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Primary Menu 31 Events Near Me content loading animation Search
  • Attractions
    • women dances with large fans outside on a city street surrounded by people in colorful dragon costumesView All Attractions
    • Museums
    • Parks & Gardens
    • Family Friendly
    • Shopping
    • On a Budget
    • EVEN MORE THINGS TO DO
  • Culture
    • people dining at picnic tables in front of a food cartView All Culture
    • Arts
    • Beer
    • Biking
    • Cannabis
    • Cultural Communities
    • Craft Spirits
    • Food
    • Makers
    • Music
    • Nightlife
    • Outdoors
    • Sports
    • Weird
    • Wine
    • MORE CULTURE
  • Neighborhoods
    • aerial view of downtown area with buildings and roadways, bridges crossing a river to a smaller set of buildings that expand into the distanceView All Neighborhoods
    • Alberta Arts District
    • Belmont
    • Central Eastside
    • Division/Clinton
    • Downtown
    • Hawthorne
    • Lloyd
    • Mississippi
    • Northwest / Nob Hill
    • Old Town Chinatown
    • Pearl District
    • St. Johns
    • Sellwood-Moreland
    • Williams
    • ALL NEIGHBORHOODS
  • Region
    • RegionView All Region
    • Near the City
    • Columbia River Gorge
    • Mount Hood
    • Oregon Coast
    • Willamette Valley
    • ALL REGIONS
  • Plan
    • Light rail train car driving past people shopping at an outdoor marketView All Plan
    • Portland Maps
    • Portland Visitor Center
    • Where to Stay
    • Tours & Itineraries
    • Transportation
    • When to Visit
    • Accessible Portland
    • Portland Weather
    • COVID-19 FAQ
    • Safety in Portland
    • Plan a Meeting
  • Events
  • Search
i
Portland Farmers Market at Portland State University is open Saturdays year round in downtown Portland.
Credit: Aubrie LeGault

May Events

Embrace spring with events celebrating local food, crafts and Latinx culture.

i
Portland Farmers Market at Portland State University is open Saturdays year round in downtown Portland.
Credit: Aubrie LeGault

May in Portland brings back the Portland Farmers Market, Crafty Wonderland (a celebration of the city’s makers), and one of the biggest citywide events, the Portland Rose Festival. Read on for our top picks of things to do and see in May in Portland, or search our full events calendar for everything on offer.

Portland Farmers Market

Most of the area’s farmers’ markets open in May. Among the items featured are fresh produce, flowers, seafood, bread, and berries. The flagship Farmers Market is at Portland State University, but the organization operates more throughout the city. In addition to shopping, the markets can feature chef demonstrations, spontaneous music performances, fresh flowers, coffee, food carts, and more. Enjoy strolling through the market, then spend an afternoon exploring Downtown Portland.

Portland Farmers Market

Enjoy fresh, local produce, meals and treats at every Portland Farmers Market location.

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Oregon Wine Month

Oregon is well known for its delicious wines, and the month of May celebrates that with Oregon Wine Month. Throughout the month, wineries, vineyards and tasting rooms open their doors to celebrate the return of spring and kick off the first chapter in the story of the next vintage. The wide variety of events includes new wine releases, live music and even garden tours.

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta

The largest multicultural festival in Oregon, Portland’s annual Cinco de Mayo Fiesta held at Tom McCall Waterfront Park features a wide breadth of live music, dancers from sister city Guadalajara, rides, amateur boxing and an artisan village.

Mt. Tabor Art Walk

The Mt. Tabor Art Walk is a Portland tradition. This juried show and sale is a great opportunity to see quality visual art and meet artists in their studios and homes. Diverse media are represented, including photography, painting, ceramics, sculpture, prints, metal arts, glass, jewelry, book arts and mosaics.

Bricks Cascade

Experience the Northwest’s biggest Lego convention. Bricks Cascade is the annual celebration of the art of Lego and the creations that are made. The convention is family-friendly, with thousands of amazing and artistic creations on display. There are also various spaces for attendees to build something as well as specialty vendors with custom-made items, mini-figures, and even vintage Lego sets.

Visual Arts in Portland

View paintings, sculptures and other visual art in a wide range of galleries, public spaces and unexpected venues.

