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
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?
- What: Helium welcomes comedian Earthquake as it reopens
- When: Shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
- Where: 1510 SE 9th Ave.
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."
- What: World Naked Bike Ride Portland
- When: Sat., June 27
- Where: Wherever you'd like
Drink Beer, Be Kind Festival
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.
- What: Drink Beer, Be Kind
- When: Sat., June 27, 1-6 pm
- Where: Zoom
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.
- What: Garth Brooks Drive-In Concert
- When: Sat., June 27, 9:30 p.m.
- Where: 99W Drive-In (Advance tickets required)
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.
- What: Kitten Palloza
- When: 4-6 p.m. on June 26 and 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. on June 27
- Where: Kitten Palooza website
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.
- What: Kachka Alfresca
- When: Starting Friday night
- Where: SE 11th Ave. & Belmont
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."
- What: SPECTRUM Film Fest
- When: June 27, 2-4 p.m.
- Where: This link right here
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."
- What: Alberta Street Animal Art Tour
- When: Check store hours here and here, but the tour is open-ended
- Where: Northeast Alberta Street, from 14th to 30th avenues