on with friday's ballyhoo events:
day two. i was pretty mellow in the morning. funny how the hysteria couldn't constantly haunt me throughout the day. thank god. i packed up the 4-foot long workman's trailer with a cooler, more food goodies, music box, chalk, etc (which i would have a photo of up on the website if i had remembered to pack that cord...), and headed out on the 7.2 mile long trek to The Watershed. The Watershed is a really crazy warehouse art collective place, like the juggle farm on drugs. my buddy chop's bike gang has their shop there, there's a sewing studio, a beautiful dojo, a woodworking studio, a soon-to-be ceramics studio, etc. my clown friends had their wedding there. they often host art shows. point being: it's a crazy place. it has as many negative issues as the farm, but most of my experiences there were positive.
one thing i learned from doing to ballyhoo: bike trailers are heavy as all hell. they are awesome and i carried loads of things around the city, but they are WORK. my legs were so sore by the end of each day. it was incredible. sure...i was hauling massive quantities of stuff. but whatever! bike trailers are hard work. not fun to commute around with. although that didn't stop me from riding all august with a little trailer hauling around my music box. but that is a wonderful story for another day...
i stopped at ande's work to pick up some free veggies for the potluck and we attempted to cook some before leaving, but ended up taking too long. so, we had to race the last few miles to not be late for my own event. boy, i felt like a mess. to both our dismay and relief no one had showed up by the time we arrived (30 minutes late). all the lights were off in the warehouse and no one was to be found. we fumbled around, found lights, made quick spray painted signs, drew chalk, and started baking genitalia pretzels (from pizza dough i'd gleaned from work). i felt TOTALLY unorganized and bummed out about it at first. then people slowly trickled in with potluck food! it was a funny group of strangers, but i asked for it. a little girl was the only gal interested in the chalk, so she went to town on the sidewalk. both chubby bunny and the saltine smash didn't happen. which was fine by me. turns out TWO people have died from attempting to shove marshmallows into their mouths and still say 'chubby bunny'. both women, weird huh? light bulb challenge died too. the story with that was this: you had to screw and unscrew a light bulb as many times as you could without putting down your arm. super tough, i know. would have been a big hit. next year, next year.
more people trickled in. including some buddies i knew. eva and katie (from whitman college) showed up. as well as sara lozito and lauren mccune (my old housemates who came up with the idea of the ballyhoo one night over wine with me). letter writing suddenly took off. we were tearing out all sorts of phone numbers from phone books and writing totally ludicrous letters to local establishments. lauren wrote to TOYOTA asking if they would give her a prius. she claimed that since moving to portland she'd realized a prius was way more hip than her hummer and would like them to donate one to her as a nice thing to do to help up her cool factor. sara wrote a nail salon and asked if they would donate 100 boxes of nails for her construction project, building a playhouse for the local school. my buddy shawn wrote a linoleum place asking if them marmoleum was made from real marmots, and if so he refused to support their company anymore. ande wrote a love letter to my boss at the pizza shop, in which he suggested they give him a lifetime supply of vegan pizza. the hilarity goes on and on.
next The Ladies Pie Society arrived with 15 pies to donate to the potluck! we had so much pie we had to bring it on the bike parade and pass slices out at the fireworks! the pie society people are friends of mine from reed that i ran into again a few days before the ballyhoo. tessa is the main lady i love the most. after they arrived i taught tessa how to tear a phone book in half and she tore hers quicker than i did! (remember learning this at IJA in portland.) i wasn't even sure i'd be able to pull it off. but alas, the phone book tearing gods were shining down upon us!
the next event was the shining glory of the day: wacky haircuts. a professional barber lady showed up with super precise cutters and we were off! the first cut was terribly botched by sara lozito. then ande and lauren took over. one guy actually got BALLYHOO shaved into his head. sara got a wave. i got an undercut shaved into checkers. it was HILARIOUS. dead letter ben (one of the watershed guys) also broke out one of the donated kegs for the following night's events, so everything started moving. people were giggling and the ice was officially broken. people really got into the haircuts. i thought i'd have to beg people to do it! a bunch more people arrived, most of whom were supportive bike community folks excited about some new blood planning fun free events around town. most of them were older, but i seem to only hang out with old dudes these days, so it's cool.
