| Portland Winter Light Festival | |
|---|---|
 Logo | |
 A display at the 2016 festival | |
| Location(s) | Portland, Oregon |
| Country | United States |
| Website | pdxwlf |
The Portland Winter Light Festival is an annual winter light festival in Portland, Oregon. Each year has been presented by the local nonprofit Willamette Light Brigade. [1] The festival is open to the public and free to attend. [2]
The event, first held in 2016, featured over 40 light-based art installations, performances by the Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers, Circus Luminescence and Flamebuoyant and took place around OMSI, The Oregon Rail Heritage Museum and the Portland Spirit. Over 33,000 people were in attendance.[ citation needed ]
The 2017 festival was held primarily along the waterfront by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, The Oregon Rail Heritage Museum and the Portland Spirit and across the Willamette River at Zidell Yards, and had smaller installations throughout the city. This year had the official theme of "Between the River and the Stars". Over 48,000 people attended in its second year and over 70 artists, performers, and creators participated. Zidell Yards was the site of the Fire Art Garden, [3] and the Art Lantern Parade made its way along Southeast Water Avenue and the Eastbank Esplanade. [4] Educational speakers held panels every night as part of the Light Science Talks showcase. Entertainment along the 1.5-mile route included the Flash Bang Band and Misty Krewe of Nimbus. [4] 2017 also marked a collaboration with the Portland Streetcar transit system which offered free rides to everyone during the event.[ citation needed ]
The 2018 festival was held on February 1–3, 2018. Art installations were held along the Willamette River and various locations throughout Portland. [5] Artists included the Portland Opera, Ivan McLean and BodyVox. [6] There were over 100 public art installations, 73 performers, and 12 educational speakers and workshops. Over 142,000 people visited the festival in 2018. [7]
From February 7-9 2019, over 156,000 attendees visited the 2019 festival sites. [8]
Taking place February 6-8 2020, the festival saw over 210,000 attendees [9] visit the sites along the Willamette River and other locations throughout Portland. There were nearly 100 public art installations, 78 performances, educational speakers and live events, and 380 volunteers. [10]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, festival organizers pivoted to a 'socially distanced' version of the event with the "Portland Winter Light (non)Festival". The event was held over two weekends to prevent crowds from gathering at any specific artworks, and art installations were located in each quadrant of the city. [11] The (non)Festival ran from February 5-6 and February 12-13, 2021. According to Executive Director Alisha Sullivan, “When we approached local businesses, organizations and artists about moving ahead with this year’s experience, we weren’t sure what the response would be – but we were amazed by the positive reaction. It’s clear that everyone is craving a sense of placemaking and civic engagement.” [12]
Scheduled for February 4-12, 2022, the festival is returning for a seventh year as a decentralized city event with pop-up art in windows, businesses, and unusual spaces, encouraging guests to explore the city to view art while allowing for equitable access for more families and guests. Pop-ups will be interspersed with large, dynamic anchor art installations. This replicates the successful model of 2021, where the festival adapted to the current pandemic climate by pivoting towards touch-free installations, encouraging community celebration while adhering to COVID guidelines. [13]
Stephanie Yao Long of The Oregonian called the event "playful and wondrous". [3] Martin Cizmar of the Willamette Week wrote, "This new event makes good use of the new Tilikum Crossing Bridge, not to mention the long, dark winter nights our latitude ensures." [14]
In May 2017, the festival was featured on OPB's Oregon Art Beat television show, [15] which stated "An easy walk along the Eastside Esplanade allows a visitor to take in everything from elaborate interactive LED sculptures to large-scale projection mapping to post-apocalyptic, fire-powered spaceships."
A feature in Amex Essentials highlighted the Portland Winter Light Festival. The event was the sole American festival to be included. [16]
The Hawthorne Bridge is a truss bridge with a vertical lift that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, joining Hawthorne Boulevard and Madison Street. It is the oldest vertical-lift bridge in operation in the United States and the oldest highway bridge in Portland. It is also the busiest bicycle and transit bridge in Oregon, with over 8,000 cyclists and 800 TriMet buses daily. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012.
