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8 things to do in the Portland area this weekend: June 26-28

Looking for something to do in Portland this weekend? Here are a few ideas.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Each week, KGW provides a list of events you may want to try in the Portland area over the weekend. 

Here are our picks for this weekend:

Helium Comedy Club reopens

Credit: KGW

After doing more than 75 virtual comedy shows over the past 3 months, Helium Comedy Club is reopening this weekend. There will be temperature checks at the door, social distancing in line, and hand sani inside.

Will comedians tweak their acts to avoid sensitive issues during a pandemic, or will they tackle it head-on in our cancel culture world?

World Naked Nike Ride

The annual World Naked Bike Ride is celebrated worldwide to highlight how vulnerable cyclists are and to protest the world's addiction to oil.

While the Portland ride usually starts with a huge gathering and follows a specific path, social distancing has changed up the plans.

"This time there will be no start location or start time due to COVID-19," organizers said. "Instead, riders are encouraged to celebrate World Naked Bike Ride DAY — riding wherever they’d like whenever they’d like on June 27th."

Drink Beer, Be Kind Festival

Credit: Oregon Brewers' Guild

The Oregon Brewers Guild presents the Drink Beer, Be Kind Virtual Beer Festival.

The festival on Saturday will feature chats with some of Oregon’s finest brewers, live music, comedy, axe-throwing (KGW cannot understand or endorse axe-throwing at a Zoom festival) and more. 

"We’re bringing a few special out-of-state guests from Russian River, Bell's Brewing, Chuckanut Brewery and Bierstadt Lagerhaus to the party too!" 

All proceeds go to the nonprofit Oregon Brewers Guild.

Garth Brooks Drive-In Concert

Singer-songwriter Garth Brooks performs a one-night-only concert event on 300 drive-in theater screens across the United States, including the 99W Drive-In in Newberg.

The concert will also be shown at the M&F Drive-In in Milton-Freewater, Oregon. In Washington state, the concert will be shown at the Skyline Drive-In in Shelton and the Blue Fox Drive-In in Oak Harbor.

Kitten-Palooza

Credit: Cat Adoption Team

Kitten season isn't canceled just because we're in the middle of a global pandemic. If you spent most of quarantine wishing you had a new feline friend to hangout with, this is the weekend your dreams could come true.

Every June, the Cat Adoption Team (CAT), a cat-only animal shelter, hosts Kitten Palooza. Last year, over 100 kittens were adopted in one day.

This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kitten Palooza is moving online. Adoptions will take place virtually on Friday and Saturday, and then on Sunday, new cat-parents can come to the shelter in Sherwood to pick up their new pets at the drive-through Kitten Palooza Pick-up Parade.

RELATED: Adopt a kitten online this weekend at Kitten Palooza

Kachka Rethinks Outdoor Dining

As restaurants reopen their doors to dine-in customers, many are getting creative. For the first time in more than three months, Kachka will be inviting diners to come in and take a seat. Although those seats are now benches outside.

"The name of the game is to be able to pivot and adjust," said chef and co-owner Bonnie Morales, who has transformed the parking lot behind her restaurant into an outdoor eatery. It's called Kachka Alfresca.

RELATED: Restaurants are thinking outside the box to bring customers in

SPECTRUM: An Outside the Frame Film Festival

Spectrum is a film festival organized by youth, for youth, organizers says.

The festival will be showcasing short films, highlighting conversations with the directors, playing music from local artists, and even showing table reads of scripts! 

The festival airs live on YouTube on Saturday afternoon.

Outside the Frame "trains homeless and marginalized youth to be directors of their own films and their own lives."

Pickathon Presents: A Concert A Day

Alberta Street Animal Art Tour

Green Bean Books and Bunny with a Toolbelt have created a free map of 28 animals hidden within the many permanent art works between Northeast 14th and 30th avenues on Northeast Alberta Street. 

The map, which is available at each business or for download right here, gives a clue to each animal’s location. 

"The walking tour is a great way to learn about the history of the Alberta neighborhood," said co-creator Hilary Pfeifer. "Many of the art works included in the map are a small part of a mural or sculpture that tells a bigger story about the people who have built that neighborhood."

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