Pronounced Origun (‘ɔːr.ɪ.ɡən)
2025 World Naked Bike Ride
It is expected that there will be multiple naked bike rides in Portland this summer. One has been called for August 9, 2025.
18th Annual Thrill The World Portland
Portland Zombies will be performing Thriller as part of a global simultaneous event.
You are invited to come and dance, or watch and cheer on the undead.
Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024
Dance at 3:00 PM
Irving Park basketball court
Irving Park is located at NE 7th Ave. and NE Fremont St. in Portland.
International Skinny Dip Day
Clothing Optional Bike Ride
Saturday, July 13, 2024
See this post for details.
2024 Naked Bike Rides!
During the summer of 2024 there will be many naked bike rides. In addition to the World Naked Bike Ride, several other protest rides are on the calendar. Join one or all to show your support for important political and social issues. Click the image above to get free stickers!
Weird Portland Gala!
Friday, November 3rd, 2023
Weird Portland United is hosting its second Weird Portland Gala on November 3, 2023 with live art, tarot readings, a silent auction of memorabilia from Portland’s weird past, a cast of local weird celebrities. The event will runs from 7:30 PM to 11 PM at Rainbow City (301 NW 4th Ave), Portland’s Art-Music-Cultural-Experience-Temple-Space.
2023 World Naked Bike Ride
Saturday, August 12th, 2023
Darcelle Dies at 92
We salute you, Darcelle.
Darcelle, Portland’s iconic drag queen, died of natural causes at the age of 92. Darcelle (Walter W. Cole Sr.) was the longest-performing drag queen in the US and owner of Darcelle XV Showplace in downtown Portland, Oregon. Gigantic Brewing Co. recently released this tribute brew to Darcelle. Cheers girl!
Read more here: https://keep-portland-weird.com/portland-lost-a-legendary-performer/
The PDX World Naked Bike Ride
was held on July 30th, 2022
Bike ride photos and event information here:
Keep-Portland-Weird.com/2022-world-naked-bike-ride
Definition of weird according to Merriam-Webster:
1 : of strange or extraordinary character : odd, fantastic
2 : of, relating to, or caused by witchcraft or the supernatural : magical
Whether you know it as “Portland”…
P-town, Stumptown, Rose City, Bridgetown, Rip City, PDX, Beervana, Portlandia, Bridge City, The City of Roses (official nickname), The Greenest City in America (a.k.a. PotLand), or the Forbidden City of the West, if you know Portland, you know it’s weird.
To most Portlanders, this is a good thing. We are proud of our creative, whimsical, free-spirit. We value the tolerance, respect, kindness, and open-minded attitudes that prevail in our local culture. We appreciate and conserve nature, embrace diversity (even if we are the whitest city in America), and celebrate our uppity progressive political tendencies and activism.
Keep-Portland-Weird.com pays tribute to the Bohemian spirit of the people of Portland. We honor our landmarks, peculiar shops, bookstores, counterculture, and art scene. We love PDX local music, burlesque shows, theater, and underground nightlife.
We appreciate and encourage community support of LGBTQ+ and marginalized populations. We adore Portland’s festivals, Waterfront events, and public art. We enthusiastically support the goals of the the World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR): breaking of fossil fuel dependency, body acceptance, and bicyclist awareness & safety. For several consecutive years, Portland has had the largest WNBR attendance of any city on the globe. Read more about Keep-Portland-Weird.com on our About Us page.
Experiencing Nature Near Portland
Recently added: Enjoying nature in and around Portland.
Getting cabin fever from COVID-19 pandemic restrictions? Spending time outdoors is a great way to relieve some of that stress. Oregon’s natural world offers retreat from chaos and isolation. Rejuvenate mind and body by getting out in the wilderness. Keep-Portland-Weird.com has some suggestions of places to visit.
What’s So Weird About Portland?
The Portland Horse Project
Here’s a short list of what makes Portland so wonderfully weird:
- On any given day, for no particular reason, you may pass by someone in the street wearing a bear suit, or any number of random costumes.
- It’s easier to find a retail weed store in Portland than a liquor store.
- Annually, a Red Dress Party is held, which hundreds attend. All who enter must where a red dress, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation or anything else.
- Once a year hundreds, sometimes thousands, of zombies roam the streets of PDX.
- Street food! Great food carts abound.
- The Portland metro area is the most godless metro in the U.S. Those identifying their religious affiliation as “none” make up 42% of the population. Incidentally, Oregon as a whole has a non-religious population of 31%, second only to Vermont as the least religious state in the country.
- Burlesque shows.
- Soccer is more popular in Portland than any other US city.
- There are miniature horses all over town. The #PortlandHorseProject is a PDX urban art installation.
- Portland, a.k.a. Beervana, has the eighth highest per capita number of craft breweries in the U.S., with over 70 breweries. The Beer Connoisseur rated Portland as The Best Beer City in the World in 2015. Keep Portland Beered!
- Portlanders never met a tax they didn’t like. Unlike so many parts of the country, practically every tax increase measure on the ballot will pass handily.
- Some say it’s the most racist city in the country but how many places can you think of where a racial or anti-gay joke gets you 86’ed from a bar? The few bigots you find here quickly learn to keep their mouths shut.
- You cannot pump your own gas (state law).
- Driving is strange. Bicycles rule the road and people drive slowly. Drivers are generally very courteous, although people don’t seem to know how to merge and will drive at any speed, in any lane. About the only time people honk at you is if you are speeding or failing to stop for pedestrians. Slow down and relax or you’ll end up very frustrated.
- Home to America’s oldest drag show venue.
- The largest independently owned bookstore in the world. Powell’s Books.
- Pirates!
- Plastic bags are illegal.
- Multiple sources agree that Portland International Airport is the best airport in the country.
- Portland Dragon Boat Festival
- Science Daily rated PDX the Most Prepared For Climate change of any city in the U.S.
- People raising vegetables in their front yards.
- People raising chickens in their back yards.
- Renter protections
- The most strip clubs; one strip club for every 9,578 residents. Far more than Las Vegas and slightly higher than the next runner up, Tampa, FL. Portland even has a Vegan Strip Club!
- The smallest city park in the world. Mill Ends Park is a small circle in the middle of a road. It’s two feet wide and consists of one tree.
- 24 Hour Church of Elvis
- People have the habit of using the grammatically awkward phrase, “Have a good rest of your day”.
- A half-inch of snow will practically shut down the city.
- The Peculiarium: A freakybuttrue museum and ice cream parlor.
- World Naked Bike Ride. Portland has held the world’s largest WNBR for many years running (or cycling). The last few have had over 10,000 riders.
- The state has no anti-nudity statute. This means non-sexual clothing optional recreation is allowed on almost all public lands. We even have an official clothing optional area in a nearby state park. While there are local ordinance restrictions in most urban areas, courts have granted unusual levels of protection on private property, compared with most states. The state Supreme Court has ruled in favor of nudity as a form of free speech, with regard to political protest. This is one reason that Stumptown has enormous turn-out for the WNBR.
- Festivals on the Waterfront nearly every weekend during the summer months.
- Two clothing optional beaches with a short drive of downtown. There are also numerous clothing optional hot springs outside the city limits.
- There is an intense cultural tendency to encourage consumers to shop locally. However, it is annoyingly called “shop local” instead of “shop locally”.