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Lewis Elementary again celebrates diversity in annual parade
When Lewis Elementary School in the Woodstock neighborhood held its fourth annual Kids’ Pride Picnic & Parade on June first, it was perfect weather. Students, parents, siblings, teachers, and community members filled the playground under a clear sky before setting out northbound on 43rd Avenue. The day also featured live music from Bloco Algeria – as well as food, freebies, and other musical performances. To put this local neighborhood event into context, the first such celebration of LGBTQ+ culture and rights occurred in 1970, after...
Cleveland High Band marches in the Grand Floral Parade
For decades, the Cleveland High School Marching Band has been a regular entry in the Portland Rose Festival’s Starlight Parade. But this year, the band was invited to perform in the festival’s biggest event – the Grand Floral Parade. “Our band was the only Portland Public School representative in this year’s Grand Floral Parade,” pointed out Cleveland High School Director of Bands Gary Riler. Members of the band first learned...
Sellwood Community House’s successful ‘History’ fundraiser
For the first time ever, the Sellwood Community House (SCH) held a large-scale fundraiser, called the “History Happy Hour”, Friday night, May 17, in the Dance Pavilion at nonprofit – and itself historic – Oaks Amusement Park. The need for funds was obvious – the hundreds of thousands of dollars of water damage done to the entire historic building by the large burst water pipe in its attic during January’s major week-long ice and wind storm. ...
Serial Southeast Portland ‘pot shop’ armed robber arrested
In a story last year, THE BEE told how Portland Police Bureau Robbery Unit detectives were looking for a serial armed robber who was targeting Southeast marijuana shops. Of the five such shops robbed at gunpoint by a suspect, believed to be 42-year-old Cory James Jackson, two of the holdups were in the Reed neighborhood, and one was in the Ardenwald-Johnson Creek neighborhood. In addition to these crimes, Jackson was...
118th Multnomah County Fair draws thousands to Sellwood
The 118th Multnomah County Fair was another big success. It’s held on the Memorial Day weekend – this year, May 25, 26, and 27 – at historic and non-profit Oaks Amusement Park. This year’s Fair featured more live and multicultural stage entertainment performances than ever – as well as free Loteria (bingo) games, Wiener Dog Races, hip-hop dancers – and, for the first time ever, Portland Lucha Libre professional wrestling. ...
Brentwood-Darlington, Woodstock, and Inner Southeast ‘to benefit by improvements’
The future of transportation and zoning improvements in Brentwood-Darlington, Woodstock, and surrounding neighborhoods was spelled out in a new plan approved by Portland City Council in early May. The “Lower Southeast Rising Area Plan” lays out an agenda for rezoning properties along main corridors, to allow for denser residential, commercial, and mixed-use development. “When I was growing up, Brentwood-Darlington was known as ‘Felony Flats’. Even today, Brentwood-Darlington is still relatively...
Oh, rats – rodents are plaguing Southeast neighborhoods
Rats are no strangers to our neighborhoods, but lately there has been an upsurge in their presence – or so many believe. People report recently having problems with these persistent rodents, and solutions can be difficult and varied. One neighbor wrote to THE BEE recently about it, and suggested that an article on the subject might help others. “We moved to the Woodstock neighborhood a couple of years ago, and recently started struggling with rats getting into our crawlspace,” she told us. ...
PP&R ‘Personal Fitness Training’ moves to Woodstock
Classes in “personal fitness training” were established at the Mt. Scott Community Center way back in the 1970’s. The classes have been taken by hundreds of people since then, offering an affordable price and high-quality training. Now, with Mt. Scott Community Center closed for renovation until the fall of 2025, the personal fitness program has moved west to the Woodstock Community Center, just west of Bi-Mart and just north of Woodstock Boulevard. The room where the training takes place is small (11 x 15 feet),...
Business BRIEFS
‘Ruby Brews Café’ opens in Red Castle Games: May 31 was grand opening day for Ruby Brews Café Bar, a new café now open inside Red Castle Games, in the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood. “Ruby Brews Café Bar aims to be more than just a café,” said manager Ophi Joughin at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “We intend it to be a ‘community hub’, where gamers and non-gamers alike can come together, share their passion for games and puzzles, and enjoy a variety of delicious beverages and food.” Red Castle Games and Ruby Brews Café Bar are situated at 7160 S.E. Foster Road. ...