Get Artsy

TEDxPortland

TEDx stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. Enjoy a day full of inspirational speakers, incredible performances and a pop-up marketplace featuring local businesses and vendors. Held at the Theater of the Clouds in the Moda Center, TEDxPortland is the largest indoor TEDx event in the world.

UFO Festival

More than 70 years ago, the tiny town of McMinnville was struck with UFO fever when a local family spotted a flying disc from their farm, making national news. Fifty years later, in 1999, the fever descended again with the very first UFO Festival. Today you can celebrate all things extraterrestrial with other enthusiasts during days full of parades, costume contests, expert speakers and family fun.

Crafty Wonderland

Find yourself the perfect made-in-Portland souvenir at the city’s biggest arts and crafts market, Crafty Wonderland. This twice-yearly market draws hundreds of vendors and tens of thousands of visitors to the Oregon Convention Center in Northeast Portland. Crafty Wonderland offers accessible booth fees so that emerging artists are equally represented. Many of the makers who got their start in the market have grown into full-time businesses.

Portland Rose Festival

For more than a century, Portland, the City of Roses, has thrown itself a massive party in the form of the Portland Rose Festival. Declared the city’s official festival in 2010, the celebration includes more than 60 events, starting in late May and ending in mid-June. With the festival comes parades, carnival rides, art shows, dragon boat races, fun runs and more.

Events, Festivals, Makers, Spring, Wine

More May Events 2024

Check out our picks for top things to do in May in Portland.

Editor's Pick
BeerQuest Haunted Pub Tour
Ongoing

BeerQuest Haunted Pub Tour

Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub $39

Uncover Portland’s dark side on this spine-tingling walking pub tour. In the early 1900s, unsuspecting sailors were often ruthlessly abducted and whisked away through the notorious Shanghai Tunnels. Tour guides will tell you how notorious criminals kidnapped thousands of people and why their ghosts still haunt Portland today. This is Portland’s longest-running ghost tour with…

Editor's Pick
Beer
Guided Tour
History
Editor's Pick
Hollywood Farmers Market
Ongoing

Hollywood Farmers Market

Hollywood Farmers Market Free

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…

Editor's Pick
Food & Drink
Outdoors
Shopping
Editor's Pick
Gay Skate
Ongoing

Gay Skate

Oaks Amusement Park & Roller Skating Rink $12

Roll out with your friends and loved ones to the monthly Gay Skate Session, held the 1st and 3rd Monday night of the month. Everyone is welcome at this all-ages event at this all-ages event. Admission tickets allow the Oaks Park Roller Rink access for the selected Gay Skate Session date/time. Includes standard skate rental.

Editor's Pick
LGBTQ+
Sports
Oregon Coastal Tour
Ongoing

Oregon Coastal Tour

Various locations $130

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…

Guided Tour
Coriolanus
Apr. 20–May 19, 2024

Coriolanus

Portland Center Stage at The Armory $25 – $93

Famine threatens Rome and hunger fuels the tensions between the country’s elite and the deprived masses. As civil unrest stirs political upheaval, the war hero Coriolanus is driven to defend and destroy his own country. Shakespeare’s rare and unique tragedy will be fueled by a dynamic female and non-binary ensemble and a muscular, movement-focused staging….

Performing Arts
Nassim
Mar. 30–May 12, 2024

Nassim

Portland Center Stage at The Armory $25 – $66.50

From Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour (creator of the Off-Broadway smash hit White Rabbit, Red Rabbit) comes an audacious new theatrical experiment. Each night, a new, unrehearsed local performer joins the playwright on stage while the script waits, unseen, in a sealed box… Touchingly autobiographical yet powerfully universal, NASSIM is a striking theatrical demonstration of how…

Cultural Communities
Performing Arts
Borderline
May 2–18, 2024

Borderline

Milagro – Miracle Theatre Group $22 – $30

Borderline is set in the cotton fields of Socorro, Texas, where four Latino teens threatened by a mysterious creature must rely on each other to escape the desert alive. It will take made-up myths, stories of the past, and a rendition of La Llorona to defeat the very real monster stalking children in the borderlands….

