Rose Festival a turnoff to Portland’s “creative class?” You bet!
Author Richard Florida famously refers to the “creative class” as made up in part of artists, designers, media people, and such. Add to that photographers, musicians, actors, Web workers, independent thinkers.
Creative class members tend to be childless (check), like intown living (check), are often politically liberal (check), and socially tolerant (check). These are the people that “keep Portland weird.”
Portland is nationally recognized for a preponderance of such folk. But, as acknowledged in the just-published June issue of Portland Monthly, there’s not too much in the Portland Rose Festival to keep this crowd interested. In fact, Sylvan Goldberg’s urbanbrawl column in the current Portland Monthly acknowledges this.
One great quote is from Bryan Suereth, founder of arts organization Disjecta.
“When I first moved to Portland, I lived near Civic Stadium, and the (Rose estival) parade went right by my apartment,” says Suereth. “So we would all sit out on my fire escape and watch the parade, but that was the extent of my interaction with the Festival. “They’ve got to engage with some of the younger creative people,” Sureth adds.
Except for the “younger” part, Suereth sees this issue the same way I do.
Now tell me this, I say. The folks you see at Cinema 21, at the independent coffee shops, at Doug Fir, selling period jewelry on Hawthorne or Belmont, attending the Portland Institute of Contemporary Arts’ Time-Based Arts Festival- heck, even hanging at those Weiden & Kennedy lobby receptions that end with a sojourn to BlueHour next door- now how many of these people would be caught dead at Waterfront Village, or jostling their beach chairs in position to watch the parades?
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while i agree with you, the “young people” you describe are a minority in this city. the rose festival caters to the familied middle class from the suburbs. why would someone living closein or downtown put out chairs, knowing full well some crackwhoe would steal them. only greshamites would do that.
my point is, what you’re saying is a bit mute. there are plenty of other outlets for us younger artsy folk without doing the rose festival thing. let the goofy’s from hillsboro and gresham come enjoy what they feel as “their” festival. we’ll go drink @ the sandy hut.
Yeah, I’m with Dieselboi. I detest Rose Festival and will avoid downtown as much as possible the next two weeks… but it’s not FOR me. There’s plenty of stuff for people like me to do in town and I don’t expect a mass-marketed festival put on by the city to cater to me. Besides, honestly, if the city TRIED to cater to the hipsters in the city, do you actually think they could pull it off? It would probably just be lame and alienate pretty much everyone.
I’m not a Rose Festival participant or viewer, but it’s okey dokey by me that it exists and some folks love it. That’s the nice thing about Portland. There’s something for everyone.
let the goofy’s from hillsboro and gresham come enjoy what they feel as “their” festival.
Superior much?
Yeah I’m not a big fan of the Rose Festival, but to be honest I think it’s just fine that it is what is, and is for who it is for.
So you’ll let the “creative class” overrun downtown 24/7 but Gord forbid something happens in Portland that doesn’t directly cater to them?
Puh-LEEEEZE.
So what if they don’t like it? I probably fall into that category even if I detest that label. Let’s say I think First Thursday is stupid. Does that mean it should cease happening because of me? Just because I live here doesn’t mean the whole of the city must bend to my will. “Friendly to” and “comprised entirely of” are two different things.
Portland is what it is because there is a MIX of people here who like a MIX of things. You make it sound like we can’t all peacefully co-exist and I think that’s a load of crap.
Yes Mark, it is a superior attitude - to make a point. would you like someone with my views and attitude to be the focus of a city wide event? do you think that would bring the communities together? NO! that is why the rose festival is what it is. it’s setup to cater to the masses.
My wife and I call it the Portland County Fair. But when we say that, we mean the modern, lame-ass county fair with the same broken-down carnie rides that go through every town, with the same fried foods vendors, promotional booths from Pepsi, Subaru, and whoever else.
I’m no anti-globalization, anti-Walmart type, but there should be an effort to give some things a clear sense of local identity and you’d think the Rose Festival would be one of them. I have no problem with having a parade and a sort of fair aimed at middle and lower class families. I have a problem with a sort of fair aimed at middle and lower class families that’s lame. And the Rose Festival, for the most part, is lame.
I’m not a drunk redneck from Gresham, and yet I like the Rose Festival. I like the dumb carnival rides, the parades, the ridiculousness of having a knighthood ceremony for Rosarians, and sometimes I even like the princesses. Clearly I am not cool enough to be invited to a Wieden & Kennedy reception, but your creative class checklist fits me exactly.
Is it fun to be so hip you can’t enjoy a silly local tradition?
Russ - Obviously the Rose Festival is a big sore point with you and it makes you cranky. Maybe you should just plan to go on vacation every year during the first 2 weeks of June.
I agree with what everyone else has said about different groups of people deserving their own thing and if you don’t like it don’t go. I think that might be one item on your creative class checklist that you are not fulfilling - socially tolerant means you tolerate ALL different social classes - and that includes those that enjoy Rose Fest activities.
And btw - I am happily childless, live in the city, husband sings in punk band, friend sells her art at last Thurs on Alberta, frequenter of independent coffee shops, restaurants, etc. enjoy hanging out in what I consider “my neighborhoods” of Belmont, Hawthorne, Mississippi, Alberta, work in a creative field…..and I participate every year in both parades as part of the OMTAAMB and have a grand time doing so. In my circle - that makes me the “independent” one.
I’m sorry, but while I AM A working young artist with no kids, living in Portland I don’t seem to have the same mossy stick shoved so far up my ass that I seem to forget that this city aimed for a wide variety of people including you and me. As for the greshetto and hillsbee, who really gives a damn that they come to town for maybe 2 weeks of the year. You ppl way up top really must not be originally from Portland. It would be the only reason for your snarky biggotry. Thank God you havn’t procreated! You should really move to California with that attitude, they’d appreciate it more than the kick back people here. They love stuck up superficial ppl there. I believe they have little cliques, probably much like yours.
While the people up top have every right to there own opinions, they probably aren’t orginally from Portland. I am a working, young artist from Portland and I have never met someone from here be so rude. I am truly embarressed. They sound really bitter and push their own backs to the corner. Shame on them for not such an open mind as they think they do. They are not true art appreciates!!
I thought the “creative class” was socially tolerant. Kimberly proves that the majority are. Kudos. And to think I am a Republican….weird.
Seriously, considering the take-overs, also, the dangerous rides at various Festivals, difficult security, mis-directed hype, pay-to-access area medical help located near dangerous ride, it appears that Portland needs real help! We attend simply to honor, and assess the difficulties with which the Festival formative groups cope to put on the annual summer long events. The tragic loss of persons, of population’s personal funds, has startling effect. This is not a criticism. Care, caution needed in all situations. … Signed: The HOMELESS …. (Cause: groups using other’s personal incomes, other’s personal phones, vehicles, web incomes & insurance $$$. Media wrong info, causative; officers mis-info, actions.)