Oregon Festivals. John Shewey

around this colossal celebration, and each year people come from every state in the union and dozens of foreign locales, traveling from afar just for this extraordinary party. For visitors planning to spend most of the week in the Portland area for this event, consult Travel Portland, [phone], www.travelportland.com, for information about lodging and the countless sights and activities you can enjoy in and near Oregon’s largest city.

       ROADHOUSE BREWFEST

      Hillsboro

      McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse, 4045 NE Cornelius Pass Road

      Mid-July

       www.mcmenamins.com/roadhouse-brewfest

      The annual Roadhouse Brewfest is a good old-fashioned outdoors summer shindig featuring around twenty different beers from McMenamins as well as other area breweries, along with a handful of craft ciders, live music from noon into the night, tours of the brewery and distillery, and guided history tours of the property, all under the beautiful July sun in this out-of-the-way, incredibly well-renovated historic property west of Portland.

      Meet, mingle, and chat with brewers, enjoy food from Imbrie Hall’s summertime menu, and let the kids run around all crazy-like. A not-to-be-missed summertime tradition for many Pacific Northwest beer lovers, this free-admission, laid-back party boasts a few beers crafted specifically for the event.

      Cornelius Pass Roadhouse, acquired by McMenamins in 1986, is an amazing property with a lengthy history: in 1843, Kentuckian Edward Henry Lenox (1827–1905), having arrived via the Oregon Trail, staked a claim to the property (years later, his memories of the journey were published as a small book titled Overland to Oregon). Around 1850, Robert Imbrie (1831–1897), who had reached Oregon a few years earlier via ship sailing around Cape Horn, acquired the Lenox farm. He built the three-story, Italian Villa-style home that still stands today.

      McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse hosts the laid-back Roadhouse Brewfest.

       GRESHAM ARTS FESTIVAL

      Gresham

      Historic Downtown District

      Mid-July

       www.greshamoregon.gov/ArtsFestival

      Heading through Gresham on busy Division Street or Powell Boulevard, it’s easy to miss the city’s beautifully refurbished historic downtown district that is sandwiched between the two main arteries leading to and from nearby Portland to the west. But Gresham’s eclectic downtown area offers myriad excellent options for dining, shopping, and imbibing, and also hosts a variety of special events throughout the year, including the longstanding Gresham Arts Festival, an engaging celebration featuring events for all ages.

      The festival kicks off on Friday evening at 5 pm with the Art Under the Stars, where attendees can join festival artists and stroll the downtown area into the night, checking out the shops, enjoying a glass of wine, and perusing the silent auction that benefits Gresham Outdoor Public Art, all to the accompaniment of live music. Then on Saturday morning at 9, the festival proper begins, with more than 150 juried artisans filling the downtown streets with an array of unique handcrafted art; live cultural and musical performances continue throughout the weekend, and Gresham’s shops and restaurants throw down the welcome mats.

      Gresham Arts Festival holds the Guinness record for the largest display of chalk pavement art.

      The Kids’ Village at the centrally located Gresham Arts Plaza offers all sorts of free fun activities for children, including face painting, music, and the Children’s Fountain, and kids can join adults in creating the epic Chalk of Fame pavement chalk murals—a feat that set a Guinness World Record in 2015 for the largest display of chalk pavement art, subsequently beaten by a Canadian event, and then reclaimed by Gresham Arts Festival in 2017; be sure to sign up in advance on the festival website to participate in this free artistic endeavor, which goes on all day, from 9 am to 5 pm.

      The Gresham Arts Festival culminates in the popular Gresham’s Got Talent event held Saturday evening from 6:30 to 9:30 to showcase the wide array of talented entertainers in the community. Featuring celebrity judges, along with local food and drink, this lively event draws throngs of festive onlookers, and provides the perfect nightcap to a wonderful community arts celebration.

       PORTLAND SLAVIC FESTIVAL

      Portland

      Ventura Park, 460 SE 113th Avenue

      Midsummer

       www.slavicfestivalportland.org

      Have you ever tried kishka or borscht? Pierogi or pljeskavica or plov? How about bryndzové halušky? If not, it’s time to attend the Portland Slavic Festival, where you can explore the world of traditional Slavic cuisine, not to mention Slavic art and culture in beautiful Ventura Park. In addition to delectable Slavic foods available from myriad vendors, this joyous celebration features nonstop live music and performing arts, as well as a variety of workshops and seminars, all designed to highlight Slavic culture and its significant contributions to Portland’s harmonious coalescence of myriad ethnic groups. As such, the Portland Slavic Festival aims to attract people from all walks of life, whether to learn about Slavic history and lifestyle or to celebrate their own Slavic heritage.

      Slavs comprise continental cultures tied together by a common linguistic family and ethnicity, and traditionally hail from Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Slavs are subdivided into Western Slavs in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, and Lusatia; Eastern Slavs, primarily in Russia, Belarusian, and the Ukraine; and South Slavs, from Serbia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Montenegro. As early as the 1860s, Slavic immigrants, primarily Russians at that time, had found their way to Oregon and the Northwest, but the largest waves of immigrants arrived starting in the 1970s after the Soviet government relaxed emigration laws for some religious groups. Today the East European Coalition estimates that some 150,000 immigrants from former Soviet countries now live in the greater Portland area, and Russian is now the third most-spoken language in Oregon, behind English and Spanish.

      Portland Slavic Festival is popular for its food, cultural events, and sporting competitions.

      At this free-admission summertime festival dedicated to community and harmony, attendees can not only relish in traditional foods from Russia, Serbia, Armenia, the Ukraine, and more, but also revel in kaleidoscopic dance routines and other stage shows. The Portland Slavic Festival also features a popular soccer tournament with various divisions; consult the event website for specifics.

       OREGON BREWERS FESTIVAL

      Portland

      Tom McCall Waterfront Park, 300 SW Naito Parkway

      Last full weekend in July

       www.oregonbrewfest.com

      It seems almost incredible that a pioneering micro-brew festival