beer was flowing, people were bustling, and the party was really getting started RIGHT when i'd scheduled a dance party ride down to the waterfront. it was wicked hard to organize people to move. thus, out came the megaphone! it really is a good tool for rounding up people. tony (my best friend from college) drove down from seattle for the event at the exact time we were leaving and i had to hurry him along too. nick peach, my brother, also showed up, which was a treat. friday was neat because all my close friends and family really represented.
and we were off! my friend dan miller hauled a serious bike stereo for the dance party and blasted party tunes the whole ride up to the fireworks by way of the springwater corridor. it's a really lovely paved bike trail that's set back from traffic. the trail is wooded most of the way with views of the river spattered throughout it. my heart almost burst seeing all my friends and loved ones on bikes parading down the corridor. i really felt the support of my community in a way that i never had before. an awesome time to say the least.
we arrived at the waterfront and decided to not cross the bridge. it was so crowded with lawn chairs and local spectators we would have never made it across before the show. there was a good amount of megaphone abuse and giggling had. the pie was busted out again. beers were consumed under the radar. it was a merry collection of silly bikers. the fireworks were pretty sub-par, but hell it was a good excuse to get out and ride bikes with a ton of my friends. after the fireworks we headed to laurelhurst park for games. it was super challenging navigating a huge group of bikers through epic proportions of car traffic. we laughed the whole way. the megaphone was definitely used to chastise drivers for not riding their bikes. it must have been frustrating to wait in traffic while watching a bunch of freaky people on tall bikes, fixies, and road bikes whiz by while simultaneously being scolded over a megaphone! have i mentioned how much i love my community in portland!
once we arrived at the park no one really motivated games. everyone just chilled out and the socializing began. timo showed up with donuts, as usual. it was getting late and i hadn't slept much, so it was welcome sustenance. we yelled at some high schoolers for being out too late over the megaphone. i swear, voice magnification will never get old. finally the police showed up and asked us to leave. something that seems to always happen to my friends and i. HOWEVER, the party didn't end there. our giant group was rerouted to carl and jasper's backyard for a bonfire! the fun just don't stop!
more friends met up with us there, and it was a rip roaring party. leftover tofu dogs were roasted over the fire. revphil asked for another wacky haircut. nickey, my new housemate even showed up to share some ballyhoo love.
i left so delirious i could barely stand.
two days down, only one left to go!
Friday, September 14, 2007
thursday: family fun day
on wednesday i started hanging out with a good friend of mine named
ande. he was really excited about the event and basically told me he
would be my partner in crime for the whole four days. this really
saved me because i was really running the show without anyone else
(aside from amazing and supportive lead goldman who unfortunately
had to miss a lot of the action because of work) for most of the days,
and during the tough moments i don't think i could have self-motivated
out of the fray. ande was nice because he was always encouraging and
reminded me how cool this whole ballyhoo thing really was.
on thursday leah (another gal who was really awesome and a great
mentor. she helped with a lot of the preparation, but wasn't able to
make it to many of the days beyond thursday.) and i spent the whole
morning preparing for our first day. it was kind of scary. i had no
idea what to expect. things started going wrong. the trailer hitch
was catching the spokes on my road bike and bending them (a lot). we
took too long to fix it and i started stressing out. but, it worked
out, we made it to the park with about 4 loads of stuff. i needed to
relax, so i got to work on, in my humble opinion, one of the most fun
creations of the day--a box fort made of TOTALLY GIANT BOXES. we had a
ton of them and the fort was more like a castle. i wish i had taken pictures,
it was glorious! a traveling man from olympia, who played a lot of music,
and sounds like he also did a lot of acid...helped me with the fort for
hours. we were taping and cutting and postulating all day in the sun,
which was beating down all afternoon. in the end the fort was thursday's crowning
glory. little kids were WILD about it, and later it was the perfect place
to chill out and partake in safety meetings afterwards.
