Announcing Green Dreams 2025: On the Nature of Monuments

Saturday, September 27

Field Day: Placing Memory, Making Place in Peninsula Park

Partners: David Hedberg, Julie Hammond, Mark Smallwood, Pat Frobes

Parks hold more than your favorite tree, reading bench, or basketball court. Parks hold memory. They are often the site of public art, sculptures, and monuments. Parks and green spaces are our shared living rooms. Whose pictures do we hang on their walls? What gets remembered?

We are inviting parks advocates, volunteers, and creative community organizers to join us for an examination of Peninsula Park’s recent placemaking projects and explore ways to honor community-led history work.

Learn more and register here.

Thursday, Oct. 30

Panel: Through the Eyes of the Elk: Social, Structural, Ecological Histories

Speakers: David Harrelson, Keith Eggener, Milo Reed, with Adam Davis moderating

The David P. Thompson Elk Fountain has been a Portland icon for 125 years. Removed from its home downtown due to collateral damage from community protests in 2020, the Elk has been out of sight, but not out of mind as it makes its return this fall. The Elk is not just a fountain - it’s art, a gathering place, and a symbol. But, of what? For whom? 

This panel discussion with historians explores the social, cultural, and ecological stories surrounding our iconic elk and how its meaning in our city has evolved over centuries. Plus, encounter for the first time two illustrated stories: one comic examining the history of the Thompson Elk Fountain, and one traditional story from Grand Ronde people of Mulak (Elk) Man.

Learn more and register here.