The month of February directs our attention to love. Valentine’s Day helps us focus on our love for family, friends and romantic partners. But it should also remind us to love one another regardless of race, religion, gender orientation, sexual orientation and our differences in general. February is also Black History month. So this weekend fill your family time with activities that help you ignite and express your love while also learning more about a very important part of our American history. Read on for family activities and events in Portland that will help you do all of the above!
Community Art Day
CREATE Community is bringing people together to connect and create at Community Art Day! Community Art Day is a free public event. Collaborative, solo and kid project spaces! Learn a new skill and create something for yourself and / or your sweetie in Teela Golden’s Heartfelt(ing) workshop! Event Details.
Black Love Day Comedy Show & Fundraiser
Maybe your children are a bit older, and maybe you have some money to spend. If that sounds right, then this is the Black History Month event for you. Built around Black Love Day, a prequel to Valentine’s Day that expresses and discusses love within Black culture, this comedy show and fundraiser is a catered evening full of food, drinks, and hilarity. Come ready to dine, drink and donate, laugh, love and laugh some more all night long! Event Details.
Winter Makers Mercado
Portland Mercado is a community of more than 16 permanent businesses in Portland’s public market and Comcast Plaza. They are bringing together diverse cultures through food, art and entertainment. They are open every day. Coffee early, beer and wine later. Event Details.
Black History Online Learning Course
Perhaps you and your family have always wanted to know a little bit more than free readings, talks or a chapter of a book at school could deliver. Look no further than Simon Education, an online schooling program that is offering a month long event geared towards Black History! Spanning the nearly 250,000 years of Black history, your child will follow the two child superheros as they relive the events and evolution that is Black history throughout time. Event Details.
Chinese Garden Lunar New Year
While some celebrations of the Lunar New Year span only 7 days, the Lan Su Chinese Garden celebrates the Chinese New Year for two whole weeks! That’s more than enough time to wrangle the kids into their winter gear and step out for the Pacific Northwest’s largest Lunar New Year celebration! Think lanterns and light displays, a dancing dragon and percussion sounds galore! This year’s festival will be featuring the Portland Lee’s Association Dragon & Lion Dance, putting on the dancing dragon march for the first time in years! Be sure to mitten up those hands and slip on warm socks before heading over to enjoy a night of illumination and celebration! Event Details.
The Art of Netsuke Carvings
Portland Japanese Garden will be hosting it’s first art exhibition of the year, “Fashion and Fantasy: The Art of Netsuke Carvings” in the Pavilion Gallery. Once immensely popular across Japan, netsuke (pronounced nets-keh), small accessories fashioned from wood, ivory, or porcelain, blurred the lines between function and art in their heyday. “Fashion and Fantasy” will showcase the fascinating world of these miniature Japanese carvings traditionally used to secure small pouches to men’s pocketless kimonos. Drawing on a recent gift from the The Netsuke Collection of James R. Coonan, Denise C. Bates and Lurline C. Menzies, this exhibition explores the breathtaking stories, artistic expression and imagination that netsuke capture. Event Details.
Anastasia
Inspired by the beloved films, the romantic and adventure-filled new musical ANASTASIA is on a journey to Portland at last! From the Tony Award®-winning creators of the Broadway classic Ragtime, this dazzling show transports us from the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s, as a brave young woman sets out to discover the mystery of her past. Pursued by a ruthless Soviet officer determined to silence her, Anya enlists the aid of a dashing conman and a lovable ex-aristocrat. Together, they embark on an epic adventure to help her find home, love, and family. Event Details.
Portland Winter Light Festival at Oaks
Oaks Park will once again be part of the Portland Winter Light Festival! Their spectacular midway lights will be on from 6-10 p.m. daily. Enjoy a free walk through the park and take in the artistry of their ride lights! Event Details.
—Annette Benedetti
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