Portland Spoke – The Official Blog of Travel Portland

Renowned for its adventurous food scene, Portland is no stranger to culinary trends. We’ve embraced and indulged in everything from cupcakes to bacon (and maybe even some bacon cupcakes). But 2012 belonged to ice cream, specifically the concoctions dreamed up by Salt & Straw.

The innovative ice creamery has reinvented the scoop, turning out rich, original flavors made with super-fresh, local ingredients. Their holiday lineup includes some surprises (Mulled Wine Sorbet, Figgy Pudding), but we’ve yet to meet a Salt & Straw flavor we didn’t love. And there’s no doubt about entries like Peppermint Cocoa  and Bourbon Pecan Pie. (more…)

Portland is full of bright ideas to embrace the shorter days of winter: hundreds of thousands of lights in our neighborhoods, our waters, and plenty of spots in between. Here are some of the stars in the city’s constellation of holiday light displays:

The first twinkles come as the Winter Wonderland at the Portland International Raceway (Nov. 22-Dec. 25) kicks off the season with the largest holiday light show west of the Mississippi.

Next, the Oregon Zoo switches on Zoolights (Nov. 23-Dec. 31). This family favorite features carolers, rides on the beloved zoo train, and all sorts of animals (actual and animatronic) — all illuminated with 1.5 million LED lights. (more…)

Every year, Santa’s got his list and you’ve got yours. But from gift-gathering to rounding up all your holiday trimmings, your to-do list might not leave much time for fun. Of course the season of hope has a solution: Holidate, which lets you shop and celebrate at the same time.

Downtown Portland’s weekly roundup of  special in-store events and merry-making restaurant deals, Holidate runs every Thursday evening in December, 4-7 p.m., ideal for the fresh-from-the-office crowd or suburban working folks who want to enjoy some holiday spirit in the city. (more…)

Photo by Noel Zia Lee via Flickr

The stretch of days from Thanksgiving until New Year’s Eve can be a roller coaster of activity, but the holidays don’t have to be so hectic. Ditch the Thunder Mountain mentality and enjoy a ride on Portland’s Holiday Express (weekends, Nov. 30-Dec. 16), a leisurely way to ease into the season.

Departing from the Oaks Station, adjacent to Oaks Park in Sellwood,  this family-friendly train ride cruises between the Willamette River and Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, with Santa taking the helm and his elves spreading their cheer all along the way. This seasonal adventure comes courtesy of the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation, whose brand-new Oregon Rail Heritage Center in the Eastside Industrial district is now accessible via Portland Streetcar. (more…)

For the fourth holiday season in a row, Downtown Portland is home to a select handful of pop-up shops. The boutiques all debut today (Nov. 8 ) and will remain open for your gift-giving needs through Dec. 31.

• 

  A design from the Emit pop-up shop.

  Emit (535 S.W. Sixth Ave.) blends performance fabrics and modern silhouettes to create bold, distinctive women’s apparel and accessories that allow you to feel beautiful and confident in any situation.

• Wolf’s Apothecary (902 S.W. Morrison St.) features locally made health and beauty products amid a collection of turn-of-the century and modern home goods.
• The Enchanted Alpaca (902 S.W. Morrison St.) offers comfortable, elegant, warm and breathable clothing made of alpaca and natural fibers — plus live alpacas at the store every weekend!
• Boys’ Fort (614 S.W. 11th Ave., in the Governor Hotel) showcases custom-built furniture, reclaimed lighting fixtures and men’s bags, wallets and jewelry, as well as bespoke personal fragrances and other trophies of modern-day living.

For more holiday shopping and fun, check out the brand-new DowntownPortland.org.

Here are some of Portland’s many stage productions to help you celebrate the season. Check out our Holiday Music Guide, too.

A Midsummer Nights Dream at Portland Center Stage. Photo by Patrick Weishampel.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
Portland Center Stage
Nov. 13-Dec. 23
128 N.W. 11th Ave.

Strictly speaking, this isn’t a holiday show, of course, but it does have fairies and elves (Isn’t Puck a sort of elf?). Center Stage, the city’s biggest theater, will give it a good ride, and director Penny Metropulos, an Oregon Shakespeare Festival veteran, has done great work with the play there before.

“Christmas on Broadway”
Broadway Rose
Nov. 21-Dec. 23
12850 S.W. Grant Ave., Tigard

This Tigard-based company specializes in musicals, and this one, designed by Rick Lewis, is a sort of Greatest Holiday Hits from Broadway, built around the idea of a bunch of snowbound actors entertaining themselves on Christmas Eve.

“Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol”
Artists Repertory Theatre
Nov. 27-Dec. 30
1516 S.W. Morrison St.

In this hit from Christmas Past, the intrepid but dour detective undergoes a very Scrooge-like experience, aided by the equally intrepid but altogether more balanced Dr. Watson. (more…)

Here’s a chronological look at the season’s most festive musical offerings in and around Portland. See our Holiday Dance and Theater Guide, too.

“Wintersong”
Portland Symphonic Choir
Dec. 1-2
St. Mary’s Cathedral, 1716 N.W. Davis St.

One of Portland’s oldest choral institutions sings seasonal songs.

Bach for the Holidays and Wassail Party
Trinity Choir and Portland Baroque Orchestra
Dec. 1-2
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 147 N.W. 19th Ave.

The acclaimed singers and soloists from Portland Baroque Orchestra perform two of J.S. Bach’s finest choral orchestral works, his “Cantata #140” and “Magnificat.”

Northwest Community Gospel Choir

“Gospel Christmas”
Oregon Symphony and Northwest Community Gospel Choir
Dec. 7-9
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 S.W. Broadway

Charles Floyd conducts the 14th annual gospel holiday celebration. (more…)

Ever feel like the holidays are a drag? Well, you’ll be in good company at A Very Joan Crawford Christmas (Nov. 28 – Dec.23) from Triangle Productions. The mad-cap mommy’s ramblings about everything from Pepsi and Vodka to Mamacita, her housekeeper, make for a new, alternative Christmas tradition.

The legendary showbiz star from Hollywood’s golden age gabs about boys and booze and shares her tips for holiday hostesses. Want to host a dinner party with style? Seat your hairdresser next to a professor, dammit.

Complete with a tour of her home (wire hangers and all), and plenty of dish on the bitter old cranberry’s ex-husbands, the show is just like spending the holidays with family — well, family that you happen to despise.

Sure, there’s no place like home for the holidays, but there’s no place quite like Hood River, either. This pretty little burg is an hour’s drive over(-looking) the Columbia River and through the Mt. Hood National Forest woods from Portland — and still holds dear to holiday traditions of years gone by.

Hood River Holidays (Nov. 30 – Dec. 24) gives visitors plenty of reasons to stop, stroll and shop the city’s quaint stores and boutiques, as well as kick back within its restaurants and pubs for a bit of holiday revelry.

Festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 30, with a holiday parade, live music, kids’ activities and the hristmas-tree lighting all heralding the arrival of Santa.

The month-long celebration fills every inch of town with holiday spirit, from boat parades featuring festively lit watercraft, to rides on Mount Hood Railroad’s Polar Express, which transports believers in the Christmas Spirit straight to the North Pole. New events are being added to the festival all the time, so be sure to check the Hood River County Chamber of Commerce website before you pack your sleigh.

Photo by Liv Niland, via Flickr

Just like an Advent calendar loaded with treats, the days leading up to Christmas in Portland hold an abundance of sweet memories — starting with the downtown tree-lighting ceremony (Friday, Nov. 23) in Pioneer Courthouse Square and stretching into the new year.

All ages of sippers and shoppers enjoy the traditional holiday tea service (Nov. 23 – Jan. 6) at The Heathman Hotel’s Tea Court Lounge. Don’t worry — snacking on their devil’s food chocolate cupcakeswon’t land you on Santa’s “naughty” list.

Christmas at Pittock Mansion

Another Portland institution, the Pittock Mansion, dresses up with Celebrating Christmas Carols (Nov. 19 – Jan. 1). The breathtaking mansion is adorned with 15 festive trees, dozens of genuine silver bells, and hundreds of ornaments, which set the scene for holiday performances by local musicians in the estate’s music room.

If your holiday spirit is a little feisty, Portland Center Stage’s annual presentation of The SantaLand Diaries (Nov. 27 – Dec. 30) is just the ticket. Humorist David Sedaris’ beloved account of life as a department store elf is both sweet and sullen, and is sure to deliver the gift of laughter. Traditionalists may prefer to ring in the season with Oregon Ballet Theater’s presentation of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker (Dec. 8-23) – it’s the only Balanchine-choreographed production of the holiday classic west of the Mississippi. These are just a pair of the big tickets this holiday season — visit our holiday arts guide for more, and make Portland your source for the best holiday gifts of all: great memories.