Once a year, the Southeast neighborhood of Portland, Oregon has a Sunday Parkways event and a Hawthorne Street Fair, and this time they took place on the same day.  The Sunday Parkways is a day in which certain blocks in the Hawthorne and Mount Tabor districts are closed to vehicle traffic and only open to bicycles, pedestrians, and skateboarders. 

 

When I set foot outside my apartment, I saw a plethora of bicycles speeding by, ridden by adults and children.  Many were traditional, but I saw some two-seater bikes and some adult tricycles (mostly the reclining kind), and some bicycles with little kiddy rickshaws attached.  I saw a guy dressed entirely in yellow spandex--and a bicycle helmet--skiing down the center of the street on roller skies.

 

After I arrived on Hawthorne Boulevard, I passed a temporary band stand where a live band set up their instruments.  I walked past many stores with sidewalk sales, and parking lots were filled with booths selling arts and crafts.

 

I met up with friends at Fat Straw, a café that specializes in bubble tea, where we sat in the back room and talked while I sipped mango cocoanut bubble tea.  We afterwards made our way through the crowded sidewalks (unfortunately, the police didn’t give permission to close off the street itself) and were distracted by bright, colorful merchandise and cute dogs amid the crowds.  I could hear bagpipes emanating from the roof of Fred Meyer’s. 

 Some of us

arrived at the Bagdad Theater and Pub--a beautiful old movie palace with Arabian Nights-inspired décor--in time for a 1:00 pm free showing of Labyrinth, the 1980s era Jim Henson movie starring Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie.  A woman had a table set up in the hallway with free samples of coffee and cakes, so I took a brownie.  I’ve seen the film on DVD, but this was the first time I saw it on the big screen.  Gorgeous costumes and wacky Muppets, on a bigger scale!

 

When we left the movie theater, the crowds on the sidewalks had thickened considerably.  We could barely move, so we walked along the edge of the street, where orange cones had been set up to prevent people from parking on Hawthorne. 

 

We had lunch at Vegge Thai, and after having a delicious meal, we wandered the crowded sidewalks some more and stopped at several stores, including the eccentric toy store Missing Link (which is more for adults than children) and The Monkey King, a Chinese imports store.

 

Altogether, a great time was had by all.  I only wish the events had been spread out over both Saturday and Sunday, or that the Sunday Parkways had been a different weekend from the Hawthorne Street Fair.  I had received a schedule for the Sunday Parkways, and it involved numerous events, particularly an eclectic selection of concerts, scattered throughout the neighborhood.