Hang on tight: it’s going to be a wild week. Or, to borrow a line from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel, June is bustin’ out all over. Without further ado, a few of the highlights from the next seven days:
ROSE FESTIVAL/DRAGON BOAT ART SHOW. Yes, it’s here again, the annual civic bacchanalia that, as local journalistic legend has it, an old-school reporter for The Oregonian once famously described as the season “when sailors swim upstream to spawn.” The Starlight Parade begins to wind through downtown streets at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, and those who love a parade are advised to show up and snag a spot well in advance. (Those who don’t love a parade are advised to stay away from downtown at all costs.) Here at ArtsWatch we’re quite fond of the dragon boat races (we happen to know a few paddlers, and they’re a hearty lot), which splash down June 11-12 in the Willamette River. And we’re always tickled by Fire on the Water, the annual show of art inspired by the dragon boat races, which is free and always a lot of fun. This year’s version, with work by about seventy artists, opens Thursday in the rotunda lobby of the performing arts center’s Antoinette Hatfield Hall, and hangs around all summer, through August 30. You can drop in most anytime.
2016 “Fire on the Water” cover image. Art: Mario Robert