‘City
of
Roses’
N Touch
Reunion
Ballots
Due
Portland
musician brings
back original
players
Make your
vote count
See Local
News, page 3
See Metro, page 9
Volume XLVII • Number 18
Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • May 9, 2018
Committed to Cultural Diversity
photo by D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver
Shawn Penney directs planning for Good in the Hood from the King Neighborhood Facility next door to Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary school. To commemorate the
50th anniversary of the naming of the school after King and the 50 years since the civil rights leader’s assassination, the multicultural and community wide event will
return to adjacent King School Park for this year’s celebration in late June.
Multicultural festival
sets course for
annual event
b everly C orbell
t he p ortlanD o bserver
The Good in the Hood music festival
and community celebration is making
plans for this year’s event with a new add-
ed focus, a return to a previous venue and a
legendary R & B performer.
The multicultural gathering has been
going strong for 26 years, but this year to
commemorate the 50th anniversary of the
naming of Martin Luther King Jr. Elemen-
tary school for King and to pay tribute to
Portland’s civil rights history in the 50
years since King’s assassination, the fes-
tival will return to adjacent King School
by
for
New Focus
in the
Good
Hood
Park in northeast Portland, June 22-24.
Good in the Hood is also rebounding
from racist threats from a year ago when an
anonymous letter threatened a bloodbath at
the event, which led to increased security
by police and event officials, but thankful-
ly no violence resulted.
Shawn Penney, president of Good in the
Hood, said the festival was held at King
School Park in the past, but then moved
to the larger Lillis Albina City Park to ac-
commodate larger crowds. Last year an es-
timated 25,000 to 30,000 people attended.
The upcoming celebration won’t be
pared down and planners expect just as
much or more activities, including live
bands every day, a big kid’s area, multi-
cultural food, crafts, marketplace vendors,
the Portland Farmers Market, free health
screens, and a lot more.
“It is a smaller park – but we’re going
to use every square inch and all the streets
around will be blocked out,” Penney said.
“We’re looking forward to another great
year of bringing communities and families
together.”
Security will be tight again this year.
Last year, police traced a phone call threat-
ening violence to an elderly woman, but
determined it was not a credible threat.
The source of the threatening letter, how-
ever, hasn’t been solved and is still under
investigation.
The entire King School Park, including
the streets on its perimeter will be fenced
in and Portland Police as well as private
security will make sure fest-goers are safe,
Penney said.
“They usually bring their big mobile
C ontinueD on p age 15