Waterfront Park

Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park sure takes a beating during the summer.  At least, the lawn does.  And, if Pioneer Courthouse Square is Portland's living room, Waterfront Park is Portland's backyard.  We spend a lot of time there!

It starts with Cinco de Mayo in the spring and then gets a month reprieve.  Then we have the Rose Festival, followed immediately by Gay Pride.  These two events pulverize the grass.  I rode along the waterfront this morning on my way to work and the city crews have already been out aerating the lawns, just a day after the event.

There is some smaller event setting up right now, down at the Saturday Market area of the park.  It is some kind of bicycle event, but I can't remember what it is ~ I know, bicycles in pdx, go figure!

In a couple of weeks we will have the Waterfront Blues Festival at the opposite end of the park.  Boats are already being anchored just south of the Hawthorne Bridge for the Blues Fest.  It's quite the party!

Not too long after that is the Oregon Brewer's Fest.  Mmmm.... beeeeer!  The best craft beers that you can't even imagine are available for sample.

Not into the beer thing?  How about The Bite?  That goes down in August.  It usually draws a huge and hungry crowd.

The Oregon Symphony has an outdoor concert towards the end of summer.  It's free (because you can't charge people on the sidewalk for listening!) which is nice.  It typically ends with the 1812 Overture complete with fireworks and canons.  We can hear that across the river and in the neighborhood!

There's more, oh so much more.  Oddly enough, the Portland Parks and Recreation department doesn't have a comprehensive event calendar on line.  These are just the things I could remember off the top of my head.  At any rate, large and small events are happening at the waterfront all spring, summer and fall.  The people who maintain the grass have good job security.  We love it to death!