Two Festivals, One Day, Arrgh Matey!

Today, Ghost Dog and I hit two festivals in the area, The Portland Pirate Festival, and the Portland Polish Festival. K couldn't go, unfortunately, because she had to spend the day studying.

The Pirate Festival (held at Cathedral Park in the St. Johns neighborhood of Portland) was pretty fun. It's a very family-friendly event, with inflatable pirate ships for the kiddies, food, tents selling all manner of pirate swag, family friendly pirate rock bands, and a beer garden for the adults (or shall I say, scurvy dogs and bawdy wenches). I'd never been to Cathedral Park before, which is a really beautiful park located under the eastern end of the St. Johns bridge along the Willamette river. The weather (after having been grey and rainy all week) was excellent (upper 70's and clear skies) and everybody seemed in a festive mood. There were loads of people dressed up in costume, some of which were very elaborate (and quite expensive I'd imagine), ranging from all manner of pirate outfit, to period English naval crew and admiralty, to women in very snug-fitting bodices.

When Ghost Dog and I first arrived, the group Brotherhood of Oceanic Mercenaries (B.O.O.M) were going 'boom' with a performance along the shore of the river, firing cannons and guns at the English navy (who were firing back). Pretty fun stuff (and very loud). Later, the pirate rock band Captain Bogg & Salty took to the stage (featuring two members of the apparently now-defunct Pirate Jenny) with their fun blend of rock and pirate sea shanty. After a beer in the beer garden, we wandered through the 'Marauder's Market' to look at the wares (including some pretty fun pirate clothing), over to get some yummy food (er, grub) from the Salvadore Molly's tent, and then back to the beer tent for another pint o' ale. After that, we went to check out the replica 1812 privateer schooner, only to discover that the $15 ticket to get into the festival didn't cover entrance into the ship, so we bagged it and left.

Oh, as a result of a conversation GD and I had while there, here's what scurvy is. Just so you know. 🙂

On the way back from St. Johns, we checked out the Portland Polish Festival, which was a lot of fun. On the way in (we entered from the parking lot, just off of Interstate Avenue), there were a few tents selling jewlery, art, clothing etc, followed by a large tent and a stage with a polka band. Beyond that was the food and beer tents, both of which had very long lines. Long lines seemed to be the theme between both festivals. 🙂 The atmosphere was very friendly, the food looked and smelled delicious The couple beers I sampled (the Okocim and Okocim Porter) were really really good. It was a fun event, and I was pleasantly surprised at how large of a Polish community the Portland area has. It was a lot of fun getting a little taste for Polish culture, something to which I admittedly know very little about.

Overall it was a very fun day. The Portland Polish Festival runs again tomorrow (sunday) so for those of you live in the area, and feel like getting some polka, kielbasa, and beer, I suggest you check it out.