Portland, August 11th. The Bite of Oregon is a celebration of Oregon, its food, its people and quality of life. With hundreds of restaurant and dozens of breweries and wineries represented, the Special Olympics Oregon benefit attracts food fans by the thousands.
Sizzling seafood paella was a hit.
“The Usual Suspects” entertain the crowd. It’s the band of Police Chief, Mike Reed.
Viewed as a foodie’s dream come true, the Gerry Frank’s Oregon Chef’s table is an opportunity to experience small gourmet bites from some of the top chefs from around the state.
Eddy Gonzales, Chef Shyam Dausoa from Chez Dodo and Sala Kannan were serving Dholl Puri and Portobello Bury – a Mushroom Curry with Lentil Fritters served Chutney & Pickled Vegetables.
Chef Chris Carriker from the Gilt Club served up Grilled Pork Belly Skewer with Kohlrabi Slaw, Fried Peanuts and Cilantro and Lamb Meatballs with Fresh Chickpea Relish, Goat Cheese & Herbs.
Lilie Boni, Henry Car and Elizabeth Kennedy from Brix Tavern served Smoked Grilled Local Salmon Brochettes with Heirloom Tomatoes & Rocket Pesto.
B. O’Shea, Chef Aaron Gerra, Pamela McConnell, Chef Aaron Guerra CEC, DM – ACF Portland Culinary Team Member with the Oregon Blueberry Commission served Fresh Oregon Blueberries Foster w/ Hand Dipped Ice Cream, Balsamic Reduction.
At the popular Iron Chef Oregon competitions, presented by NW Natural, talented Oregon Chefs battled it out to see whose cuisine reigned supreme.
Lucy Willis from Lucy’s Tropical Juice sold fruit smoothies.
Volunteers Isabel Klein and PJ Hummelt were two of hundreds who pitched in at the benefit for Oregon Special Olympics.
Oregon Brewers were out in force.
Ice cream served up by volunteers, including members of the National Charity League Genevieve and Mariel Klein, was a hit with the kids.
Soul Vaccination, the popular fund and soul band, performed for music lovers.
About Special Olympics Oregon
Here in Oregon, while Special Olympics Oregon serves more than 10,000 participants throughout the state, nearly 70,000 people with intellectual disabilities could benefit from participating in Special Olympics. Still growing, Special Olympics Oregon is efficiently expanding programs to get closer and closer to serving every individual with intellectual disabilities that qualifies to participate in Special Olympics.
Special Olympics Oregon offers training and competition opportunities in 14 different Olympic-style sports. There are three sports seasons throughout the year, with statewide competitions and training in winter, summer and fall.
The nonprofit is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a bang!
Portland, July 20th. Hoffman Construction & Woofter Architecture won the coveted Golden Shovel first prize at Sand in the City 2012.This summer it took just six hours for eleven teams to transform over 450 tons of sand and 4,500 gallons of water into magnificent sand sculptures right in the heart of the Rose City. The event drew over 50,000 thousand people to Pioneer Square and raised almost $150,000 for Impact NW. Sand judges Junki Yoshida, Timber Joey, Amy Roloff, Ken Carr, and KOIN Local 6’s Jenny Hansson were also impressed with the efforts of Pacific Power & LRS Architects. The team racked up three awards: the Silver Rake, People’s Choice and Competitor’s Choice. Turner & Ankrom Moisen Associated Architects took home the Bronze Bucket.
Yoshida’s Sand in the City is Impact NW’s biggest fundraising event of the year. It benefits the Kids on the Block Awareness program as well as the Youth & Family programs.
This is the sand sculpture crowned the winner was build by Hoffman Construction & Woofter Architecture.
In addition to the visually stunning sand sculptures, the children’s activities at the Children’s Inspiration Village sponsored by Evergreen Aviation were huge hits.
Snoopy was a favorite
In it’s 17th year, this annual event sponsored by Yoshida raised awareness about the importance of early childhood education and promotes the Impact NW Kids on the Block educational program. The video below explains the pioneering puppet show.
Impact NW was founded in 1966. We implement innovative programs that respond to our community’s specific needs, connecting clients with tools and resources that empower them to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and transition into financial independence. We helped develop Southeast Portland’s first Senior Center, Youth Service Center, and free health clinic. In the 1990s, we piloted Multnomah County’s first Parent Child Development Services program and the Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) program. Over the past three years, Impact NW has helped stabilize and improve Portland’s social services sector by merging with established nonprofits—Senior GAP, Urban Opportunities and the Kids on the Block Awareness Program—to increase the agency’s service area, expertise and direct client benefit.
Impact NW has grown to serve over 60,000 residents in Multnomah, Clark, Washington and Clacakmas Counties and parts of Washington State, including children, families, seniors, and adults with disabilities. Community partnerships and innovation are essential to achieving our mission. Impact NW works closely with area schools, businesses, community-based organizations, and governmental agencies to create a safety net and springboard for our region’s low-income residents.
