Sporktastic Travel: Portland Winter Light Festival

Last year we wanted to go to the Portland Light Festival, but things got iced out, at least for the time period we were planning on. This year has been mild, which may not bode well for the global climate, but it did allow for some nice exploring.

We started out at Three Stinky Goats Urban Farm, with many lights on display resembling quartz crystals. Those were nice, but they also had carrots and celery so you could feed the goats, and that was exactly why I made a point of going there.

Because really, the lights probably would have been more impressive after dark, but I wanted a good look at the goats. It is cool that even a small home/farm can participate.

We also wanted to make sure we were at Oaks Park in time for their lights going on. In fact, we were early.

Things seemed to get started very slowly. We later talked to an employee, and while she was supposed to have help, she ended up being the only one there. Given the sequences that can be necessary for this sort of electrical work, that was a real disadvantage.

As we were leaving, we heard some other people saying, "It's like what you ordered on Wish versus what you got," -- kind of funny but also kind of sad. Most people probably did not know about the staffing shortage. Let's just use it as a reminder to be patient and understanding.

That was one night, and then last night I went to check out downtown. I made a few notes for some things that were a little more off the beaten path, but mostly I wanted to know the main places and just walk around.

I wanted to see how much planning was necessary, or if roaming around the heart of downtown was good enough. After all, it's not like there aren't lots of lights in the city on any given night.

(Those trees usually are lit, but I don't think they keep the snowflakes up all year.)

In fact, I found the Cosmic Aquarium almost randomly, but I did go looking for the mushrooms.

Then, the main hot spots I hit were -- in order -- Director Park, Pioneer Courthouse Square, the old Meier & Frank building and Pioneer Place (for those two, it was just looking at window displays from the outside), the World Trade Center, and Waterfront Park.

That is not a particularly spread out area, with relatively easy walking. I had seen some other people looking for lights before, but found the first crowd at Director Park, looking at Mike Bennett's display.

Bennett was a driving force behind Winterland PDX and was well-represented here.

Pioneer Courthouse Square was a hot spot, with music, dancing, and lots of lights. I particularly liked the Twinkle Trees.

The World Trade Center seemed to have more, but it may just have been that with the Meier & Frank Windows, Muji, The Nines, and Pioneer Place so nearby, the displays around Pioneer Courthouse Square were more spread out, whereas the World Trade Center spreads more on its own.

I saw some break-dancing under the geodesic dome (Lightdream), and there were a lot of photo opportunities.

There was sculpture, projection, illumination, LED, and it turns out there are just many ways to celebrate light.

This is the last day of the festival, so if you want to participate, tonight is the night.

You can map out an adventure, or you can wing it, or do a combination of both.

If you wish to catch some of the performances, that will take more planning. The web site has details, but since this is the last day, I will just list remaining performances for February 12th here:

Spencer Sprocket Juggling and Magic, 7 PM World Trade Center
Iroh (LED wheel), 8 and 9 PM, World Trade Center
LED Hoop Circus with Kendall, 8:15 Pioneer Courthouse Square
Intention of Light (light painting), 7:45 Heathman Hotel
Portland Luminaries (Dance), sunset at Keller and Lovejoy Fountains and Pettygrove Park.

I saw booths at both Pioneer Courthouse Square and World Trade Center, so for the many people carrying light sticks, or wearing blinking lights on their hat or jacket, yes, you can find a way to participate there.

Mainly it was nice to be reminded of how vibrant, creative, and fun Portland can be after all the slander. It is still a safe and interesting city, that does need to deal with economic inequality and racism, but not worse than many cities in the same boat.

Accessibility: Really pretty good for mobility. There are more electric cables around, and they are covered, but it is a reason to watch your step. Even with more glowing lights, I did not see anything that was likely to be a seizure danger, though there could be some other general sensory issues. Ideally the variety of displays helps with that.

COVID: All outside, but in some of the hubs there was crowding, where people were not six feet apart. I was happy to see everyone masked. There were signs reminding festival attendees of masks, but I didn't see anyone trying to flout it, which was nice.