Welcome to PDX Santa baby, Tuba Christmas 2012 is happening

Portland’s Union Station, where trains still run daily.

©Ann Bodle-Nash

Portland, Oregon is jumping with roaming Santas and Tubas. Why would one expect less? With a population hovering just under 600,000 it is perceived  as a diverse Northwest city  in so many ways including culture, population, and topography. Portland has a collective social character unlike other cities in the Northwest, and has spawned its own quirky television show, Portlandia. Famous for its ever-expanding locations of Powells Bookstore (with a truly encyclopedic collection of volumes new and used),  a core downtown that still feels pedestrian friendly, The Max–an extensive light rail system, a year-round weekend outdoor craft and import market,  plus a seemingly higher-than-average tattoo per capita ratio, what’s not to like? Did I mention the barber with a giant purple octopus atop his shop that obsesses about men’s eyebrow waxing?

In December, near Christmas, Portland is abuzz with eccentric oddities including the Cacophony of Santas ( their real name) and Tuba Christmas ( an organized phenom).

 Tuba hats fight the chilly temps.

Last weekend Tuba Christmas 2012 brought together over 300 brass musicians—with Tubas and Euphoniums— to the downtown Portland, outdoor, Pioneer Square cement park. Hundreds of listeners stood on raised cement platforms, craning their necks to see tubas and other brass horns of many kinds, while listening to their melodious reverberations. The rumble goes to your toes when the entire group plays, and brings tears to the eye. It’s a multi-generational listening affair, with food vendors and Starbucks on the periphery. It’s a phenomenon not unique to Portland , but a global movement , with specific music tailored to Tuba assemblages. The sound is magic.

Santa, with his vintage Conn Tuba

For more on this phenom go to http://www.tubachristmas.com/

 Santa John Lennon and Mrs Santa

Whereas Tuba Christmas is orderly, the Cacophony of Santas—Portland Cacophony Society’s 250 downtown-Portland Kringles–  is not. We encountered about 75 Santas in wildly diverse dress last weekend, near the Skidmore Fountain, near the “Saturday Market” by the river which is open Saturdays and Sundays. While Japanese tourists snapped photos frantically, I chatted with a few Santas and Mrs. Santas. It seems this is one of three  all calls this year  for wanna be Santas to meet at a particular place at a specified time. Some had traditional garb—a red coat with fur trim, beard, red hat with a white ball, red pants, black boots–, but most had fashioned a unique mélange of Santa, incorporating themes including Halloween, Cowboy, Scottish, and vaudeville into their costumes. A Scottish-clad piper on a unicycle rode by repeatedly wowing the crowd into applause. A Santa minus his pants, but with boots wandered by, posing. One Santa carried a 15 inch high stuffed Santa—with black skull left over from Halloween— inserted as a head. And then they dispersed, to wander en mass toward the central core  of downtown Portland. Santa sightings were noted throughout the afternoon. Ah, Portland. Don’t loose that thing you’ve got. Ever.

Scottish Santa and his lady

Santa and skull baby Santa make an odd pairing.

Pantless Santa Baby, it’s cold outside!

For a glimpse of local commentary re the Santa extravaganza:

http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-9958-cacophony.html