New Years in PDX
Soooo…is anyone heading downtown to Pioneer Square for the celebration there? Has anyone ever done this – and if so, is it a reasonable thing to do with two kids who are budding party animals & wish they could be in Times Square instead? Are there better alternatives?
(Their mother lived in New York for years and knew better than to be anywhere near Times Square, but that’s a digression.)
I also know there’s the first Run & Walk for Schools party/benefit at the World Trade Center organized by the Portland Schools Foundation – anyone doing that instead? (To be honest, I’m leery of the precedent I’m setting by paying 20 bucks for my six year old to attend a New Year’s Party – even though I know it’s a benefit for our public school system.)
If you’re not planning on being downtown for either event, why not? Is it out of fear of a repeat of the vandalism that took place four years ago? Fear of being stuck downtown in an ice storm, a la last year? A better venue/offer, perhaps?
Where/how do you celebrate New Years in Portland, anyway?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’re going to get a repeat of last new year’s snow. So that can’t be the reason.
I was downtown in 2000 and had a great time. It’s very crowded, noisy, wild, and cold.
How old are the kids? There were tons of kids when I went, but also tons of drunk folks. Happy drunks, though.
Betsy-
Downtown will be a fun adventure for the kids on new years eve. It will be cold and crowded though. I would suggest going late (10 or 11pm), take MAX (you can catch it until 1am from Pioneer Square), leave early (shortly after midnight), and have hot chocolate ready for you when you get home (or better yet on the ride home in a thermos). If your kids want to be in NY for the party, they will just pretend that pioneer square IS time square. Good luck, have fun, keep warm!!
MAX SCHEDULE (scroll to the bottom for new years eve late night): http://www.trimet.org/schedule/y/t1190_1.htm
Thanks for the tips! The kids are 6 and 11 – the 11 -year-old is less than enthusiastic about the idea, though. We’ll have to see if I can sell it…