Save the date for next year’s Sand in the City – July 19-21, 2013. For information on how you can participate in Sand in the City, contact Catherine Hayes via email at [email protected].
Portland, August 10th. Six large scale mural projects are recently completed or underway in Portland this summer – all recipients of grant funding from the Regional Arts & Culture Council. RACC’s public art mural program, financed by the City of Portland, provides funding for community murals that reflect diversity in style and media and encourages artists from diverse backgrounds and range of experience to apply. In the photo above, Korean-American artist, Una Kim, has been feverishly working on a mural on the east wall of the Keller Auditorium with the assistance of students from Portland State University who enrolled in a class to specifically work on this project. The mural is located on the bottom half of the east facing wall of the Keller Auditorium along SW 2nd Street between SW Clay and SW Columbia. The design is influenced and inspired by such works as Degas’ ballerinas, Mary Cassatt’s At the Opera, and Dufy’s The Yellow Violin. Also included are a modern dancer, two musicians in an orchestra, and a jazz musician along with an acrobat to represent the large scope of the theater. A celebration is scheduled for Friday, August 17th, 6:00 – 8:00 PM (on SW 2nd);
Antwoine Thomas, mural designer, puts finishing touches on the Rosewood Initiative Mural, one of six new murals being created around Portland this summer. The Rosewood Mural will have an opening celebration this Saturday, August 11, 1-4pm at 16150 SE Stark.
Rosewood Initiative – Antwoine Thomas, Artist 16150 SE Stark St (south wall of Union 76 Gas Station); RACC Funding: $3,000
In developing this fantastical design for a mural in the Rosewood Neighborhood, Antwoine Thomas, with the assistance and support of Addie Boswell, began collaborating months ago with local residents through The Rosewood Initiative community meetings and activities like Youth Night to create a design that represents the positive change occurring in the neighborhood. Throughout the energetic mural one can identify recognizable elements from Rosewood including roses, community gardens, diversity, and local businesses. There are also elements that link the neighborhood to the greater Portland metro area, honoring some of the neighborhoods from which many residents have relocated. While the mural contains these true elements, the design is also highly detailed and fantastical, meant to entice the senses and invite the eye to linger and keep discovering.
The People’s History of Hawthorne – Artist, Chris Haberman Fraternal Order of Eagles, SE 50th & Hawthorne; RACC Funding $2,400;
Work continues on this ambitious mural that extends along the north and west walls of the building that serves as the Portland headquarters for the Fraternal Order of Eagles. The mural’s theme, “The History of Hawthorne” – or the “people’s history” — celebrates this SE neighborhood, located between an extinct volcano (Mt. Tabor) and the 100 year old Hawthorne Bridge, both components of his design. Scattered throughout the mural are notable historical figures (such as Dr. Hawthorne), the asylum, pioneers, the street car line and the always changing figures that have been part of Hawthorne for 100 years. It is Haberman’s first mural grant and he is “very proud to have such a piece of art in public view and to have so much support for my crazy looking art in the city.” A celebration was held on July 1st. The west wall will be completed late summer/early fall.
Albina Maintenance Yard Building – Spacecraft Mission to the Arts 3150 N. Mississippi Ave.; RACC Funding: $10,000; 14’H x 177’L
Photo: Courtesy of SpaceCraft Mission to the Arts
Over the last several months, a mural has begun to take shape along the west side of the City’s Albina Yard Maintenance Building. Throughout the design development, community engagement has been the driving force—the Boise Neighborhood Association, community members, and the maintenance workers have all contributed their voices as to how they want themselves and their neighborhood depicted. More than a way to deter graffiti, it is a powerful, collaborative, self-reflective vision of the neighborhood created by those who live in it. The mural embraces a theme of “perpetual collaboration” through time. Community practices and industries that affected the local Portland-Albina neighborhood can be found among the local mountains, bridges, gardens, parks, icons of communities, and city workers behind the scenes that keep the city functioning. Included are symbols of the neighborhoods’ transitions of communities from the Native American, Volga German, Finn, Chinese, and African American communities. You can follow the project on https://www.facebook.com/spacecraft.missiontoarts.
Alberta Street Crossing – Loey Hargrove, Artist 4824 and 4905 NE 42nd Avenue; RACC Funding: $3,000; 11’H x 77’W and 13’H x 50’W
Photo: Courtesy of artist (proposed mural)
Finishing touches are underway on a pair of twin murals at NE 42nd & Alberta. Members of 42MSC began working on the project at the Alberta Court Crossing — one on the north-facing wall of the Morel Ink Building and another on the south-facing wall of Doggy Business. The murals aspire to invoke community through a “Tree of Life’ theme symbolizing process, change, the continuity and connectivity of life. Words submitted by members of the surrounding neighborhoods are being added to the mural and are intended to reinforce the symbiotic relationship between the commercial district and area residents.
