PERFECT FATHER’S DAY PORTLAND PRIDE PARADE

A Portland pride parade shows the city like no other parade on the schedule.

Rose Festival parade, Twilight parade, I’ve seen them. Chinese New Year parade? I’ve walked with the dragons twice.

I’m kind of a Portland parade guy. I like walking in the streets without having to watch for cars. The wife and I share the same sense of fun, and no parade is more fun, and funnier, than the Portland Pride parade.

Why? Because it’s more than a parade, you silly goose.

A facebook friend posted an invitation to walk with the llamas. You can see one of them in the top pic. Here’s a close up:

I didn’t find the llamas in time for the parade walk, but they passed by my vantage point.

Personal Portland Pride History

There’s an element of small town living, even suburban life, that avoids the city. Some people never go downtown after they move out.

To avoid my kids developing city fear I made a point of taking them to Saturday Market on a regular basis. They know one of my favorite family outings is hanging out in Old Town, drinking beers, and listening to music acts while the usual parade marches by on any given weekend.

They’ve always been good sports for their old man and my choices of where to go and what to do.

Portland Pride parade day is not any given weekend; it’s a street party with so many people dressed for the occasion it feels like every street is Bourbon Street.

This year the kids stayed home, but Elaine and I hit it with a group of friends. We parked in the building on NW Davis and 2nd, the one with helicopters taking off and landing on the roof.

When the group decided to move out of the shade on Davis I stayed with the chair. I would wait for those llamas and wasn’t going anywhere until I saw them. I also had a folding camp chair so I could wait as long as it took.

The llamas came by right after the group departed. I waved, then folded my chair and headed out to find an ATM before rejoining the group. I found an ATM in Big Pink, got money, and stopped at Starbucks to use the can.

The barista gave me the code for the door and I waited until one of the bathrooms cleared. A woman came out of one and pulled the door shut. No problem since I had the key code, which I punched in and opened the door.

What I didn’t know was two women had gone in and only one came out. I opened the door to a woman sitting on the toilet. Sizing things up quickly, I dipped my head, said “excuse me,” pulled the door shut and left the place quickly.

With no line at the mens’ side of the Saturday Market bathroom, I got in and got out and headed for the beer counter on the westside. No line there, either. In other words, I was hitting all of the important markers, checking the boxes on Father’s Day.

If I’d wanted to I could have set my chair down and camped a few hours while the group shopped the other side of the Market. Just when the decision to get another beer, or not, arrived I got a phone call. Elaine said they had a table in the shade, sandwiches ordered, and where was I?

In a perfect Portland pride moment, I crossed the parade route and found them in five minutes. Five of us sat together talking and listening to two guys play a harmonic, a guitar, and sing. I excused myself to get closer to the band so I could steal their blues tricks and drop a dollar in their jar.

The line for Rogue Beer moved in front of the stage, so instead of crashing the line to drop a dollar, I got in the beer line. I chatted with the alcohol monitor while waiting:

“Is this the normal crowd for a Sunday?” I asked.

“Not this Sunday,” he said.

“What’s different?”

He eyed me like I was asking a trick question.

“What’s different?” he said. “Today is more colorful.”

Was it? Portland Police and Fire joined the show with their rainbows glowing. Most every corporation marched in their colors. Tri-Met showed up in a show bus. It became more a question of who wasn’t in the Portland Pride parade, than who was there.

The regional big shots wanted Portland to know they cared, that they ‘got it.’

Choir groups paraded past, along with political leaders at the state and federal level, and church groups. It was a safe party, a business opportunity, and a vote getter all in one.

The most interesting part of the day, if you ignored all of the bared bottoms and tops, was the small element of bible screamers who walked the route against the grain before things started rolling. Their message was big on sin and sinners, their volume even bigger. Were they recruiting for their congregation instead of rolling out the carpet of love and understanding?

After hearing their amped up accusations I wondered if they’d be better off taking that helicopter ride off the roof instead of losing their message in a crowd of Portland Pride.

On Sunday there was plenty of room for one and all, and I’m proud of that.