December Events

Kids and adults agree: it wouldn’t be the holidays in Portland without a visit to ZooLights. In addition to the classic walk through a dazzling display of 1.5 million lights, you can bring your family and friends to explore the lights by car with a drive-through experience on select nights. All tickets are timed-entry and…

Started in 1986, First Thursday in the Pearl is a district-wide celebration that occurs on the first Thursday of each month. Originally a gathering of art collectors and dealers, the celebration has grown to a monthly event of over ten thousand people that includes art enthusiasts, wine aficionados, and scenesters looking to see and be…

The Portland Night Market showcases many unique businesses that call Portland home. Blending food, culture, music, drinks and retail together for an adventurous evening in the Central Eastside. Come meet some of Portland’s best makers and creators. The Portland Night Market is a FREE quarterly event and open to all ages. See the latest health…

The Christmas Ship Parade began in 1954 with one lone sailboat from Portland Yacht Club. Today, the Christmas Ship Fleet averages about 55 to 60 boats between the Columbia and Willamette River fleets, with displays that are brightly lit and can be seen from bank to bank on each river. The boats, 14 to 65…

The Portland Farmers Market at Portland State University will be open every Saturday, year-round. April through October hours are 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. November through March hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Market at PSU is located in Downtown Portland in the South Park Blocks between SW College & Montgomery Streets.

Year-round on Saturdays, the Hollywood Farmers Markets hosts 50+ vendors, bringing you the best of the region’s agricultural bounty. In addition to amazingly fresh, local food, you’ll find live music, children’s activities, and fun events throughout the season. April through September, every Saturday 8 AM to 1 PM,October and November, every Saturday 9 AM to…

Open every Saturday from March–December, Portland Saturday Market is the largest arts-and-crafts fair in the U.S.

America’s LARGEST interactive comedy murder mystery dinner show is now playing in Portland, OR. At The Dinner Detective Murder Mystery Dinner Show, you’ll tackle a challenging crime while you feast on a fantastic dinner. Just beware — the criminal is lurking somewhere in the room, and you may find yourself as a Prime Suspect before…

Roll out with your friends and loved ones to our monthly Gay Skate Session, held the 3rd Monday night of the month from 7-9 PM. Everyone is welcome at this all-ages event at Oaks Bottom. Admission tickets allow access to the Oaks Park Roller Rink for the selected Gay Skate Session date/time. Includes conventional skate…

Join the Oregon Symphony for an evening of good cheer with season classics, a very merry sing-along, and a jubilant celebration sure to put you and yours in the holiday spirit. Artists TBA, Conductor Oregon Chorale Oregon Symphony

The Portland Latin American Film Festival announces its XVI Season at the Hollywood Theatre, with a mix of seven feature films, documentaries, and short films from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Mexico, Panama, Uruguay and the USA. Please visit the event website for information on additional screenings. PDXLAFF is a cultural promoter under…

Portland Latin American Film Festival Presents: The Moneychanger (Así Habló el Cambista) URUGUAY, ARGENTINA & GERMANY/ 2019 Director: Federico Veiroj Comedy, Drama/ Spanish with English subtitles / 97 minutes Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2019, New York Film Festival 2019, San Sebastian Film Festival 2019, Vienna International Film Festival 2019. Synopsis: In the mid-…

Meet the makers. Over 250 artists will be selling their goods at the Crafty Wonderland Holiday Art + Craft Market. In an effort to control the crowds, there will be timed admission throughout the day on both Saturday and Sunday in addition to the usual ticketed Friday Night Pre-Show Party. So everyone attending the event…

Bring joy to your holiday season with the 23rd annual performance of this beloved concert, featuring the region’s premier gospel singers alongside your Oregon Symphony. Special Concert Artists Charles Floyd, Conductor Gary Louis Hemenway, Choral Director Northwest Community Gospel Chorus Oregon Symphony

Literary Arts and The Moth are bringing a new lineup of storytellers to Portland. Each Moth Mainstage explores a central theme through true stories told by five storytellers who developed their stories with a Moth director. This year’s lineup will be announced soon. Purchase your tickets today and look forward to an evening of storytelling!…

Art Walk on Alberta This boisterous street fair attracts independent artists, performers, local bands, troupes of acrobats, buskers, makers and more to celebrate their art on Northeast Alberta Street. Held year-round, the event is biggest from June through August, when the street is closed to traffic during the festivities from 15th Avenue to 30th Avenue….

