4 • The Southwest Portland Post
FEATURES
August 2011
South Portland neighbors get together for summer concerts in the parks
By Polina Olsen
The Southwest Portland Post
It’s free for all, and the music is grand
at this year’s South Portland Summer
Concert Series. Held in Willamette Park
on Southwest Macadam and Elizabeth
Caruthers Park on Southwest Moody
Avenue, evenings start with neighbors
finding spots on the grass for children,
picnic baskets, dogs, and portable
chairs. Get ready for dancing. There’s
plenty of space near the stage.
On July 20, Vagabond Opera enter-
Mira Solis and Caire Elton blew
bubbles to the tunes of the Vagabond
Opera on July 20 at Willamette Park.
(Post photo by Polina Olsen)
tained the crowd. Lead operatic tenor
Eric Stern and his troupe bring klezmer,
Balkan and “neo-bohemian cabaret” to
audiences throughout the United States
and Europe.
“Things are great, always great,” said
Ken Love, chair of the South Portland
Neighborhood Association, the group
that hosted the event. Joined by Portland
Parks & Recreation and with the help
of sponsors like OHSU, the Portland
Water Bureau and Northwest College
of Naturopathic Medicine, the program
has gone off without a hitch for the past
four years.
“We’ve never had a band that was
disappointing,” Love said. “We just
have one more concert at Willamette
Park, Malea & the Tourists. Next month
we have two concerts in Caruthers Park
in South Waterfront.”
Sylvia Bogert, executive director of
Southwest Neighborhoods, Inc., chat-
ted with SPNA board members Lee
Buhler and Jennifer Daneluk. “I love
to see all the neighbors walking to the
event,” Bogert said. “It’s a nice function
when neighbors get together. And, the
weather is perfect.”
Also owner of the Ross Island Gro-
cery & Café at 3502 SW Corbett Ave,
Daneluk’s nearby booth provided fresh
barbecued cheeseburgers and other
treats for those who preferred buying
The Vagabond Opera performed July 20 at Willamette Park. (Post photo by
Polina Olsen)
their picnic.
artists mobbed the Portland Parks &
Other vendors and non-profits lined
Recreation children’s booth.
the perimeter like Meghan Sperandeo
“They’re making spectacular flowers,
from the College of Naturopathic
bugs and crowns out of pipe cleaners,
Medicine. “We’re here to get the word
chop sticks and their ideas,” teacher
out to potential students and potential
Kathy Karuoc said. Portland Parks &
clients,” she explained to Leigh Brous-
Recreation hires artists to teach and
sard, who brought Captain, her Great
create art with children at all the park
Pyrenees, along for company. “He’s a
concerts. Tonight, Karuoc and Spanish
small one,” Broussard said. “He only
speaking Blanca Vazquez led the charge.
weighs 115 pounds. His parents came
from a working sheep ranch in Eastern
Coming soon to South Portland…
Oregon. He guards my chickens.”
Talk turned to the neighborhood.
August 2 National Night Out Pot-
Did everyone hear of a new café next
luck Dinner: Enjoy visiting neighbors
to the Corbett Fish House? “They serve
to the tunes of The Wicky Pickers,
breakfast, lunch and Stumptown cof-
whose Celtic traditional sounds com-
fee,” Sperandeo said. Meanwhile young
(Continued on Page 5)
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