we did WAY TOO MUCH the first day. we had a watermelon bull's eye
contest. where you spit seeds at something resembling a dart board
laid in the grass. we made ice cream in ziplock bags...most of which
were carted off by children and never seen again. we had a HUGE
PARACHUTE that the kids adored. (ps. thursday's 'theme' was family
fun day, so most of the activities were geared towards kids). there
were hula hoops around and some man set up a crazy bean bag toss game
that he had engineered himself. we were also bbqing the whole time
and trying to give away free food, which was a lot harder than i
thought it would be. no one believed us! all our fun was happening
amidst a monthly street fair and i think that was why people were
hesitant to accept the free food, they thought i was trying to dupe
them maybe? who knows, people are strange. sometimes people think
free things are going to be crappy because no one would ever give away
something great or worth while. i hate that. we also had a
megaphone, which was super amusing. i could yell anything! they had
to listen! a lot of the booths around us giggled a lot at the
festivities and it was a fairly successful day. i was wiped out by
the end of it. i could barely see straight. the last thing planned
was a parade to movies and that totally didn't happen. a real
disappointment. while riding there to let them no it was a 'no go' i
actually fell off one pedal and scraped up my foot pretty
bad. at that point i knew i had to slow down and relax a bit. once i
ate some food i felt a lot better.
okay, onto friday!!!
ande. he was really excited about the event and basically told me he
would be my partner in crime for the whole four days. this really
saved me because i was really running the show without anyone else
(aside from amazing and supportive lead goldman who unfortunately
had to miss a lot of the action because of work) for most of the days,
and during the tough moments i don't think i could have self-motivated
out of the fray. ande was nice because he was always encouraging and
reminded me how cool this whole ballyhoo thing really was.
on thursday leah (another gal who was really awesome and a great
mentor. she helped with a lot of the preparation, but wasn't able to
make it to many of the days beyond thursday.) and i spent the whole
morning preparing for our first day. it was kind of scary. i had no
idea what to expect. things started going wrong. the trailer hitch
was catching the spokes on my road bike and bending them (a lot). we
took too long to fix it and i started stressing out. but, it worked
out, we made it to the park with about 4 loads of stuff. i needed to
relax, so i got to work on, in my humble opinion, one of the most fun
creations of the day--a box fort made of TOTALLY GIANT BOXES. we had a
ton of them and the fort was more like a castle. i wish i had taken pictures,
it was glorious! a traveling man from olympia, who played a lot of music,
and sounds like he also did a lot of acid...helped me with the fort for
hours. we were taping and cutting and postulating all day in the sun,
which was beating down all afternoon. in the end the fort was thursday's crowning
glory. little kids were WILD about it, and later it was the perfect place
to chill out and partake in safety meetings afterwards.
we did WAY TOO MUCH the first day. we had a watermelon bull's eye
contest. where you spit seeds at something resembling a dart board
laid in the grass. we made ice cream in ziplock bags...most of which
were carted off by children and never seen again. we had a HUGE
PARACHUTE that the kids adored. (ps. thursday's 'theme' was family
fun day, so most of the activities were geared towards kids). there
were hula hoops around and some man set up a crazy bean bag toss game
that he had engineered himself. we were also bbqing the whole time
and trying to give away free food, which was a lot harder than i
thought it would be. no one believed us! all our fun was happening
amidst a monthly street fair and i think that was why people were
hesitant to accept the free food, they thought i was trying to dupe
them maybe? who knows, people are strange. sometimes people think
free things are going to be crappy because no one would ever give away
something great or worth while. i hate that. we also had a
megaphone, which was super amusing. i could yell anything! they had
to listen! a lot of the booths around us giggled a lot at the
festivities and it was a fairly successful day. i was wiped out by
the end of it. i could barely see straight. the last thing planned
was a parade to movies and that totally didn't happen. a real
disappointment. while riding there to let them no it was a 'no go' i
actually fell off one pedal and scraped up my foot pretty
bad. at that point i knew i had to slow down and relax a bit. once i
ate some food i felt a lot better.
okay, onto friday!!!
recap of events...about time hey?