On this spine-tingling walking tour, you’ll uncover Portland’s dark side. In the early 1900s, unsuspecting sailors were often ruthlessly abducted and whisked away through the notorious Shanghai Tunnels. Be entertained by stories of how notorious criminals kidnapped thousands of people and why their ghosts still haunt Portland today. One hundred years ago, Portland was home…

What is the relationship of humans to their environment? Japanese artists have considered this question in myriad ways, influenced as deeply by the tempestuous natural forces shaping life in this Pacific Rim island archipelago as by long-standing traditions of natural imagery in Japanese art, literature, and culture. The human connection to the natural world has…

Portland Japanese Garden is delighted to welcome internationally acclaimed artist Jun Kaneko (b. 1942-). Kaneko, recently honored with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Sculpture Center, has made major contributions to the field of sculptural art on a global scale, exploring the relationships between art, nature, and people with the boldness and placement…

Haunted Shanghai Tunnel Tour – with beer tasting Book a tour in the heart of the legendary Shanghai Tunnels. Learn about Portland’s dark history and hear stories about the resident ghost, Nina. Finish up with three tasters and 1 pint of Old Town Brewery’s internationally award-winning beer. Named One of the Most Haunted Places in…

More than just a basic Portland city tour, the half-day Portland City Tour will reveal the laid-back small city feel of this fun and thriving downtown. You will experience the best Portland sites, including the International Rose Garden, Pioneer Courthouse Square, NW 23rd (the best shopping area in Portland), the Pearl District, the South Park…

Explore the beauty of the canyon walls and rock formations, breathtaking waterfalls and awe-inspiring visas that make the Columbia River National Scenic Area one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon. Our enthusiastic guides will introduce you to the most amazing places in the Gorge while providing a comprehensive narrative of this spectacular landscape and its…

Treat yourself to something sweet and delicious, like ice cream, frozen yogurt, ice cream cake or bubble tea. So many creative, small businesses make fabulous, tasty delights. Explore some favorites today.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a plant? Perhaps a frog, a slug or an orchid-butterfly hybrid? Or maybe you’re not an organic lifeform at all. This November 2022 through February 2023, the PAM CUT // Center for an Untold Tomorrow building at 934 SW Salmon Street will come to…

Traces presents poetic reflections on memory in contemporary art. Art has long played a role in aiding memory by depicting detailed stories in history painting, epic poems, or song cycles. It is also a space for artists to give physical forms to cerebral or emotional sensations. This exhibition, featuring recent acquisitions alongside artworks borrowed from…

Join in on a full-day guided tour from Portland to Mt. Hood. By visiting Mount Hood with enthusiastic and knowledgeable guides, you will have multiple opportunities to get the best photographs of the awe-inspiring scenery and to learn about the history and heritage of Portland’s iconic mountain. The tour will depart the hustle and bustle…

Maximize your beach time while at the Oregon Coast Oregon’s coastline is graced with unforgettable vistas: dramatic cliffs, offshore rocks and sea lions, wide sandy beaches, majestic capes, historic lighthouses, enchanted forests and lovely small beach towns which artists and artisans make their home. Locations we may visit include: Cannon Beach, Haystack Rock, Short Sand…

Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe introduces new generations to one of the twentieth century’s most innovative Native American painters. Howe (1915–1983) committed his artistic career to the preservation, relevance, and ongoing expression of his Yanktonai Dakota culture. He proved that art could be simultaneously modern and embedded in customary Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Sioux) culture…

An immersive, site-responsive installation by multimedia artist Jeffrey Gibson, They Come From Fire will transform the exterior windows on the facade of the museum’s main building as well as its two-story interior Schnitzer Sculpture Court. This dynamic work will celebrate Portland’s Indigenous history, presence and vitality through the use of suspended glass panels, text, and…

Since Otis Quaicoe’s move from Accra, Ghana, to Portland in 2017, his figural paintings have adjusted and shifted in congruence with a heightened cultural awareness of his relocated body. As he looked at Blackness and race in American society from the perspective of an African immigrant, Quaicoe became more interested in depicting the nuances of…

Shades of Light brings together ceramics, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and textiles from the Portland Art Museum’s permanent collection. Linking these objects is the subtle role of light across a broad range of Korean creative practices.

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at PSU is pleased to present “The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation,” which showcases some of the most prominent artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries who have considered the universal subject of food. The exhibition runs from August 30…

The best wineries in Oregon lie just under an hour’s drive from Portland in the Willamette Valley, a thriving wine region known for its outstanding Pinot Noir. The Willamette Valley is one of the world’s leading Pinot producers, and with over 550 wineries and 22,000 vineyard acres planted, it is the largest and most important…

Boardgames, boardgames, boardgames Come out for an evening of games and goofing around. Bring your own or play one of theirs. 4th Wall strives to create a very casual, welcoming environment for anyone looking to get to know some new games and maybe some new friends. All ages are welcome; snacks and drinks are available….

