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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 23, 2018)
School Needs a New Home ‘City of Roses’ Volume XLVII • Number 20 Neighbor Mourned Lease running out for De La Salle North Memorial planned for slain fabricator See Metro, page 11 See Local News, page 3 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • May 23, 2018 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity photo by D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver Laura Lo Forti (left) and Damaris Webb, co-organizers of the Vanport Mosaic Festival, outside the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center on North Interstate Avenue, showcasing one of the primary event venues for the annual celebration taking place this long Memorial Day weekend on the 70th anniversary of the Vanport Flood. The IFCC will host several exhibitions, like Vanport: The Surge of Social Change; Anywhere but Here: The History of Housing and Discrimination in Oregon; and Our City, Our Voice: Excavating Portland’s History through Art. A new play about displacement in Portland, “Left Hook,” will also make its world premiere at the IFCC on Thursday. Vanport Mosaic commemorates 70 years since flood On a warm Memorial Day 70 years ago, Portland was forever transformed by Ore- gon’s biggest natural disaster of the 20th century: The Vanport Flood. It’s a big anniversary, and that’s why the Vanport Mosaic Festival is pulling out the stops for six days of activities that weave together fun, fascination, family and seri- ous reflection. It’s all happening with events begin- ning Wednesday, May 23 and continuing through the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, May 28 at multiple venues that are specifically free of charge or kept at low-cost for the community. Co-organizers Laura Lo Forti and Dam- A City Transformed aris Webb have created a rich program that combines storytelling, performance, histo- ry, physical activities and even a disaster preparedness workshop. The Royal Rosar- ians will also be planting a special com- memorative rose at Peninsula Park, and the Rosarian planting is himself a Vanport survivor. A big highlight for 2018 is a partnership with the Confluence Project, which pro- motes understanding of indigenous com- munities of the Columbia River through historic preservation and construction of a series of hiking trails stretching along the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge. The trails are vast and fascinating land- scapes designed by architect Maya Lin, creator of the US Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Like the Vanport survivors who have contributed oral histories to the Vanport Mosaic project, Native American families have joined voices in oral histories about their experiences. A fascinating panel of local indigenous leaders will be screening a film of these oral histories at the festival as well. Key to local tribes was loss of Celilo Village on the Columbia when the Dalles Dam was built in 1957. Before being flood- ed for the dam by the federal government, Celilo was considered the oldest sustained community on the North American con- tinent. The damn also destroyed Celilo’s huge waterfall, one of the most important tribal fishing spots and a center of the tribal economy. “We feel a sense of urgency right now because many of the elders who lived through these things are in their 80s and 90s,” Lo Forti says. “We can’t lose their stories because they have so much to teach us and that is how we really learn -- from C ontinueD on p age 6