Being overwhelmed with the amount of photo editing involved with Mom and I's Seattle trip, I took a few days off and got involved with some of Portland's community activities. The first being a marvelous event called the World Naked Bike Ride. It originally started as a political statement against the overuse of fossil fuels and an awareness of the vulnerability of bicyclists. It has kept it's message but has taken on more of a quirky party/celebratory tradition aspect over the years. If you are interested in finding out more about it and seeing photos or videos, simply google "WNBR Portland 2011" and you will get a good idea how amazing it was.
The other even was Portland Pride. It was incredible. It was the largest pride celebration I've ever attended. There were sooo many people! The parade was 2 hours long and there were more floats/ marching groups than I could count. Every aspect of the city came out to participate including over 15 churches of different denominations, the city council/ government, the police and sheriff's departments, major corporate retailers, small grassroots charity organizations, marching bands, choruses, and more. It was so vibrant, colorful, and energetic.... you could tell everyone in the crowd was having an amazing time. After the parade everyone filtered down to the waterfront park into a fenced area that contained all the food and merch vendors, as well as 2 separate stages featuring dancers, singers, and comedians. Not once did I see any protesters, which was pretty mind blowing in and of itself. I took lots of photos of the proceedings, if you want to get a taste of this slice of Portland culture, feel free to check out the pics:
PDX Pride 2011- CLICK FOR PICS!!
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