Samuel Francis Adams is an American politician in Portland, Oregon. Adams was mayor of Portland from 2009 to 2012 and previously served on the Portland City Council. Adams was the first openly gay mayor of a large U.S. city.
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The Zidell Companies are a group of family-owned companies based in Portland, Oregon. They include Zidell Marine, a ship construction company which, from 1961 until 2017, specialized in the building of barges, and Tube Forgings of America Inc.
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XOXO is an annual festival and conference held in Portland, Oregon, that describes itself as "an experimental festival for independent artists who live and work online". XOXO was founded in 2012 by Andy Baio and Andy McMillan with funding from prepaid tickets and other contributions via Kickstarter. In 2016, technology website The Verge called it "the internet's best festival".
CC Slaughters is a gay bar and nightclub located in Portland, Oregon, and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The Portland bar is located in the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, and the Puerto Vallarta bar is located in Zona Romántica.
Vera Katz, also known as Mayor, Vera Katz, is an outdoor bronze sculpture depicting Vera Katz created by American artist Bill Bane. Unveiled in 2006, it is located along the Eastbank Esplanade in Portland, Oregon. Katz, a former mayor of the city between 1993 and 2005, supported arts and culture during her tenure and established Oregon's Percent for Art program. She was also instrumental in developing the Eastbank Esplanade, which is named after her. The sculpture has received a mostly positive reception and has inspired people to adorn it with clothing, flowers and makeup.
Jo Ann A. Hardesty is an American Democratic politician in the U.S. state of Oregon who served as a Portland City commissioner from 2019 to 2022. She previously served in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1995 until 2001.
Willamette Riverkeeper is a non profit organization formed in 1996 in order to protect and restore the Willamette River's water quality and habitat.
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The Big Float was an annual July celebration of the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States. Established in 2011, as a benefit for the Human Access Project, attendees formed a giant people-powered flotilla and beach party to encourage Portlanders to reclaim the Willamette River for swimming and other aquatic recreation.
Vortex 2020, or Vortex2020, was a planned music festival scheduled to be held in the U.S. state of Oregon in 2020, fifty years after Vortex I. The event was to be held on August 22–23 at Milo McIver State Park, near Estacada.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon on February 28, 2020.
There were approximately 60,000 people of Hispanic or Latino origin in Portland, Oregon, as of 2020; about 10% of the city’s population.
Xico was a restaurant serving Mexican cuisine in Portland, Oregon's Richmond neighborhood, in the United States. The restaurant opened in 2012; sibling establishment Xica Cantina opened in northwest Portland in mid 2019. Xico closed in March 2023.
A 4 foot bust of York, the only African American on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was installed in Portland, Oregon's Mount Tabor Park, in the United States, from February to July 2021. The artist stayed anonymous at first, but after the bust was removed he revealed himself as Todd McGrain. McGrain was a student of Darrell Millner, Portland State University professor of history and Black Studies. The bust appeared on February 20, replacing the statue of Harvey W. Scott, which had been toppled on October 20, 2020. McGrain did not seek city permission to install the bust, which McGrain expected to be temporary; on June 11 the city announced that it would remove the bust.
DJ Anjali & The Incredible Kid is an American DJ duo, formed in 2000 in Portland, Oregon. The duo consists of Anjali Hursh and Stephen Strausbaugh. In addition to appearing at various venues in Portland's nightclub scene, the act has performed in numerous music festivals and resident nights including Sasquatch! Music Festival and Basement Bhangra and is credited with helping to bring South Asian and Latin dance music to the club scene in Portland and the greater Pacific Northwest. Together they host Tropitaal, a "Desi-Latino Soundclash" and Andaz, the longest-running Bhangra and Bollywood dance party in the United States. The duo was awarded first place in the "Best DJ" category of "Best of Portland" by Willamette Week readers in 2016 and 2017.
Mike Bennett is a visual artist based in Portland, Oregon, United States. He studied art education and has worked as a preschool teacher.
