Events & Classes > Keep Portland Weird! A Community Festival

Keep Portland Weird! A Community Festival

Saturday, November 14, noon–4 p.m.

• Central Library
• 801 S.W. 10th Ave.
• 503.988.5123

Portland is a place of passionate people pursuing interesting, and sometimes strange, pastimes. Join us for a day of discovery as a wide variety of organizations share what they do and why they do it.

Printable Keep Portland Weird flyer (pdf)

Performances & Activities

First floor, U.S. Bank Room

• Space is limited. Free tickets for seating will be available at the Keep Portland Weird Information Table (near the Welcome Desk) 30 minutes prior to each program.
• Cascade Zydeco, beginning zydeco dance lessons, 12:30–1 p.m.
  Cascade Zydeco is a nonprofit dance club based in Portland, Oregon and their mission is to promote zydeco and Cajun music and dancing.
• Bon Ton Roulet, zydeco music performance, 1:15–2 p.m.
  Bon Ton Roulet grooves high-energy zydeco, cajun, and folk together in the heart of the Willamette Valley bayou, OR.
• School of Rock, rock music performance, 3–4 p.m.
  The Paul Green School of Rock Music are to help students realize their potential as artists, to put them on stage in front of as many people as possible and to help foster a new generation of incredible musicians.

First floor, Story theater in the Children's Library

• PDXSwap - kid's clothing and toy swap, Story Theater
  Recycle your unwanted, outgrown, clean clothing, accessories and small/medium toys in good repair - maternity clothes, too!
  • 1–1:45 p.m. Maternity and children's clothing (Maternity, baby 0–24 mos, toddler 2-4 yrs, baby and toddler accessories, including car seats, strollers and highchairs
  • 2–2:45 p.m. Kid's clothing (Early years 5-7 yrs, pre–teen 8–12 and teen 13–16 and up, accessories
  • 3–3:45 p.m. Small and medium–sized toys

Second floor

• Ask Nicole–America's Smartest Girl, advice booth, noon–4 p.m.
  America's Smartest Girl, Nicole J. Georges, channels her powers for good as she drums up answers to the world's most complicated questions.

Third floor, Collins Gallery

• Renegade Rose Morris, morris dance performance, noon–12:30 p.m.
  Renegade Rose Morris is the only morris side in Oregon that is for both men and women, and multigenerational, welcoming dancers of all ages. Our dances are from the villages of Adderbury, Litchfield, Bampton and Fieldtown in England's Cotswolds, led by music on accordion, concertina, mandolins, and whistle.
• PDXYar, epic scale pirates game, 1–2 p.m.
  PDXYAR is home to some of the most cuthroat scallywags, rogues and mercenaries to ever set sail on the big blue wet thing.
• Flash Choir, performance, 2–3 p.m.
  The Flash Choir was founded in July 2007 in the service of the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art's Time Based Art Festival's opening celebration piece and they continue to experiment and find both traditional and experimental ways to sing together.

Lessons, demos and information tables

• Portland Knitters Guild
  An easy going, supportive group of knitters who love all things fiber and would delight in covering the earth in knitters.
• Trackers PDX
  TrackersPDX serves Portland, Oregon teaching traditional skills such as homesteading, wilderness survival, wild plants and more.
• Hands On Greater Portland
  Hands On Greater Portland will connect you with a volunteer opportunity that makes a meaningful, rewarding change in the Portland area.
• Portland Spinnerati
  A group for spinners of all levels in the Portland Oregon Metro area to share skills, socialize and above all, spin and have a good time.
• NWVeg
  The Northwest Vegetarian Education & Empowerment Group is dedicated to bringing awareness to the power of a veg lifestyle and helping support people in their transition toward making healthier, more sustainable & compassionate food choices.
• Rose City Astronomers
  The RCA supports educational activities such as public star parties, telescope making workshops, Astronomy Day and other celestial events and gatherings.
• Dill Pickle Club
  A creative cultural center dedicated to providing an experimental forum for critiquing contemporary culture, politics and humanities in Portland, OR. Since June 2009, the organization has led field trips in which academics, zinesters, political activists, artists and people of every political shade under the sun have come together to examine life as we know it.
• Cascade Stereoscopic Club
  The Cascade Stereoscopic Club is made up of people who are enthusiastic about one or more aspects of stereoscopic 3D.
• Kumoricon
  The folks at Kumoricon run Oregon's largest anime convention and are dedicated to all things involving Japanese animation including manga, cosplay (costume play) and gaming.
• Oregon Regency Society
  Our group embraces civil, polite society, unified by a common love; the Regency Period.We adore the worlds that Jane Austen's winding, brilliantly written tales portray, depicting a time where ladies were ladies, gentlemen were gentlemen, and good society, family connections, grace, wit and romance were treasured.
• GameStorm
  GameStorm is the Northwest's premiere social and strategic games convention and, like most not-for-profit game conventions, GameStorm runs because of volunteers - sign up at Keep Portland Weird.

Resources and further reading

• CascadeLink
• Welcome to Portland! and Novels Set in Portland booklists
• Metroblogging Portland
• City of Readers: The Book Lover's Guide to Portland by Gabriel H. Boehmer
• Fugitives & Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon by Chuck Palahniuk
• Portland Confidential: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Rose City by Phil Stanford
• Wild in the City: A Guide to Portland's Natural Areas
• Zinester's Guide to Portland