It's a three day weekend, baby (thank you, MLK Like List )! Our latest roundup of social distancing-abiding things to do ranges from Billy Kelly and Mike Bennett's music and visual art pop-up Planetary Promenade Past Event Like List to Daren Todd's new James Baldwin mural outside the Portland Center Stage Armory, and from non-boozy beverages to try for Dry January to Free National Park Day Past Event Like List . For even more options, read our guides to the best online events this week Like List , the best movies to watch this week Like List , and the best things to do all month long Like List .

Jump to: MLK Day | Food & Drink | Outdoor Activities | Other Picks & Happenings

MLK DAY 

Go on a social justice public art tour. Have you seen Daren Todd's new mural on the 10th Street doors of the Portland Center Stage Armory that went up this week? As part of an ongoing mural series with local artists, it depicts the late, great Black writer James Baldwin surrounded by bright hues of blue and green. With MLK Day in our midst (check out our guide to ways to celebrate here Like List ), now is as good a time as any to use public installations to reflect on the impact of BIPOC leaders and events from throughout history. Honoring figures of very recent history, Christian Grijalva's mural on Northeast MLK, Jr. Boulevard, which went up this summer on the side of Union Street Market, honors Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, who (we don't need to tell you) all lost their lives to racist police violence last year. Another MLK, Jr. Boulevard gem (on Northeast MLK and Shaver, to be exact) is Isaka Shamsud-Din, Paul Odighizuwa, Charlotte Lewis, and Kathy Pennington's 1989 work "Now is the Time, the Time is Now," which features portraits of Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson and Winnie Mandela, South African playwright Selaelo Maredi, and Muslim leader Elijah Muhammad. Illustrating Portland's BIPOC-helmed history of music, from jazz to rock and roll to R&B, Joe Cotter, Baba Wagué Diakité, Hector Hernandez, and Isaka Shamsud-Din's 2006 work "The Musician's Union" on the side of the Musician's Union Hall is a permanent staple, as is Hector Hernandez's "Flowering Legacy of the Civil Rights Leaders" on 3111 Southeast 13th Avenue, Tiago DeJerk's "Mt. Scott-Arleta Community Mural" on 5501 Southeast 72nd Avenue, and Jesus Kobe Garcia and Margaret Harburg's "Children and the Youth Bill of Rights" on 5420 North Interstate Avenue. Finally, the Oregon Convention Center boasts a statue of MLK viewable from its exterior. 

Visit Black-owned restaurants for MLK Day. While it's a good idea to support Black-owned restaurants all the time, this Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, is as good an occasion as any to reflect and renew our commitment to anti-racism. Check out the Portland Mercury's list of Black-owned restaurants for inspiration. If you're looking for some ideas to get you started, try the "Mexicajun" food cart Nacheaux Like List (which will soon open its own restaurant), the recently opened vegan comfort food spot Plant Based Papi Like List , the juice bar Drink Mamey Like List , the "underground culinary sensation" Trap Kitchen Like List , and the contemporary soul food favorite Po' Shines Like List .

Other notable weekend events:

Martin Luther King Jr Celebration with Lawanda Jackson Past Event Like List
After an outdoor, socially distanced cocktail hour, Portland-born drag star Lawanda Jackson will host a screening of Ava DuVernay's NAACP Image Award-winning film Selma, followed by a group discussion.
Local Lounge, Northeast (Monday)

MLK Day of Service with SOLVE Past Event Like List
Mask up and help pick up litter in downtown Portland with SOLVE to fulfill your MLK Day volunteer duty. 
Downtown (Monday)

Reclaim MLK 2021 Past Event Like List
Join Don't Shoot Portland, Social Change Matters, and other local orgs for a civil rights march on MLK Day.
Peninsula Park, North Portland (Monday)

WOMI presents: MLK Day Past Event Like List
Wall of Moms International promise food vendors, DJs, speakers, and live performances from the likes of Antoinette Rootsdawta and Skyler Ray at this socially distanced MLK Day celebration in the park. There will also be a place to donate food and clothing, so haul over your nonperishables and gently used threads.
Irving Park, Northeast (Saturday)

FOOD & DRINK

Celebrate National Bagel Day. Friday is National Bagel Day, so why not treat yourself to a chewy, blistered ring of dough slathered in a cream cheese schmear today? You can't go wrong with Henry Higgins Boiled Bagels, Kornblatt's Like List , Bernstein's Bagels, Bowery Bagels Like List , Spielman's Bagels & Coffee, or Eisenhower Bagelhouse Like List . The Multnomah Village pizzeria Tastebud Like List also recently launched its own wood-fired bagel subscription service.

Celebrate Dry January. If you're abstaining from booze for the month of January, there are still some spots where you can indulge in a special sip (while toasting to the inauguration, perhaps?). Top Chef star Gregory Gourdet is a non-drinker himself and has prioritized non-alcoholic pairings "highlighting the flavors of the season and the fruits and spices of Haiti" at Kann Winter Village Like List , the pop-up preview for his upcoming restaurant Kann (open only to AmEx cardholders). Other restaurants with excellent mocktail options worth seeking out include Epif Like List , The Sudra, and Hale Pele Like List .