Come for the awe-inspiring light display and market at the Oregon Garden Resort. The Silverton Christmas Market offers a joyous and magical holiday experience for all ages. Stroll along immersive paths draped in more than one million lights. Explore the authentic German Christmas Market for gifts from artisan vendors and imported German nutcrackers, smokers and…

Weekly free trivia hosted by Mike May Trivia. EastSide Bar and Grill on the corner of Russell and 82nd just got new owners. They have already started making some improvements to the property and menu. Come support them by coming out to one of many weekly concerts, comedy night Tuesdays or Trivia night on Thursdays….

The 1975 are one of the breakthrough British bands of the past decade. They got together as school friends on the outskirts of Manchester and arrived, reinvigorating the alternative scene as they took 2013 by storm. It was a year that set the band on what Matthew Healy has described as a “delirious ascent.” Propelled…

The Juicy Jam’s only goal is to jam, and The Juicy Jam’s only rule is no covers. Instrumentalists can blast off on space jams and be the backing band to songwriters from all over the place. Songwriters can find their band and explore new material in an environment that’s soaking wet with excitement. Parker’s Hideout…

White Album Christmas has become a tradition — a way to keep Portland weird during the holiday season. The Nowhere Band (a full 15-piece Beatles orchestra) plays the White Album note for note, while the jugglers, aerialists, clowns and acrobats of the Rose City Circus present feats of remarkable strength, focus and dexterity. Guaranteed to…

Jim Brickman, the multiple Grammy-nominated songwriter and piano sensation, is back this festive season with his annual holiday tour, “A Very Merry Christmas,” a magical evening celebrating music, love and family. Joining him this year will be the daddy-daughter duo Mat and Savanna Shaw. Together they will warm the hearts of all as sounds of…

It’s a John Waters Christmas …and your eyes will pop right out of your head. Yep, he’s back, with Christmas lunacy throbbing in his veins. Cockeyed. Rabid. Ready to reinfect the lunatic fringe with holiday jeer. “The Pope of Trash”, as William Burrough once called him, is coming to your fair city on his annual…

Applauded by NPR, Billboard, Dancing Astronaut and many others, Phantoms are a live electronic act that do precisely that. Often tough to box in…..their style is best described as blurring the lines of house music and indie-dance. Incorporating distinctive synth and drum patterns, the duo have become synonymous with their ‘genre’ of alternative electronic.

Oregon Contemporary and home school present i gently place my brain in cold rice, on view from November 2022 to January 2023. The first exhibition in home school’s curatorial residency at Oregon Contemporary presents works of sculpture, video, photography, and writing that orbit ideas around the tactile, the textile, the virtual, and the ritual. The…

The 4th Wall is bringing back the First Friday Art Show to SE Portland. Join in for an art party like no other, featuring locally sourced paintings, sculpture, and movement. Hawthorne’s hottest art show is back and better than ever. Local artists show their finest. There’ll be beer and pizza too. Best of all, admission…

Celebrate the start of the holiday season with a cheerful performance from the Portland Nordic Chorus. They are a mixed community chorus celebrating friendship and common interest in Nordic culture and music by rehearsing and performing music. They sing primarily in Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, and English. They welcome all with and without Nordic…

Drag artists Saint Syndrome and Nicole Onoscopi bring you live vocals and piano, mixed with comedy and storytelling. A perfect event for date night or a family night out. (All ages are welcome.)

By the time Avi Kaplan launched his solo career in 2017, he’d already built an audience that stretched across the globe, racking up three GRAMMY Awards as a member of the platinum-selling vocal group Pentatonix. Avi knew he needed to return to his artistic foundation — to the organic acoustic-driven rock and roots music that…

Pollstar’s comedy touring artist of the decade Kevin Hart has announced the second leg of his highly anticipated Reality Check Tour, which kicks off this month. Produced by Live Nation, the global tour will now have 70 dates, with 19 new shows just announced in North America, including stops in San Diego, Toronto, Portland, Seattle,…

Want to get to know the cemetery better? Take one of the monthly tours. Tours highlight Portland’s founders and regionally-known pioneers. Reservations or donations are not required for the tour but are greatly appreciated. All proceeds go to fund the workshops and cemetery preservation work.

Kids and kids at heart are invited to come stuff themselves silly on a veritable feast of animation and sugary cereal. Whether you’re seeking some nostalgia or just happy to have your kids stare at a bigger screen than normal while you zone out on a laptop, we are here for it. Add on plenty…