We're back with more suggestions for activities and IRL events to help you make the most of your weekend in a COVID-safe manner, from ways to celebrate International Women's Day early to tropical cocktails to try from places like Bit House Collective Like List , and from the reopening of the Oaks Park roller rink to the return of the Oregon Garden Challenge. For even more options, read our guides to the best online events this week Like List and the best things to do all month long Like List .
Jump to: Women's History Month | Food & Drink | Sports & Outdoors | Arts
WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
Go all out for International Women's Day. A highlight of Women's History Month is International Women's Day (Mon March 8), which focuses on the present-day movers and shakers carrying the ongoing women's rights movement. If you have to work on Monday, celebrate the occasion this weekend instead with help from Portland artists and businesses, starting with some new tunes by locals whose music you can purchase and download online, like the neo-soul singer Blossom, the jazzy genre-bender Yawa (formerly known as Amenta Abioto), and folk-art-rockers Y La Bamba. Once your music library is looking fresh and you've fished out your headphones, head on a brief outing in pursuit of a reading-list upgrade. Powell's Like List has compiled a list of their favorite books by and about women currently on their shelves, including picks from Oregon's women-run small presses, like Sallie Tisdale's essay collection Violation (Hawthorne Books). New tome(s) in hand, swing by a woman-owned sweets purveyor like Baker & Spice Like List (Southwest), Kim Boyce's Bakeshop Like List (Northeast), or Kristen Murray's French-Scandinavian gem Maurice (Southwest) to snack on at home. If noshing while reading proves too difficult, save your books for later and tuck into your treats over a movie that spotlights women's stories, like the French Oscar submission Two of Us Remind Like List , currently streaming on-demand via Hollywood Theatre and Cinema 21.
And support women-owned restaurants while you're at it. While you can, and should, support women-owned restaurants every day of the year, the aforementioned International Women's Day is a particularly good time to do it. To help you celebrate, we've compiled a list Like List of some of our favorite restaurants owned by women (at least partially—some are co-owned by men), like Kachka Like List , Drink Mamey Like List , and Malka.
Other notable weekend events:
Virtual Portland Womxn’s March
Past Event
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While the horrible administration that sparked the first Womxn's March is finally out of office, there's still a lot of work to be done to improve intersectional gender equity. This online version of the march will feature a BIPOC activist-led panel discussion on intersectional resistance work, as well as musical and spoken-word performances.
Online (Sunday)
FOOD & DRINK
Try condiments and sauces from local businesses for National Sauce Month. Could your home cooking use a little zip? March is also National Sauce Month, a welcome reminder to stock up on some condiments and hot sauces to zhuzh up your food. Luckily, many local businesses are crafting their own hot sauces and other condiments these days. Check out jalapeño and habanero hot sauces from Fermenter, chicken and rice sauce from Nong's Khao Man Gai, West African sauce from Akadi
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, house-made hot sauce from Lottie & Zula's
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, vegan aioli from Mama Đút
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, and house-made sriracha from Bang Bang
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Treat yourself to a tropical cocktail. In lieu of a midwinter vacation, opt for a cocktail that will transport you to a distant isle in a sunny clime. The delightful new Bit House Collective
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serves boozy Capri Sun-esque cocktails served in pouches and a gin-spiked version of buko pandan (a Filipinx "dessert salad" with coconut milk and fruit jelly). Alternatively, head to Tropicale
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for some piña coladas made with fresh pineapple and coconut cream.
Other notable weekend events:
Girl Scout Cookie & Wine Pairing
Past Event
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If you've never unfurled on the couch after a long day with a box of Thin Mints and a big ol' glass of Cabernet, you're missing out, friend. Redeem yourself with Hip Chicks Do Wine's package of four Girl Scout cookies paired with four wines of their choosing, which you can pick up at the shop or have delivered to your door.
Hip Chicks Do Wine, Southeast (Friday)
SPORTS & OUTDOORS
Sign up for the Oregon Garden Challenge. If you're lucky enough to have a plot of land big enough to host a garden (or if you have access to a community P-Patch), the Grow This! Oregon Garden Challenge, registration for which lasts all of March, is a great way to motivate yourself to flex your green thumb by planting as many seedlings as you can from spring to early fall. This year, the Oregon State University Extension Service is giving away nearly 38,000 free seed packets—donated by Bi-Mart—to participants who register online, including one cool-weather vegetable, one warm-weather vegetable, one herb or edible flower, and one flower that encourages pollination. Once you're signed up and have your projects underway, you can head to the Food Hero Facebook page to ask questions and post photos during weekly "office hours," and you can also check out recipes involving the fruits of your labor on the Food Hero website. Short on gardening tools? Swing by your nearest Portland Nursery location to shop in person or scoop your preorder for curbside pickup.
Roll over to the Oaks Park skating rink. After closing last March due to COVID, reopening for a brief period Like List in November, and closing again shortly thereafter, the Southeast amusement park's roller-skating rink officially reopened to the public this week. Billing itself as the largest roller rink west of the Mississippi, the 115-year-old setup is allowing up to 50 people for reserved visits (you can currently purchase tickets through March 21) lasting a maximum of two hours per party. Speaking of reserving tickets for Oaks Park happenings, the drive-in music events Carchella Past Event Like List and the Mixtape Revival Series Past Event Like List are both taking place next weekend.
Other notable weekend events:
RCR Winter Skate Pop-Up
Past Event
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Rose City Rollers' open-air skating rig at Lloyd Center will be up and running every weekend this winter. As usual, the Skatemobile will be on site if you need to rent gear.
Lloyd Center, Northeast (Saturday-Sunday)
ARTS
Chinese New Year at Lan Su Garden
Past Event
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Celebrate the Chinese New Year at Lan Su Garden by enjoying festival decorations, contact-free audio tours, mobile scavenger hunts, educational displays, and more through this Sunday.
Lan Su Chinese Garden, Northwest (Friday-Sunday)
Cinema Unbound Drive-In
Past Event
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The drive-in portion of the Portland International Film Festival
Past Event
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will include 10 feature films (like Minari
Remind
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on Friday) and six shorts, brought to you by Cinema Unbound. Check out our full guide to the best things to see at the festival here
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Zidell Yards, Southwest (Friday-Sunday)
Cosmic Microscapes
Remind
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Learn how samples from Oregon's Lava Butte that erupted 7,000 years ago relate to ancient pieces of cooled magma from Mars and the moon in this celestial new exhibit.
High Desert Museum, Bend (Saturday-Sunday)
Ishimoto Yasuhiro: Architecture + Nature + Culture
Past Event
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Head to the Pavillion Gallery to see Ishimoto Yasuhiro's collection of photographs of Kyoto's Katsura Imperial Villa, an architectural treasure.
Shelley Turley: Sound of Silence
Past Event
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Shelley Turley's paintings explore themes of displacement, longing, mourning, and spiritual reflection. Her latest collection is inspired by cookbooks, soap operas, pop music, advertisements, and pagan rituals of the 1960s and '70s.
Portland Japanese Garden, Southwest (Friday-Sunday)
Winnowing: Alix Ryan and Jade Novarino
Past Event
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The gorgeous display of correspondence between artists Alix Ryan and Jade Novarino, on view at the newly opened North Portland gallery, may inspire you to up your snail mail game.
Well Well, North Portland (Sunday)
