Search May Events
Embrace spring with events celebrating local food, crafts and Latinx culture.
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 March in Portland, or search our full events calendar to see 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 Portland 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.
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.
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, photography, glass, jewelry, book arts and mosaics.
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. 50 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.
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.
More May Events 2023
Check out our editor's picks for top things to do in May in Portland.
Portland Mac & Cheese Festival
Featuring some of the country’s hottest chefs, eateries, and food trucks in some of the favorite food cities, offering a unique taste of America’s favorite side dish to hungry crowds around the nation. The Mac + Cheese Festival National Tour celebrates America’s cheesiest dish while highlighting top chefs. Location is TBD
Sip of Spring
Sip of Spring is a gathering on a farm where you and your friends can celebrate the spring season by tasting beers and cider in a picturesque venue. Sip of Spring was held at the historic Rossi Farms in NE Portland, just a short distance from downtown, in a picturesque barn on a working farm…
Morning or Afternoon Half Day Portland City Tour
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…
Morning or Afternoon Multnomah Falls & Gorge Waterfalls Tour
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…
Mt. Hood Loop Tour including Multnomah Falls
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…
Oregon Coastal Tour
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…
Oregon Wine Tasting Tour
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…
Music of Steel & Majesty
Be transported by the silvery sounds of the steel pan as Grammy-nominated composer and percussionist Andy Akiho performs Beneath Lighted Coffers, inspired by the architecture of the Roman Pantheon. Hailed by Schumann as “sheer musical mastery,” Schubert’s Ninth Symphony is the composer’s most exuberant, expansive symphonic statement. PROGRAM Andy Akiho: Beneath Lighted Coffers Schubert: Symphony…
Tuesday Blues Dance
N95 masks (they wrap around the back of your head) and up-to-date vaccination are required. Visit pdxblues.com for more information or to pre-register your covid card. Tuesday Blues is a POC and LGBTQIA safe(r) event. This means bigotry of any kind is not tolerated. If you experience or see anything questionable, please let someone on…
Wake Up Rounder Bluegrass Jam
Open bluegrass jam every Tuesday at 7:00. All level pickers welcome. Grinners, onlookers, sinners, whooters and hollerers are welcome as well. No cover, $5 suggested donation.
Come From Away
The true story of the small town that welcomed the world, Broadway’s Come From Away has won Best Musical all across North America. The New York Times Critics’ Pick takes you into the heart of the remarkable true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them. Cultures clashed, nerves…
Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe
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…
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