Car slams into tree on Oaks Park Way; five hospitalized
A speeding driver was cited for a single-car smash-up on S.E. Oaks Park Way late on Saturday, May 25th, on Memorial Day Weekend. After the Oaks Amusement Park Roller Skating Rink had closed for the evening, reportedly a car was careening southbound along the narrow street, left the pavement, hopped the curb, and smashed into a tree several yards north of The Oaks’ southern gate. Portland Police Bureau (PPB) Central...
‘Strider Bike Program’ rolled out at Woodstock’s Lewis Elementary
Do we think that most children know how to ride a bike? Perhaps many of us think so, since we see very small children rolling by, just using their feet on the ground for propulsion – and we see others riding in the neighborhoods with parents. However, in Woodstock, Lewis Elementary School’s P.E. teacher – Scott DeMonte – discovered something different. “At Lewis we were having high numbers of fourth and fifth graders who were unable to ride a bike on their own.” ...
Free SMILE ‘Summer Music Series’ concerts start July 13
Live and free concerts in the summer, starting quite some time ago with the “Riverfront Park Classics”, continue this season in Sellwood and Westmoreland – thanks to the work of dedicated volunteers of the Sellwood Moreland Improvement League neighborhood association – better known by its acronym, SMILE. While the Portland Parks & Recreation “Summer Free for All” program will present but a single concert in Sellwood – Kris Deelane and the Hurt in Sellwood Park on August 17th at 6:30 p.m. – the SMILE Summer...
Sellwood-Westmoreland annual cleanup takes in tons of trash
It’s a fact that the oldest neighborhood cleanup event in the State of Oregon is the SMILE neighborhood cleanup on a Saturday every mid-May. And this year’s cleanup, on May18th, once again collected tons of rubbish. How much? According to the hauler, Heiberg Garbage & Recycling, eight of their giant drop boxes were filled. Seven of them were filled with 4.9 tons of trash – the other drop box hauled away 2.21 tons of scrap metal for recycling. ...
Share-It Square’s annual street repainting was June first this year
Oregon’s first painted intersection won a state award – and has been followed, since then, by many more such street murals, in Portland and elsewhere. But that first one was in Sellwood – at the intersection of S.E. 9th Avenue and Sherrett Street. And once a year it is refreshed with new paint and a brand new design, done by the neighbors and their friends. This year the date for it was Saturday, June 1 – and THE BEE was there. ...
Vehicle trespasser shot at, then carjacked, in Woodstock
In a curious concatenation of crimes, a man who was sleeping in a car he didn’t own was shot at on Woodstock Boulevard near S.E. 42nd Avenue, across the street from the Plaid Pantry store, early Saturday morning, May 25 – and then the vehicle was carjacked by the shooter, leaving the trespasser on the street. Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers were dispatched to this, as a shooting, at 4:31 a.m. The arriving officers found the victim, who told them that he’d been sleeping in...
Cleveland High teacher retires -- after 56 years!
At the end of Cleveland High School’s Senior Recognition Assembly – on Tuesday, May 21st – most of the school’s students were dismissed, and only the class of 2024 remained in the auditorium when Jan Watt walked up to the microphone and surprised the seniors with this announcement: “I am going to graduate with you.” The news stunned the seniors. She told the group that after a year full of wonderful memories, she had made the difficult decision to retire after a record-setting 56 years...
Oaks Park riders safely rescued from stalled thrill ride
It was a big day at Sellwood’s historic, nonprofit Oaks Amusement Park: Friday, June 14th, found the park filled with students from several area schools on an end-of-school-year outing. The newest premier thrill ride at The Oaks – installed during the pandemic, in July of 2020 – is AtmosFEAR, which lets belted-in riders experience a swing in a 180-degree arc, or a 360-degree over-the-top circle. On that day, a “system technical operating error” caused the swinging end with the riders aboard to rise to its...
‘Gathering in the Garden’ sale and soirée recurs in Eastmoreland
The Eastmoreland Garden Club hosted its third annual “Gathering in the Garden” on Saturday, May 18th, in the Eastmoreland Garden Park – on Bybee Boulevard across from the Eastmoreland Golf Course Clubhouse. As visitors browsed among the six vendors and ten nonprofit organizations who set up in the park, they were treated to live music – the Sellwood Middle School Jazz Band, two ukulele groups, and an “Irish Session Band” – throughout the day. ...
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