Explore vegan restaurants. If your New Year's resolution involves reevaluating your meat and/or dairy consumption, adopting a vegan diet, or going plant-based for the annual "Veganuary" challenge, you've got plenty of delicious options to ease you through the transition. We've rounded up a list of vegan restaurants worth trying Like List , from vegan Detroit-style pizza at Boxcar Pizza Like List to "phish sauce wangs" at Mama Đút Like List . 

Other notable weekend events:

Cheese Bar Closeout Sale Past Event Like List
Alas, the fromage-focused bar is closing after nearly a decade. They'll be selling all remaining cheese, beer, wine, pantry goods, and equipment at a discount until they're gone.
Cheese Bar, Southeast (Friday-Monday)

Free Tea at Smith Teamaker Past Event Like List
The respected artisan tea merchant will give away 10 oz cups of its three new tea flavors, including Golden Light (turmeric, cardamom, sarsaparilla, and black pepper), Soothe Sayer (peppermint, ginger, nutmeg, and echinacea), and Lullaby (lemongrass, chamomile, and ashwagandha), for free. Other tea drinks and cookies will also be available for sale.
Steven Smith Tea, Southeast (Friday-Monday)

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

Marvel at fancy Portland homes. Nicknamed the Wedgwood Home of Tomorrow when it was first built in 1959, the mid-century glass house at 1300 Northeast 117th Avenue is for sale at a cool $639,000. With its Douglas fir plywood roof and clerestory windows, the William Fletcher- and Donald Blair-built digs were used as the home of Annie Easton's (aka Aidy Bryant's) parents in Shrill Remind Like List , the Hulu original based on the memoir by former Stranger writer Lindy West. While COVID bars an open house, you can ogle its German-inspired beauty from the street, and then, if you're so inspired, go home and rewatch the comedy series. Another great spot for architectural beauties is Irvington, a neighborhood peppered with historic residences that extends east to west from Northeast 7th Avenue to Northeast 26th Avenue, and north to south from Northeast Fremont to Northeast Broadway. Over in the hills, properties near Forest Park (like the sprawling Blackberry Castle on Northwest Germantown Road) and Council Crest Like List (those windy Southwest roads lined with unique mini-mansions) are also a safe bet for socially distanced gaping and daydreaming—and very good views of the city.  

Explore national and state parks in Oregon. As if you needed another reason to thank MLK, he's the reason for free admission Past Event Like List to all national parks this Monday, meaning you can haul over to places like Crater Lake (which surrounds the gorgeous body of water formed by the now-collapsed volcano Mount Mazama), the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (a paleontologist's dream in the eastern part of the state), and the Lewis and Clark National Historic Park without paying for parking. As for your summer vacation pre-planning needs, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department announced this week that it will widen its campground reservation window to six months in advance, starting now. 

Other notable weekend events:

RCR Winter Skate Pop-Up Past Event Like List
Rose City Rollers' open-air skating rig at Lloyd Center will be up and running every weekend in January. As usual, the Skatemobile will be on site if you need to rent gear.
Lloyd Center Mall, Northeast (Saturday-Sunday)

OTHER PICKS & HAPPENINGS

Catch up on this year's Pacific Northwest Book Award winners. Every year, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association honors "excellence in writing" from regional authors, and the 2021 roster of PNB Award winners from Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia are all worth picking up from your local bookstore this weekend (like Powell's or Broadway Books Like List ). Repping Portland, Aiden Thomas's fantasy novel Cemetery Boys follows a queer, trans brujo (sorcerer) who performs a ritual to uncover his cousin's killer. Over in Seattle, E.J. Koh brought us The Magical Language of Others, a memoir punctuated by letters the author's mother sent her throughout her childhood in California, where she essentially raised herself and her brother after their parents went to South Korea for work. "Like any good poet, Koh uses up everything—every image returns, and every idea chimes with another, so that the book's short 200 pages contain the emotional and philosophical heft of a doorstop," wrote Rich Smith. Hailing from Issaquah, Donna Barba Higuera won for Lupe Wong Won't Dance, a middle-grade novel about a half-Chinese, half-Mexican girl whose gym teacher makes her conquer her worst fear—square dancing—before she can pursue her true passion of baseball. We approve of the opening sentence, which reads, "My gym shorts burrow into my butt crack like a frightened groundhog." Other winners include Eugene, Oregon's Kim Johnson for This is My America, Vancouver, B.C.'s Silvia Moreno-Garcia for Mexican Gothic, and Hood River, Oregon's Tina Ontiveros for rough house.

Other notable weekend events:

Planetary Promenade Past Event Like List
Grammy-nominated family entertainer Billy Kelly and visual artist Mike Bennett (who paints cute plywood characters and hides them all over the city) are collaborating on Planetary Promenade, which features an installation of Bennett's large cartoon renderings of the solar system on Mississippi Avenue alongside 13 of Kelly's short, "Schoolhouse Rock-style songs." Each installment will be rolled out on the artists' IG, Twitter, and Facebook pages. 
Mississippi Avenue, North Portland (Friday-Monday)