Six Great Things to Do This Weekend.
LEARN
2010 Tour de Coops
Where: various backyards across North, Northeast and Southeast Portland
When: Saturday, July 24, 11a.m.-3p.m.
Cost: guide booklets are $15
Tip: Bring your friends (the $15 cost covers groups as well as individuals)
This strolling tour takes you to the backyards of 25 of your neighbors who display their very own chicken coops for those interested in all things fowl. The tour is self-guided; all you need is the handy map found inside the guide booklet, which includes suggested walking and biking routes, coop descriptions, photos and tips for building your own coop. If you don't already have your guide booklet, you can purchase one in the parking lot of the Westminster Presbyterian church at 1624 Northeast Hancock.
ENGAGE
Sharing Ideas: Grassroots Projects Started by Neighbors
Where: The Ecotrust Building, 721 NW 9th Avenue
When: Saturday, July 24, 1 p.m.-3 p.m.
Cost: FREE
Tip: RSVP: outreach@ourunitedvillages.org or 503.546.7499.
Our United Villages' Community Outreach program fosters the idea of turning kitchen-table conversations into actionable programs. They "convene, consult and catalyze" your community-building efforts. Your job is to dream something up and put in it action. This meeting's ideas will include tips and insight into garden networking, traffic calming, neighborhood ice cream socials and urban farm collectives. Among the ideas born from past "idea" meetings were summer art camps, composting, tool lending libraries and an oral history project in which third-graders interview their neighborhood elders.
RELAX
Columbia Slough Regatta
Where: Multnomah County Drainage Districts, 1880 NE Elrod Drive
When: Sunday, July 25, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Cost: A $7 donation is greatly appreciated
Tip: Be the first to properly pronounce the word "slough" by saying, "slew."
For the sixteenth straight year, the Columbia Slough Watershed Council invites the public to join them at Oregon's largest one-day paddle along the Columbia Slough, to which they refer as the our local waterways' "hidden gem." If you don't have a canoe or a kayak, you can rent one there, which gives you 45 minutes on the slough. But you don't have to go home when your time is up. Get to know your fellow paddlers at a mid-day BBQ vended by NEPO 42.
CONSUME
Lone Fir Cemetery Twilight Heritage Celebration
Where: Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery, SE 26th Avenue and Stark
When: Saturday, July 24, 6-10:30 p.m.
Cost: FREE
Tip: Bring a blanket for your picnic and another in which to wrap yourself (it might get chilly). Alcohol is prohibited. And, it should go without saying, please respect the dearly departed.
Yikes! So much to see and do, so little time. Make your own supper and spread it on the cemetery grounds. Learn about the city's urban forestry program. Visit this year's three dedicated heritage trees. Listen as local musicians perform. Watch Ivy Lyn's documentary Come Together Home, about the disinterment and reburial of Chinese immigrants from Lone Fir's Block 14. And behold Block 14's cleaning ceremony performed by Buddhist masters from the Hui Lin Temple.
PLAY
Mondo Croquet Championships and Mad Hatter Picnic
Where: the park block across from Powell's Technical Books, between West Burnside and Northwest Couch
When: High Noon, Sunday, July 25, 2010
Cost: FREE
Tip: Bring your rigmarole, your folderol and your balderdash
Homemade haberdashery shall be the sartorial style of the day where the costumed shall send home through iron wickets countless orphaned bowling balls with mighty whacks of the sledge. Who shall be forever immortalized as the this year’s Mondo Croquet world champion? Bring your sledgehammer, your bowling ball and something cold to drink and you never know, it might just be you.
EXPLORE
The Division/Clinton Street Fair
Where: Division and Clinton streets and many blocks between
When: Saturday, July 24, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Cost: FREE
Tip: Wear comfortable show shoes and drink lots of water
What won't there be to do at the 18th annual Division/Clinton Street Fair? Among the whirl of sights, sounds and smells, this year's fair includes 80 vendors congenially competing for your attention with art, food, drinks and neighborhood wares. There will be neighborhood history and Lego exhibits, a street dance and plenty of live music provided by a dozen bands who stylings range from klezmer to punk. Don't forget the parade, which starts at 10:45 a.m. at the corner of at Southeast 50th and Division and ends at Southeast 28th and Clinton around noon. And if your feet get tired, ecoshuttle drivers will be on hand to take you from point A to B for free.