first here is a little reflection on planning this massive and overwhelming event:
planning the ballyhoo was really neat and (sometimes) fun because i've
never attempted to do anything like it before. i've never planned a
single event, let alone four days full of events. so, i had lots of
meetings with big fancy community members (i would lure them to hang
out with me with offers of free breakfast, very sneaky) that i admired
a lot. mostly people who planned free local events that were also
really silly and fun. lots of bicycle folks. reverend phil was my
favorite. he didn't have much direct advice, but it was really neat to get
a glimpse into the world of portland's most famous bike community
member. he, as a single person, best represents portland bike
culture, and lots of people acknowledge this. he's 'the rev'.
preparation entailed talking to people about spaces. going to
meetings and pitching my project to non-profits. city repair accepted
the project and posed as my non-profit, which i'm sure helped. asking
companies for donations. this was the most fun. i have never been
given so many free things in my entire life. dozens, upon dozens of
free donuts, free movie rentals, 200 people's worth of free tofurky,
free snacks from the co-op, free coffee, free produce, free pizza
dough, and the list goes on.
pooling resources from my new community
was cool too. i posted my needs to lots of list serves and recieved a
ton of offers. i was lent a giant 4-foot long utility trailer for my
bike, without which i wouldn't have been able to make the festival
happen at all. thank you matt phillips. people were so generous and
excited about my idea that they offered anything i needed really.
getting time commitments/rounding up volunteers was really
hard because summer in portland is pretty much jam packed with too
much already, another event to help with just makes people groan.
lots of people sent emails of praise and encouragement, which i really
needed during the last month. the month before i learned SO MUCH,
it's incredible.
next post:
on to the fun! the event!
planning the ballyhoo was really neat and (sometimes) fun because i've
never attempted to do anything like it before. i've never planned a
single event, let alone four days full of events. so, i had lots of
meetings with big fancy community members (i would lure them to hang
out with me with offers of free breakfast, very sneaky) that i admired
a lot. mostly people who planned free local events that were also
really silly and fun. lots of bicycle folks. reverend phil was my
favorite. he didn't have much direct advice, but it was really neat to get
a glimpse into the world of portland's most famous bike community
member. he, as a single person, best represents portland bike
culture, and lots of people acknowledge this. he's 'the rev'.
preparation entailed talking to people about spaces. going to
meetings and pitching my project to non-profits. city repair accepted
the project and posed as my non-profit, which i'm sure helped. asking
companies for donations. this was the most fun. i have never been
given so many free things in my entire life. dozens, upon dozens of
free donuts, free movie rentals, 200 people's worth of free tofurky,
free snacks from the co-op, free coffee, free produce, free pizza
dough, and the list goes on.
pooling resources from my new community
was cool too. i posted my needs to lots of list serves and recieved a
ton of offers. i was lent a giant 4-foot long utility trailer for my
bike, without which i wouldn't have been able to make the festival
happen at all. thank you matt phillips. people were so generous and
excited about my idea that they offered anything i needed really.
getting time commitments/rounding up volunteers was really
hard because summer in portland is pretty much jam packed with too
much already, another event to help with just makes people groan.
lots of people sent emails of praise and encouragement, which i really
needed during the last month. the month before i learned SO MUCH,
it's incredible.
next post:
on to the fun! the event!
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
help at the hostel
update: Shawn Granton, the amazing fellow that organizes the Hawthorne Hostel Sunday Brunch, would like to make a shout out for volunteers and helpers for JUNE 3rd's sunday brunch.
I helped clean today after the brunch and it was as fun as could be. I met a fabulous new lady named Tuey, and I am still hanging out with her right now! Hawthorne Hostel's Sunday Brunch: bringing fun people together WEEKLY. What a fabulous end to the BALLYHOO!
I helped clean today after the brunch and it was as fun as could be. I met a fabulous new lady named Tuey, and I am still hanging out with her right now! Hawthorne Hostel's Sunday Brunch: bringing fun people together WEEKLY. What a fabulous end to the BALLYHOO!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
official ballyhoo schedule 2007!
FAMILY FUN DAY
Thursday, May 31st
Last Thursday at the big lawn on the corner of NE 20th Avenue and Alberta Street @ 5pm
• BYOBBQ – you bring it, we’ll grill it!
