It’s that time again! Fireworks displays will light up the sky every night this weekend, with the biggest and best saved for Independence Day on Monday. Here’s our list. Let us know what we missed.

Oregon Coast 

• The Northern Oregon Coast is getting ready for the 4^th of July with many events planned this year! For a complete list visit www.beachconnection.net

Portland/Vancouver Metro Area

• Waterfront Blues Festival, July 1st-4th, fireworks July 4th at 10:05pm – The largest Blues festival on the west coast and 2^nd largest in the nation benefits the Oregon Food Bank.  Over 120 performances on 5 stages.  www.waterfrontbluesfest.com
• Fort Vancouver – Back for 2011!! The biggest fireworks show west of the Mississippi. This year the show will be launched inside the park instead of off the barge so the best views will be from inside the park. Gates Open at 8:00 am, entertainment starts at noon, fireworks at 10:05 pm.  www.fortvan.org
• Oaks Park – The park opens at 10:00 am, rides start at noon, fireworks at dusk.   www.oakspark.com
• Blue Lake Park – Park opens at 8:00 am, live music starting at 3:30, fireworks at dusk. www.oregonmetro.gov/bluelake
• Estacada – Parade starts at noon downtown with fireworks at 10:00 pm. www.estacada4thofjuly.com
• Lake Oswego – A family celebration, including a parade, music, face painting and BBQ in downtown Lake Oswego.
• McMinnville – At the Evergreen Aviation Museum at 10:45 pm.  Make a day of it and visit the new Evergreen Waterpark! www.evergreenmuseum.org
• Molalla Buckeroo Rodeo – July 2-4^th.  Kids parade July 2nd at 6 pm.  Fireworks at 8:00pm July 2, 3&4^th! Plus a giant street parade July 4^th at 9:30 am.  www.molallabuckeroo.com
• St Paul Rodeo, July 1-4^th – Best rodeo in the Portland Metro area!  Youth rodeo and family day celebration on the 4^th with free activities including pony rides, parade, wagon rides, & carnival rides. www.stpaulrodeo.com
• Tigard High School – Festivities start at 6 pm with clowns, live music, kid’s games, police and fire vehicles, with fireworks at dusk.
• Sandy – July 4^th Fireworks at Sandy High School at Dusk
• St. Helens – July 4^th Fireworks at Sand Island at Dusk
• Vernonia – Fireworks at Vernonia High School July 4^th at Dusk
• Corbett Fun Fest **New Addition (Thanks Lisa N!)**- July 4th – Largest community sponsored show in Oregon and third largest display in Portland area. Music starts at 1 pm, fireworks at dusk. www.corbettfunfest.com

Other

• Goldendale – Maryhill Museum.  Free Admissions to the Museum from 5-8 pm. Kids art activities at 6 pm.  Pack a picnic and watch the laser light show starting at 10:00 pm. www.maryhillmuseum.org
• Hood River – Parade, BBQ festival, live music, games and firework show over the Columbia River. Events are from 9:00 am – 10:30 pm www.hoodriver.org
• Cascade Locks -  Fireworks show over the Columbia River at Cascade Locks. 9:00-11:00 pm www.hoodriver.org

Shows start at 7:00 pm, rain or shine.

Tickets may be purchased at the Zoo or at Ticketmaster (with service charges).

6/23 – Taj Mahal with Joan Osborne $24.00

6/25 – Mary Chapin Carpenter with Marc Cohn $24.00

7/08 – AfroCubism $19.00

7/14 – Plena Libre with Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca $14.00*

*(Free to Oregon Zoo Members Plus Level and Above)

7/22 – Indigo Girls with Mount Moriah $24.00

7/24 – Los Lobos with Los Lonely Boys – $26.00

7/28 – Matisyahu with Tea Leaf Green $22.00

7/29 – Chris Isaak $39.00

7/30 – Brandi Carlile $26.00

7/31 – Bela Fleck & the Fleckstones with Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers*

*(6pm Start) $26.00

8/3 – Big Bad Voodoo Daddy $14.00*

*(Free to Oregon Zoo Members Plus Level and Above)

8/7 – George Thorogood and the Destroyers $24.00

8/10 – Imelda May $14.00*

*(Free to Oregon Zoo Members Plus Level and Above)

8/11 – Peter Frampton $27.50

8/12 – K.D. Lang and the Siss Boom Bank $36.00

8/13 – the Go-Go’s “Ladies Gone Wild” tour $24.00

8/18 – Miranda Cosgrove $25.00

8/19 – Carolina Chocolate Drops and the Be Good tanyas $19.00

8/20 – Aimee Mann with the Weepies $20.00

8/27 – Huey Lewis and the News $39.00

For more events and area attractions visit the Portland Home Team!

The Portland Rose Festival kicks off the summer season in Portland with many exciting opportunities for FUN — all located in Tom McCall Waterfront Park, in downtown Portland, Oregon! 

The weather this weekend is looking to warm up – a perfect time to enjoy the Rose Festival activities!

Starlight Parade & Run 6/4
Junior Parade 6/8
Rose Cup Races  6/17-6/19(PDX Internat’l Raceway)
Fleet Week  6/8-6/12: US Navy and US Coast Guard Vessels open for Free Tours
123rd Annual Spring Rose Show 6/9-6/10
Queen’s Coronation 6/11
Dragon Boat Races 6/11-6/12
Grand Floral Parade 6/11
Grand Floral Parade Float Showcase 6/11 – 6/12
Fun Center Open from  5/27-6/12

Visit the official Portland Rose Festival web site for complete Rose Festival coverage.