Lutz Building – Mike Lawrence, Artist 4625-4639 SE Woodstock Blvd; RACC Funding: $6,000; 15’H x 60’L
Photo: Courtesy of artist (proposed mural)
This proposed mural is situated centrally in the Woodstock Neighborhood and is highly visible from the street. The mural aims to highlight the best of the neighborhood and instill a sense of community pride. Local artist Mike Lawrence designed a mural for the building’s west wall that celebrates commerce, education and the outdoors. The Lutz tavern wall that will host the mural is divided into three sections, as is the mural. A strong central figure grounds each section. Each figure is adorned with symbols of Greek Gods that represent the theme of each section. The project is still fundraising and hopes to begin the project next Spring.
For more information and a copy of the mural program guidelines, visit www.racc.org/public-art.
Story Submitted by Mary Bauer, Communications Associate, Regional Arts & Culture Council
Portland, July 29th. “Get into your river” was the theme of the 2nd annual Big Float . Over 1,400 people hopped into the Willamette River, according to organizer Will Levenson. (Photo credit, Lisa Loving, News Editor of The Skanner) The goal of event is to support river preservation and healthy development of the Willamette as a recreational resource, and have a whale of a good time. The Big Float is a benefit for Willamette Riverkeeper.
Open to all ages, the event begins with a parade. Floaters gather near the east entrance to the Hawthorne Bridge, then carry or wear their flotation devices across the bridge, march south along Waterfront Park and finally launch into the river at the beach area beneath the Marquam Bridge.
The Big Float is an opportunity for the people of Portland to partake in a public display of affection for the Willamette.
Will Levenson was offering “Free Hugs”. He’s the high spirited organizer of The Big Float.
Despite public perception, the Willamette River is approved for swimming, except in the now rare instances when Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) conditions are present. According to DEQ, with the Big Pipe project now complete, it’s expected that a CSO will occur only once every two summers.
This year featured a paddlers parade, kayakers, canoeists, dragon boaters, and crew teams.
A few four-legged friends made the Willamette River Crossing.
Floaters said the water was pretty warm. They headed east across the river and proceeded downstream to the landing area, where swimming was allowed.
Live music was featured on water as well as on land for an after-party.
A Great Crossing celebration featured live music by local bands, plus food carts, exhibits and sponsor booths and a children’s area sponsored by the Grand Ronde Tribes with native American crafts.
Here’s a The Big Float video:
From Willamette Riverkeeper:
Willamette Riverkeeper is a non-profit organization whose sole mission is to protect and restore the Willamette River. We believe that a river with good water quality and abundant natural habitat is a basic public right. The Willamette River belongs to all of us and should be protected as such.
We invite you to take a look around our website and get to know more about the Willamette River and our Programs. Join us for a Saturday paddle trip, a volunteer training, or sign up for our action alert list and stay up to date on issues affecting our river.
Thank you to Lisa Loving, News Editor of The Skanner.
Portland, August 1st. The VIP screening of “In This Together” was sold out. 380 PHAME supporters gathered at the The Hollywood Theatre to watch the new feature-length documentary about PHAME, and its inspiring student artists and performers. The film, produced in collaboration with Portland’s own Runaway Mustache Productions, follows performers on their ten-city tour, called “PHAME: the H is for Honored Tour.”
PHAME visited communities across the metro region, showcasing their remarkable talent and tenacity to audiences in Portland, Hillsboro, Milwaukie, Estacada and Beaverton, Oregon, as well as Vancouver, Washington.
The production team assembled for the film, “In This Together” includes: Producer/Director: Alex Huebsch, Associate Producers: Marc Friedman and Stephen Marc Beaudoin, Cinematographer: Paulius Kontijevas, and Lead Editor: Marc Friedman
At the film premier, PHAME raised over $7,000 in donations, ticket sales and merchandise sales. Supporters enjoyed the red carpet treatment.
PHAME board chair Ethan Dunham, and his partner Michelle Schmidt
Here’s are a couple of trailers for the film (they can be viewed in most browsers including Explorer and Safari.)
PHAME’s Chrystal Figueroa
“We are absolutely delighted to be collaborating on this feature length documentary film about PHAME with the incredible vision and talent of Alex Huebsch, Marc Friedman and everyone at Runaway Mustache Productions,” says PHAME Executive Director Stephen Marc Beaudoin. ‘In This Together’ asks us to look freshly at what it means to be an artist, and to look more deeply at the very definition of art itself.” PHAME will offer DVDs of the film for sale in the near future.
From PHAME Academy: PHAME is the Portland region’s acclaimed fine and performing arts academy for adults with developmental disabilities.
PHAME Academy supports the development of skills and self-esteem in adults with developmental disabilities through education and participation in the fine and performing arts. Our slogan is “Talent Revealed.” In order to accomplish this goal, PHAME practices the “Enlighten, Educate, and Entertain” teaching philosophy. This approach supports the students by providing opportunities that encourage education, enlightening experiences, and entertainment derived from not only the classroom and special event environments, but also from the experiences and support derived from parents, guardians, and the students themselves.
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