• watermelon seed spitting accuracy contest, bring yo’ serious spittin’ skillz
• D.I.Y. ice cream race, forget art lets make sundaes!
• fort building bring extra giant boxes and sheets if you have them.
• circus booth with hula hoops and other toys to try out
• blindfolded face painting
• rocking tunes
• hellfire weenie roast!
Animal Costume Marching Band Parade @ 8:30pm
bring pots, pans, wooden spoons, tubas, and animal suits for the parade to the mystery movie location!
Parade-in movie @ 9:00!
Enjoy entertaining film shorts and a popcorn extravaganza. don’t forget blankets and cozy things for the show!
CRAFT DAY
Friday, June 1st
The Watershed (5040 SE Milwaukie Avenue) @ 5pm
• sidewalk chalk and genitalia pretzels – play hopscotch while you enjoy a clit knot!
• chubby bunny – how many marshmallows can you stuff in your mouth and still be able to say, ‘chubby bunny’?
• saltine smash — can you eat 6 saltines in 60 seconds?
• light bulb challenge – how many times can you screw a light bulb in and out of the socket without bringing your arm down?
• random letter writing and other mail adventures. bring a phonebook!
• tutorial on how to tear a phonebook in half…the long way.
• wacky haircuts, head shaving, and dye jobs!
bring your shaggiest head of hair and our masters will work their magic!
• POTLUCK DINNER @ 6pm, bust out your entree to share. there will be an oven to heat things up with if you need!
Dance Party Bike Parade to Waterfront Park @ 9:00 pm
bike parade to the free fireworks while grooving to some tunes.
FIREWORKS @ 9:45 pm
Hooray for all things free!
Bike-In Movie at the Recyclery (1417 se 9th Avenue) @ 10:30pm
head over from the fireworks to the movies! tonight we’ll watch: The Way Things Go & one chapter from 5 Films About Christo and Jean-Claude
KOOKY COMPETITION/BICYCLE DAY
Saturday, June 2nd
Peninsula Park @ 10:00am
• a mobile donut hole breakfast in the park!
• strong person competition:
o whipped cream speed mixing madness!
o crepe batter beating battle!
o 5-legged race/obstacle course
o car pull – ‘don’t drive it, pull it!’
o broom acrobatic races. bring brooms, mops, swifers, shovels, anything with a long handle with dowel-like character! the longer the item the easier the acrobatics.
• LUNCH! 1:00 pm crepes with whipped cream!
BIKE RIDE to Alberta Park @ 2:00 pm
• bike decorating!
o give your steed a spray-paint makeover
o bedazzle your bike with streamers
o laminate your own spoke cards bring a small picture you’d like to laminate or borrow some of our designs!
• bike games!
o chin to handlebar races, not for the lighthearted…
o tall bike jousting
o 3 bikes, 2 people, one moving entity. who will get around the block first?
o ROLO – mini bike polo: all the fun, none of the pretension. bring mallets if you have them!
o team riding showcase bring your most creative way to ride with 2 people on ONE bike!
Bike Parade to the Watershed (5040 SE Milwaukie Avenue) @ 7:30pm
Come and show off your newly decorated steed with an inaugural ride down to southeast for more movies and a BBQ dinner
Bike-In Movie and BBQ @ The Watershed
hang out and enjoy two bicycle classics: Quicksilver and Breaking Away.
*******don’t forget to bring grillables for dinner*******
DECOMPRESSION DAY
Sunday, June 3rd
Mt. Tabor: 60th Avenue & Hawthorne Blvd. (bottom reservoir) @ 10am
Climb Mt. Tabor and conquer it as our own! bring harnesses, carabiners, puffy coats, and other over the top mountain gear for the massive trek. coffee provided!
Hawthorne Hostel (3031 SE Hawthorne Blvd.) @ 11:30am
Bring a dish to share with fellow Portlanders at the Hostel’s weekly brunch.
Sketch and Bike @ 2:00 pm
grab pen, paper, and your imagination for this roaming art adventure! leaving from the Hawthorne Hostel
Thursday, May 31st
Last Thursday at the big lawn on the corner of NE 20th Avenue and Alberta Street @ 5pm
• BYOBBQ – you bring it, we’ll grill it!
