I couldn’t care less about what we were having for dinner. I was just interested in getting into the check-out line and convincing my dad to part with a few quarters so I could high-tail it over to the video games and play some Punch Out!

And so began a love of arcade games that continues to this very day. No matter how advanced and interactive games become, they can’t match the simplicity that made classic ’80s video games like Dig Dug and Donkey Kong so innovative at the time and absolutely timeless today. (more…)

Left: Henry Woronicz, artistic director at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the early ’90s. Right: The Most Interesting Man in the World, star of Dos Equis’ amazing TV spots.

The venerable Shakespeare Festival — located in Ashland, about a five-hour drive south of Portland on I-5 — opened its outdoor Elizabethan stage last weekend for summer productions of “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Henry VIII” and “Don Quixote” (which, according to insiders my mom, was the hit of the weekend).

Ah, Cervantes and cerveza. Stay thirsty, my friends.

Good morning, Portland!

On my way to work this morning, I biked past a painting that kids had recently made on a wall near their school. It’s their vision of Portland, with roses,  ladybugs, and all. It put such a huge smile on my face that I had to stop and take a picture. Now, there’s nothing uniquely Portland about a kids’ painting on a wall. However, there’s something special about the fact that people are not surprised — and I would dare say, are HAPPY– to see a young woman on a bike taking the time to snap a kids’ painting on a wall, just because it made her smile.

This is what I love about this city, and what I’d miss if I were to leave. We keep room in our lives for the little things of life. We pay attention to them. And we share the joy they give us with others. So, here are a few of my recent little discoveries, which I thought might bring you some enjoyment: (more…)