Portland Spoke – The Official Blog of Travel Portland

If creativity is Portland’s currency, then the coming weeks are an embarrassment of riches, with back-to-back-to-back festivals that celebrate the many expressions of Portland’s creative culture: indie music (MusicFestNW, Sept. 5-9), contemporary art (Time-Based Art Festival, Sept. 6-16) and food and drink (Feast Portland, Sept. 20-23) — not to mention art & technology (XOXO, Sept. 13-16) and all manner of DIY (Mini Maker Faire, Sept. 15-16).

The latest addition to that esteemed lineup — and, in true Portland style, flying slightly below the radar — is Design Week Portland (Oct. 9-13), a preview of which is included here. Be warned: The language careens from earthy to ethereal, rough-hewn to reflective. You know, kind of like the city itself.

If you’re looking for a way to cap off a perfect Pacific Northwest summer, close your eyes and open your ears, because MusicfestNW sounds off again from Wednesday, Sept. 5,  to Sunday, Sept. 9, rocking Portland for a 12th straight year. The city’s largest music festival was named one of the most authentic American experiences by Time magazine, and each year, it gets bigger and bolder.

Since 2010, the festival has showcased big acts smack-dab in Portland’s living room, Pioneer Courthouse Square (as well as 17 other spots). This year, the outdoor stage will feature Beirut‘s mix of electronic-influenced world music and indie folk; Girl Talk, a one-man mash-up maestro; and the alt-rocking Silversun Pickups. Other anticipated acts include Passion Pit, The Hives, Black Mountain and many more. You can buy individual show tickets, or go all-out with your choice of guaranteed-entry wristbands.

In addition, this is the first time MusicfestNW will team with the city’s emerging start-up community, launching PDX: Portland Digital Experience. This festival-long showcase of technology and digital creativity will include talks, demos and interactive exhibits. And, when you think of what Portland’s become in the last 12 years, the union makes perfect sense. Nerds are the world’s new rock stars, and Portland may be its next Liverpool.

A roundup of my favorite Portland-related things from the past few days.

In delicious culinary news:
Waffle Window to open second location in Northeast Portland
First Look Inside Salt & Straw NW, Opening Friday
West Coast’s first paleo food cart coming to N.E. Alberta Street

Weird stuff:
Retirement plans for Portland’s urban chickens in the New York Times. Seriously.
Photos from the “Keep Portland Weird” festival in Paris
Dull woman pushes for Boring partnership: Oregon town teams up with Scottish village

Drop everything and watch this:

Finding Portland from Uncage the Soul Productions on Vimeo.

To me, the ultimate Oregon vacation combines amazing food and drink with outdoor exploration in this spectacular natural wonderland. Our Travel Portland team had the chance to guide the editor of Washington Flyer magazine on such an experience last May, and he made this great video to share what he found. It’s that time of year again, and you could plan this itinerary too — biking around Portland, whitewater rafting on the Clackamas, dining in the city and waking up on Mount Hood — what a trip!

Behind the scenes: Douglas Derrick (Nostrana) mixes a Manhattan for Mike Thelin (Feast Portland) and my colleague Barbara Steinfeld.

Working with our friend Mike Thelin — co-founder of the much-anticipated food and drink festival, Feast Portland (Sept. 20-23, 2012) — we recently wrapped up some fun video shoots at three leading restaurants, which shared their recipes for chocolate hazelnut toffee (Country Cat), butternut squash soup (Metrovino) and a seasonal Manhattan (Nostrana).

Visit the “Flavors of Portland” tab on our Facebook page to download and share the recipes, watch the videos and enter to win two tickets to Feast. (Must enter by Jan. 6, 2012.)

Gotta share: Check out this cool, buzzed-about video that’s making its way around the Internets.

IFC’s show all about Portland, “Portlandia,” is gearing up for its second season, which starts on Jan. 6. They’ve been releasing some new video clips and this one in particular tickled my funny bone. While we are passionate about recycling, I’m not quite sure that the real city is ready for this level of detail.

Want more? If you have 24 minutes to spare, check out this short film, “Inside Portlandia.” It features interviews with Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein (of course) and tells the story of how “Portlandia” came to be. If you just want to hear what they think of filming in Portland, you can skip ahead to the two-minute mark. It’s such a compliment to hear so many people say great things about the city.  Happy viewing!

Travel Oregon – the state’s tourism office – hosted a group of bloggers exploring the state earlier this month, and they spent a great deal of time in Portland during an event called “Full On Oregon.” The video above was made by the lovely couple behind the blog Smithbites about their experience during the event.

While we put a lot of effort into telling readers of Portland Spoke our favorite things about the city, we certainly can’t say it better than these writers have. Take a look at the City of Roses through the eyes of visitors – many in our city for the first time – and see how enchanted they were.

It should be noted that Travel Oregon did cover travel expenses for these bloggers; however, they received no payment for writing or participating in the event.

Click on any of the links below to read more about their experiences.

Smithbites – Full On Oregon … It Was So Much More

What’s Gaby Cooking – Exploring Oregon!

StickyGooeyCreamyChewy – Full On Oregon: Food, Wine, Friends and Fun

5 Second Rule – Tasting Oregon (pt. 1 of 2)

Beyond The Plate – Oregon Weekend

Food Loves Writing – A Weekend With Travel Oregon

Foodzie – New Discovery: Steven Smith Teas

Passionate Foodie – Disgorging Sparkling Wine With Rollin Soles of Argyle Winery

Passionate Foodie – Rant: Does Dunkin’ Donuts Need Some Voodoo?

Though many here in Stumptown still mourn the loss of our AAA baseball team, the Portland Beavers, it’s hard to deny the huge following of our new Major League Soccer team, the Portland Timbers. Here’s a video of the beginning of a recent Timbers game at the newly renovated Jeld-Wen Field in downtown Portland. Whether you’re a big soccer fan or not, the Timbers’ games are a lot of fun. (And their current 5-0 record at home ain’t too shabby, either.)

Flora, then fauna?

After a visit to the lovely Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, head a few blocks east on Southeast Woodstock Boulevard for entirely different — yet no less enticing – aroma: the outdoor grill at Otto’s Sausage Kitchen.

Enjoy an old-fashioned dog at the tables that line the sidewalk. Or, inside, order a deli sandwich (my pal Eric’s family swears by them) and browse the meat-and-sausage cases.

But don’t take my word (or Eric’s) for it. Judging from this clip, TV food dude Guy Fieri shares our enthusiasm for Otto’s, if not our general tonsorial approach.