• watermelon seed spitting accuracy contest, bring yo’ serious spittin’ skillz
• D.I.Y. ice cream race, forget art lets make sundaes!
• fort building bring extra giant boxes and sheets if you have them.
• circus booth with hula hoops and other toys to try out
• blindfolded face painting
• rocking tunes
• hellfire weenie roast!
Animal Costume Marching Band Parade @ 8:30pm
bring pots, pans, wooden spoons, tubas, and animal suits for the parade to the mystery movie location!
Parade-in movie @ 9:00!
Enjoy entertaining film shorts and a popcorn extravaganza. don’t forget blankets and cozy things for the show!
CRAFT DAY
Friday, June 1st
The Watershed (5040 SE Milwaukie Avenue) @ 5pm
• sidewalk chalk and genitalia pretzels – play hopscotch while you enjoy a clit knot!
• chubby bunny – how many marshmallows can you stuff in your mouth and still be able to say, ‘chubby bunny’?
• saltine smash — can you eat 6 saltines in 60 seconds?
• light bulb challenge – how many times can you screw a light bulb in and out of the socket without bringing your arm down?
• random letter writing and other mail adventures. bring a phonebook!
• tutorial on how to tear a phonebook in half…the long way.
• wacky haircuts, head shaving, and dye jobs!
bring your shaggiest head of hair and our masters will work their magic!
• POTLUCK DINNER @ 6pm, bust out your entree to share. there will be an oven to heat things up with if you need!
Dance Party Bike Parade to Waterfront Park @ 9:00 pm
bike parade to the free fireworks while grooving to some tunes.
FIREWORKS @ 9:45 pm
Hooray for all things free!
Bike-In Movie at the Recyclery (1417 se 9th Avenue) @ 10:30pm
head over from the fireworks to the movies! tonight we’ll watch: The Way Things Go & one chapter from 5 Films About Christo and Jean-Claude
KOOKY COMPETITION/BICYCLE DAY
Saturday, June 2nd
Peninsula Park @ 10:00am
• a mobile donut hole breakfast in the park!
• strong person competition:
o whipped cream speed mixing madness!
o crepe batter beating battle!
o 5-legged race/obstacle course
o car pull – ‘don’t drive it, pull it!’
o broom acrobatic races. bring brooms, mops, swifers, shovels, anything with a long handle with dowel-like character! the longer the item the easier the acrobatics.
• LUNCH! 1:00 pm crepes with whipped cream!
BIKE RIDE to Alberta Park @ 2:00 pm
• bike decorating!
o give your steed a spray-paint makeover
o bedazzle your bike with streamers
o laminate your own spoke cards bring a small picture you’d like to laminate or borrow some of our designs!
• bike games!
o chin to handlebar races, not for the lighthearted…
o tall bike jousting
o 3 bikes, 2 people, one moving entity. who will get around the block first?
o ROLO – mini bike polo: all the fun, none of the pretension. bring mallets if you have them!
o team riding showcase bring your most creative way to ride with 2 people on ONE bike!
Bike Parade to the Watershed (5040 SE Milwaukie Avenue) @ 7:30pm
Come and show off your newly decorated steed with an inaugural ride down to southeast for more movies and a BBQ dinner
Bike-In Movie and BBQ @ The Watershed
hang out and enjoy two bicycle classics: Quicksilver and Breaking Away.
*******don’t forget to bring grillables for dinner*******
DECOMPRESSION DAY
Sunday, June 3rd
Mt. Tabor: 60th Avenue & Hawthorne Blvd. (bottom reservoir) @ 10am
Climb Mt. Tabor and conquer it as our own! bring harnesses, carabiners, puffy coats, and other over the top mountain gear for the massive trek. coffee provided!
Hawthorne Hostel (3031 SE Hawthorne Blvd.) @ 11:30am
Bring a dish to share with fellow Portlanders at the Hostel’s weekly brunch.
Sketch and Bike @ 2:00 pm
grab pen, paper, and your imagination for this roaming art adventure! leaving from the Hawthorne Hostel
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