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Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the state of Oregon. As of July 2008, it has an estimated population of 575,930, making it the 29th most populous in the United States. It has been referred to as the greenest city in the United States and 2nd greenest in the world. Portland is Oregon's most populous city, and the third most populous city in the Pacific Northwest, after Vancouver, British Columbia, and Seattle, Washington. Approximately two million people live in the Portland metropolitan area (MSA), the 23rd most populous in the United States as of July 2006.
Portland was incorporated in 1851 and is the county seat of Multnomah County. The city extends slightly into Washington County to the west and Clackamas County to the south. It is governed by a commission-based government headed by a mayor and four other commissioners.
The city and region are noted for strong land-use planning and investment in light rail, supported by Metro, a distinctive regional-government. Portland is known for its large number of microbreweries and microdistilleries, and its coffee fanaticism. It is also the home of the Trail Blazers NBA basketball team.
Portland lies in the Marine west coast climate region, marked by warm, dry summers and rainy but temperate winters. This climate is ideal for growing roses, and for more than a century, Portland has been known as "The City of Roses" with many rose gardens—most prominently the International Rose Test Garden.
Portland is home to a diverse array of artists and arts organizations, and was named in 2006 by American Style magazine as the tenth best Big City Arts Destination in the U.S.
The Portland Art Museum owns the city's largest art collection and presents a variety of touring exhibitions each year and with the recent addition of the Modern and Contemporary Art wing it became one of the United States' twenty-five largest museums. Art galleries abound downtown and in the Pearl District, as well as in the Alberta Arts District and other neighborhoods throughout the city.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is located on the east bank of the Willamette River across from downtown Portland, and contains a variety of hands-on exhibits covering the physical sciences, life science, earth science, technology, astronomy, and early childhood education. OMSI also has an OMNIMAX Theater and is home to the USS Blueback (SS-581) submarine, used in the film The Hunt for Red October.
Portland is also home to Portland Classical Chinese Garden, an authentic representation of a Suzhou-style walled garden.
Portlandia, a statue on the west side of the Portland Building, is the second-largest hammered-copper statue in the U.S. (after the Statue of Liberty). Portland's public art is managed by the Regional Arts & Culture Council.
Powell's City of Books claims to be the largest independent bookstore in the United States and the largest bookstore west of the Mississippi River.
The Portland Rose Festival takes place annually in June and includes two parades, dragon boat races, carnival rides at Tom McCall Waterfront park, and dozens of other events.
Portland hosts a number of festivals throughout the year in celebration of beer, including the Oregon Brewers Festival. Held each summer during the last full weekend of July, it is the largest outdoor craft beer festival in North America with over 70,000 attendees in 2008. Other major beer festivals throughout the calendar year include the Spring Beer and Wine Festival in April, the North American Organic Brewers Festival in June, the Portland International Beerfest in July, and the Holiday Ale Festival in December.
Portland is home to the Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association. Beginning in 2011, the city will host a Major League Soccer franchise, which will be a continuation of the Portland Timbers. The city is also home to a number of minor league teams. Running is a popular sport in the metropolitan area, which hosts the Portland Marathon and much of the Hood to Coast Relay (the world's largest such event). Skiing and snowboarding are also highly popular, with a number of nearby resorts on Mount Hood, including year-round Timberline.
It was formerly home to the Portland Rosebuds of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, the first professional sports team in Oregon and the first professional hockey team in the U.S.
Portland has one of the most active bicycle racing scenes in the United States, with hundreds of events sanctioned each year by the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association. Weekly events at Alpenrose Velodrome and Portland International Raceway allow for racing nearly every night of the week during spring and summer, and fall cyclocross races such as the Cross Crusade can have over 1000 riders and boisterous spectators.
Additionally, the Portland metro has its own Cricket league, Oregon Cricket League(OCL) that hosts 2 formats of the outdoor game of cricket every year.
The Portland Art Museum (PAM) in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it the oldest art museum on the West Coast and 7th oldest in the United States. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, Portland Art Museum became one of the twenty-five largest art museums in the United States, at a total of 240,000 square feet (22,000 m²). The permanent collection has more than 42,000 works of art, and at least one major traveling exhibition is presented most of the time. Portland Art Museum features a center for Native American art, a center for Northwest art, a center for modern and contemporary art, permanent exhibitions of Asian art, and an outdoor public sculpture garden. The Northwest Film Center is also a component of Portland Art Museum.
The mission of the Portland Art Museum is to serve the public by providing access to art of enduring quality, by educating a diverse audience about art and by collecting and preserving a wide range of art for the enrichment of present and future generations. The museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums.
Portland Classical Chinese Garden
Portland Classical Chinese Garden, titled the Garden of Awakening Orchids, is a walled garden enclosing a full city block, roughly 40,000 square feet (4,000 m2) in the Chinatown area of the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, USA. The garden is influenced by many of the famous classical gardens in Suzhou.
The garden was built by 65 artisans from Suzhou on land donated by NW Natural; groundbreaking occurred in July 1999, and construction was completed 14 months later at a cost of about $12.8 million. 500 tons of rock were brought from China and used in the garden. The garden's grand opening was on September 14, 2000.
Most of the plants featured in the garden are indigenous to China. However, no plants were brought from China due to import bans. Instead, many plants were found in gardens and nurseries in Oregon, having grown from plants brought over before the import ban. Some plants in the garden are as old as 100 years. There are over a hundred trees, orchids, water plants, perennials, bamboos, and unusual shrubs located throughout the garden.
It includes examples of a number of structures common to Chinese gardens, including covered walkways (lang), bridges (qiáo), and structures such as:
The Portland Rose Festival is an annual civic festival held during the month of June in Portland, Oregon. It is organized by the volunteer non-profit Portland Rose Festival Association with the purpose of promoting the Portland region.
The idea for the Rose Festival was presented to the public in a speech by Mayor Harry Lane at the end of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in 1905.The first festival occurred in 1907.
The Grand Floral Parade is the centerpiece of the festival and the second largest all-floral parade in the United States. More than 500,000 spectators line the route, making it the largest spectator event in Oregon.
Since 1930 a queen has been selected from a court of high school seniors from each school in the area. The members of the court were originally called princesses, but that was changed to "ambassadors." In January 2007, the members of the Rose Festival Court were renamed "princesses". However, some schools did not heed the decision, while others compromised, such as Grant High School, naming its member of the court a "Princess Ambassador." A college scholarship is awarded to a 14 member "royalty".
The 2006 Rose Festival FleetDuring Fleet Week, boats from United States Navy, Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers and the Royal Canadian Navy dock along the seawall of Tom McCall Waterfront Park.
The festival also hosts a Champ Car race at Portland International Raceway, dragonboat races, the Starlight Parade, a fireworks display, and carnival rides along the Portland waterfront, among other events.
An addition to the Rose Festival celebrations is Plunderathon, a pirate-themed roving festival that typically starts at Skidmore Fountain and is intended as a non-family-friendly way for locals to recover from the Rose Festival.
The Golden Rose Ski Classic is an annual ski race originating in 1936. It is the oldest known organized ski race in America, and is the only USSA-sanctioned summer race.
The Friday before the Grand Floral Parade has become traditionally the night that men propose to women in Pioneer Courthouse Square,also known as "Portland's Living Room". People gather to watch men get down on one knee and propose to their beloved.
