Portland
Immigrants
Fashion Week
Top designers
to debut
collections .
See page 12
See page 3
Read back issues of the Portland Observer at www.portlandobserver.com
‘City ¿¿/’Roses’
Volume X X X X I, Number 4 0
Last
Honored
Parkrose
celebrates
100 years
Wednesday • October 5. 2011
Established in 1970
Com m itted to Cultural Diversity
photo by
C ari H achmann /T he P ortland O bserver
As the sun goes down on Northeast Alberta Street, crowds during Last Thurs­
day multiply and fill the street. Art vendors, music performers and dancers hold
the attention o f visitors outside, while others are kept amused inside Alberta’s
popular restaurants, bars and art galleries.
Partying crowds test patience o f neighbors
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
by
On what may have been one of the last warm nights before
Portlanders turn in for the winter, a huge crowd showed up
to revel in Last Thursday on Northeast Alberta Street last
week, the final celebration of the spring and summer season
when the street closes to accommodate the monthly event.
From hoola-hooping children and body-bending acro­
bats to native drum circles and dread-locked rappers, most
everyone in attendance seemed well-entertained and all
smiles.
According to Friends of Last Thursday, a grass roots
organization formed a year and a half ago after the event
turned controversial due to rowdy after-hours crowds dis­
rupting surrounding neighbors; the event has become “in­
creasingly mellow.”
Police agreed the fair seemed to be winding down after the
peak summer months.
Officer Curtis Chinn, standing at one of the street’s
crowded intersections, said the most common complaints are
from the neighbors who are upset about noise, litter, illegal
parking, and public urination.
continued
on page 4