The embattled Clown House was (as usual) the focal point of bike love for the evening.
It is a show of wonder, and totally amazing how those folks have kept it together all these years.
They got grief from all angles, the city shut down their bike shop, the county took money but still shut down the hot dog cart, people promise help that never comes and of course theres the probl;em of drunks breaking up the place.
Add that to the sky high rent and constant threat of homelessness, those clowns are gluttons for punishment.
You wouldn't be able to tell from the attitudes though all night it seemed, constant sorties of bikes poured to and from the Clown House like winged monkeys. all ages, all kinds of bikes and all smiles I must say. They have a guy (Capt. Ace) who rides a red, hand made, Tri-plane bike, it towers above the biggest bike they have.
Strange and pointless noisemakers were attached to funny bikes and at on point I saw three tall bikes barreling down the road corralling a beautiful girl who was sprinting in front of them wearing bunny ears, sneakers and a bikini. They have a “Spin Bike” that makes me dizzy just looking at the Cowboy clown ride it.
The band was a very energetic group of young people called "Everyday Prophets" they played for hours. This band is going somewhere, all the music was positive in nature, thats important.
They had “Pete the Great” bet knownas the Ninja Turtle who jousts on a super tall unicycle.
Is this UNREAL or what????
I looked like all the personal autonomy of past events except for two main and incredible changes.
This month, as people from all bikes of life mingled and had fun, they were joined by two new factions: The neighborhood do-gooders in reflective vests and the Portland Police who had no problem dispersing people who may be blocking the cars right of way.
The neighborhood malitia "The Last Thursday Presurvation Society"made a “Courtesy call” to the Clown House reminding them to shut up after 10 oclock.
I later found out that they have only the intention of keeping the police away and are no threat.
I hear a power mad buissness owner decided to make her own rules and throw a vest on.
She made her cohorts look like chumps by going in the yard at exactlly 10 oclock and yelling at everyone.
That could have killed the evening but the clowns huddled and made a plan.
What happened was a first in Clown House, Gladiator event history; the joust was a silent one, we had to do the games without the most important part, the yelling.
The guy with the bullhorn (Ood) must introduce the contenders, inform the crowd of rank and tell them when to go. Without that, the event suffered.
“It's over, we gotta move house to another hood and start from scratch.”
decried Dingo Dizmal the circus boss “It's much easier to move the show to a better place than get noise permits or play the MAN's game I at least owe that much to the crew, they work hard.”
Four hot clown gals managed to keep the crowd quiet for at least 6 jousts but then a guy got naked and jousted Turbo, Turbo put him down like he was a bag of crap. The crowd couldn't help it and they let out a cheer that would rival the ancient roman arenas.
It was that noise that prompted the police to ask everyone to leave the Clown House, they just moved 15 feet to the left and continued to have fun.
Nothing has changed about the Art Walk other than the real estate developers who have began marketing the neighborhood to the next crop of Young Urban Professionals. They show themselves in the form of “Frat mentality” it's very prone to street scuffles and other "puddin head" behavior. As the clown boss said “It's over”
The guys in the vests got a big thank you from some of the buissness owners,
"Thank you so much, our clients were all high end this time"
That ticked the L.T.P.S. off, can you imagin getting people together for community policing with the intent of preserving artists and craftspeople and ending up clearing the undesirables for super expensive restraunts.
I say punish the buissnesses and move the party to Alberta Park.
The street is no longer a personal autonomous zone, It's focus is money, the buissness association is gathering and will only include a small number of buissnesses (rich ones)it's more like a baby First Thursday.
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