Cultural Communities
Performing Arts
Legally Blonde The Musical
Apr. 26–May 19, 2024

Legally Blonde The Musical

Winningstad Theatre $35 +

A fabulously fun award-winning musical based on the adored movie, Legally Blonde The Musical follows the transformation of Elle Woods as she tackles stereotypes and scandal in pursuit of her dreams. Action-packed and exploding with memorable songs and dynamic dances – this musical is so much fun it should be illegal. Elle Woods appears to…

Music
Performing Arts
Bangerz Comedy
Ongoing

Bangerz Comedy

Neighbors Taproom Free

Portland comics Bjorn RG and Eliza Butler host this weekly show at Neighbors Taproom with curated lineups of local and nationally touring comedians. 21+

Comedy
Nightlife
Performing Arts
Weird Portland Pub Tour
Ongoing

Weird Portland Pub Tour

Rogue Eastside Pub & Pilot Brewery $25 – $30

Experience the eccentricity of Portland, Oregon and visit one of its quirkiest neighborhoods on this walking pub tour. This tour is a must-do for anyone who wants to immerse themselves in the fascinating history of the city, including stories of UFO sightings, Bigfoot sightings, exploding whales, wacky bike rides, strange locals, hijackings, hipsters, artists, and…

Beer
Guided Tour
History
Steve Mason
Friday, May 3, 2024

Steve Mason

The Liquor Store $20

Chat to Steve Mason about his fifth solo album – the stirring and stunning Brothers & Sisters— and all musical touchpoints crop up. From Wu-Tang Clan and LTJ Bukem to Adam and The Ants and Public Image Limited by way of Mahalia Jackson and The Cramps, Mason not only knows his musical onions but remains…

Music
Sparkle & Shine Drag Brunch
Ongoing

Sparkle & Shine Drag Brunch

Shine Distillery & Grill $20 – $240

Hosted by Nicole Onoscopi, the colorful, kooky, and highly caffeinated queen of Oregon. She and her most fantastic guest queens fill the room with laughs and great times every show. The glamour, the performances, the HAIR. Drag artistry has become globally popular with fans of all ages. Therefore, the show is rated PG-13. CELEBRATE YOUR…

Comedy
Food & Drink
LGBTQ+
Performing Arts
Cheerful Tortoise Comedy Open Mic
Ongoing

Cheerful Tortoise Comedy Open Mic

Cheerful Tortoise Free

Comedy Open Mic for every skill level. Beginners are welcome. Weekly mic every Monday night with 8:30 p.m. sign-ups. Hosted by Sam Bass and Milo Loza. The Cheerful Tortoise is an iconic Portland bar that has been around for more than 60 years and provides a cheerful environment for everyone to enjoy.

Comedy
Nightlife
Performing Arts
Picture Day
Ongoing

Picture Day

GALLERY GO GO $35

Celebrated photographer Elle Hygge offers professional portraits and headshots that celebrate diversity. LGBTQIA2S+ friendly and support animals welcome. This is an event sponsored by the gallery and the urban art hike to encourage everyone to come to the gallery and take pictures with art. pay the gallery @GalleryGoGoGo (3 gos) Venmo

Art & Design
Puccini: In Concert
Saturday, May 11, 2024

Puccini: In Concert

Keller Auditorium $28 +

One hundred years after he died in 1924, we celebrate a one-night-only concert featuring Giacomo Puccini’s enduring compositions. Experience the drama and passion of these cultural touchstones, brought to life by an exciting ensemble of featured guest artists. Treat yourself, get fancy with friends, and enjoy a brilliant night out. We’ll cherish the iconic music…

Music
Performing Arts
Talk of the Town: Improv Show
Ongoing

Talk of the Town: Improv Show

Curious Comedy Theater $15 – $20

Talk of the Town – improvised comedy inspired by Portland’s movers and shakers. Looking for cool things to do around Portland? Curious Comedy has your back. Every third weekend of the month at 7:30 in the Annex Theatre, Talk of the Town invites special guests to tell everyone about the amazing things they are up…

Comedy

More Portland Events

Visit our events calendar to discover even more things to do in Portland. Search by date, event type and more.

See All Events

Spring Hikes Near Portland

There’s something special about the first spring hike of the year. Enjoy wildflowers, bird watching and breathtaking scenery on these springtime rambles.

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