Portland Spoke – The Official Blog of Travel Portland – Travel Portland's Staff Blog

Cute kid alert: I was digging through my e-mail and came across this photo from my colleague Megan, whose daughters enjoyed a holiday shopping spree in downtown Portland.

The holiday season is here, and what better way to brighten your spirits than with a Holidate downtown!  Every Thursday evening in December, cross things off your to-do list and have some fun with special discounts, free parking at SmartPark garages until midnight (enter between 4-6 p.m.) and live merry music sponsored by Portland Mall Management, Inc.

Get all the details for each week’s Holidate and make your holidays extra merry and bright!

Bring on the holidays – the pop-up shops are back! Four destination shopping experiences, available only in November and December, are now open for business throughout downtown.

Boys’ Fort, a fantastical venue created by two theater designers, offers everything from salvaged wood tables and reclaimed lighting to men’s wallets and women’s bangles. The nonprofit Trillium Artisans helps up-and-coming artisans market their wares, which are all crafted from repurposed materials; check out the upcycled jewelry, toys, garden art and the baby booties made from surplus Pendleton wool. Downtown Artistry offers indie crafts and ceramics (and classes for the DIY shopper) and Saturday Market Annex provides an on-site artisan workshop and a daily central-city complement to Portland Saturday Market on the waterfront. Nearby, don’t miss Portland Design Collective and Crafty Wonderland – former pop-up shops that are now permanent storefronts offering fashion, jewelry and crafts year-round.

Looking for a motherlode of unique gifts? Clear your calendar for Dec. 10-11 when two holiday fairs celebrate Portland’s creative community. Crafty Wonderland’s annual Super Colossal Holiday Sale features more than 200 artisans decking the halls of the Oregon Convention Center with handmade jewelry, toys and housewares. Nearby, the Portland Bazaar launches this year at Sandbox Studio with a curated collection of handcrafted goods by more than 100 vendors. Offerings include books, music, art and (this being Portland) a bicycle-building demonstration. A shuttle will ferry shoppers between the fairs, while food carts will keep intrepid gift-givers fueled and toasting tax-free holiday shopping.

The holiday season just got a little merrier in Downtown Portland with the openings of several new businesses.  Some are local businesses, some are national, but all of them offer tax-free shopping and dining.

Nike Portland: Feel like you’re walking back into your high school gym at the new concept store from Nike, an Oregon-based company.

Via Tribunali: Seattle’s popular wood-fired pizza empire opens its first Portland location on Nov. 15.

Bunk Sandwiches: The third outpost of this beloved Portland sandwich shop is perfect fuel for on-the-go shoppers.

Sephora: Beauty lovers, your time has arrived — Sephora has opened a stand-alone store across from Pioneer Place shopping center.

PDX Pop-Ups: For the third year, temporary stores featuring local designers are swinging open their doors until Dec. 31.

http://downtownportland.org/downtown-events/good-stuff/pdx-pop-up-shops-2011/

Through the end of August, travelers and locals alike can save on shopping, dining and parking in downtown Portland while also helping the homeless with Compassion Coupons.

Here’s how it works: visit www.downtownportland.org/compassioncoupon for a list of merchants and their deals, including 20% off frozen yogurt at TartBerry and $1 off evening parking at SmartPark. You can print off your favorites, or pull them up on your smartphone with the Forkfly app. Then, for every coupon that is redeemed, $5 is donated to the Bud Clark Commons to help fund a mentor outreach program to provide homeless adults with the services they need.

Other great deals include nearly 50% off custom men’s wedding bands, 2-for-1 Nutcracker tickets, 20% off dinner at Portland Prime, or gifts with purchase at Crafty Wonderland — so start shopping and saving with a do-good deal.

Downtown Portland is a vibrant place that never ceases to surprise — even around 9:45 on a Saturday night in  mid-July, when I happened upon this scene in front of the Nordstrom on Broadway: self-described “street band” All the Apparatus, wrapping up an energetic (and, judging from the assembled crowd of dancers and head-nodders, enthusiastically received) set.

The band — which, according to my colleague Courtney, moves around to two or three downtown street corners on Saturdays — might soon be popping up in a city near you. Check their website for details of their August tour of western states.

Summer is finally here! For the majority of Portlanders, that means one thing: getting a table at an outdoor patio or grabbing sidewalk seating at a favorite bar or restaurant. Summer is a glorious three- to four-month stretch when we enjoy our world-famous microbrews, spirits and food outside without the fear of getting rained on.

When downtown, I enjoy taking a seat with fellow beer enthusiasts on the sidewalks outside of Rogue Distillery & Public House and Deschutes Brewery or lounging on the patios of BridgePort Brewpub or Henry’s 12th Street Tavern. The outdoor scene isn’t limited to beer; great dining options abound at The Heathman Restaurant & Bar, Nel Centro or Jake’s Famous Crawfish. If you’re looking for a view to go along with your food or drink, but still want to feel the breeze blowing through your hair, try Departure’s 15th floor open air patio.

For a complete list of outdoor options, Portland Food and Drink has put together a wonderful list of Portland Area Outdoor Dining.

Flanked by Violetta and Elephants Delicatessen, downtown Portland’s Director Park — once the site of a parking lot — is a popular lunch spot for shoppers, office workers, people-watchers and (ahem) snap-happy parents chasing their toddlers through the fountain.

For more downtown adventures and ideas, check out downtownportland.org.

Dining Month Portland returns to the Rose City this June. For the entire month, 60+ participating restaurants will offer three-course dinner menus — including an appetizer, entrée and dessert — for just $25. To sweeten the deal even more, diners can win more than $1,250 worth of restaurant gift certificates through the Downtown Portland Facebook page.

Participating restaurants are spread out across the city, with 20 in the downtown core. Old and new favorites are on the list, including James Beard Award winners and nominees like Paley’s Place, the Heathman and Nostrana. Recently opened restaurants that are already getting a buzz include Aviary, Cocotte and Otto.

Dining Month Portland is sponsored by Open Table and American Express. For every reservation booked on Open Table through this link, the Downtown Marketing Initiative will make a donation to the Oregon Food Bank.

I could see it out my window.  Trucks rolling in, colors popping.   The Wednesday Portland Farmers Market officially returned last week, marking the start of weekday markets to compliment the larger Saturday editions in the South Park Blocks, Hollywood and Beaverton.  Weekday visitors will find themselves mingling with local chefs, students, lawyers and the downtown lunch crowd (get in line early for a Salvador Molly’s tamale).  My purchases last week included asparagus from Veridian Farms, fresh flowers for home and soppressata salami from Olympic Provisions.  Berries will be here before we know it and if you don’t make it through town on a Wednesday or Saturday, don’t worry, there is also a Monday market at Pioneer Courthouse Square.