Get outside and support our local farmers at these markets:

Beaverton Farmers Market (Hall Blvd between 3rd & 5th Streets)
Saturdays, 8:00am-1:30pm, starting 5/7/2011
Wednesdays, 3:00pm-6:00pm, starting 6/22/2011

Cedar Mill Farmers Market (NW Cornell across from Sunset H.S.)
Saturdays, 8:00am-1:00pm, starting 5/7/2011

Hillsdale Farmers Market (Behind Hillsdale Shopping Center)
Sundays, 10:00am-2:00pm, starting 5/1/2011

NW 23rd Farmers Market (NW 23rd & NW Savier St)
Thursdays, 3:00pm-7:00pm, starting 6/2/2011

Pioneer Courthouse Square (SW Broadway and SW Morrison)
Mondays, 10:00am-2:00pm, starting 6/20/2011

Portland State University (South Park Blocks)
Saturdays, 8:30am-2:00pm, starting 3/19/2011

For a complete list visit www.PortlandFarmersMarkets.com

Independence Day 2010 hails the return of fireworks to Fort Vancouver, and the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival show promises to be better than ever. Here are the fireworks displays we could find in the Portland area:

Independence Day at Fort Vancouver

• Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, 612 E. Reserve St, Vancouver, WA (Mill Plain exit from I-5)
• July 4th, 2010, 10:05 pm
• The park opens at 8:00 am. Four stages will host entertainers.
• Once the largest display west of the Mississippi, the fireworks display at Fort Vancouver is back after missing 2009 for lack of funding. Fireworks will be launched from within the park, not from a barge in the Columbia River, so viewing is best inside the park.
• General Admission is $7 at the gate, $5 in advance. Prime Viewing Area Seating available for $50 ($25 if you’re under 21).

Waterfront Blues Festival

• Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Portland
• July 4th, 2010, 10:00 pm
• The 24th year of the Blues Festival runs Friday, July 2nd through Monday, July 5th. Check out this year’s incredible lineup.
• Admission: See web site for pass information. Fireworks can be seen from many viewpoints free of charge.

Oaks Park 4th of July Spectacular

• 7805 SE Oaks Way, Portland, OR 97202
• July 4th, 2010, 9:55 pm
• Gates open 10:00 am, rides start at noon. The park is open until midnight for rides and entertainment.
• All picnic spaces are first come first serve.
• Gate fees are $5 for 16 and over, $2 for 15 and younger, and $3 for seniors 62 and up.

Blue Lake Park – Fourth of July Fireworks at Blue Lake

• 20500 NE Marine Drive, Portland (Exit 14 from I-84)
• July 4th, 2010, 10:00 pm
• What: The park is opens at 8:00 am.  Live music begins at 3:30: The Stingrays from 3:30 to 5:30 pm, Aguamiel from 6:00 to 7:30 pm, Linda Hornbuckle from 8:00 to 10:00 pm.
• Admission: $10 per vehicle, $15 for large vans

The kids think we put on a pretty good show in our own neighborhood, so we’ll probably miss the big shows. Tell us how they are.

Travel & Leisure magazine named the Portland Building, the iconic 1980′s post-modern masterpiece by Michael Graves, the ugliest building IN THE WORLD! You have to wonder if the writers at T&L actually travel much. Read more and learn where their remaining eyesores reside in Travel & Leisure’s October, 2009 issue.

Regardless of how you feel about Oregon’s land-use planning system, the announcement last night that Metro envisions no expansion of Portland’s urban growth boundary to accommodate an anticipated one million additional people by 2030 is probably surprising. But Metro has done its homework, and development interests will need to marshal all their resources to counter it. As reported in this morning’s Oregonian, Metro says Portland has room to grow inside the current urban growth boundary.

Metro’s announcement and report formally opens a 30-day public comment period featuring seven open houses and five public hearings. Metro is scheduled to adopt a regional transportation plan and an urban growth report, which will formalize population and job projections, by the end of the year. Designations of urban and rural reserves are scheduled for next summer. A Guide to Making the Greatest Place is a concise, downloadable summary with timelines and meeting schedules prepared by Metro.

The “takeaway” for those of us in the close-in neighborhoods: good homes in convenient locations will become more valuable and outperform the general market.

View remaining 2009 Zoo Summer Concerts in the About Portland section of our Portland Home Team web site.

Portland State University’s Center for Real Estate, the closest thing we have to a real estate think tank, today released it’s PSU Center for Real Estate Quarterly & Development Journal for the 2nd Quarter of 2009. The lead article is an interesting defense of keeping Memorial Coliseum as a coliseum. Read about this Portland icon at Coliseum Choices: An Asset Too Valuable to Demolish.

Two other articles relate more directly to the Portland residential real estate market. The first, Bursting Bubbles: Portland’s Distressed Housing Market, is a very well-written, succinct summary of the where we are and how we got here, with a focus on the data for distressed properties. The second article,  Housing Market Analysis, is a detailed analysis of the Portland real estate market and how it compares to regional and national markets.

The remaining articles in this issue analyze the credit markets for commercial real estate and the Portland commercial, industrial, and multifamily real estate markets. The journal is well worth a look.