Bright lights, big city

The Portland Winter Light Festival kicks off this weekend

Time to start looking forward to darkness. The Portland Winter Light festival is here for nine nights to bring some magic into your life. While the bulk of the more than 200 free light installations and performances are downtown for two weekends — last night, tonight and Feb. 13 and 14 — some lights will shine every night through Feb. 14.

These engaging and sometimes entrancing light-based sculptures can be found in all quadrants of the city. Some will wow you with their beauty and brilliance. Others are so campy and eccentric, you’re going to post an “lol photo” to insta. For a full guide to the Portland Winter Light Festival, check out the event website: https://pdxwlf.com/

Here are some of the displays last night in Northwest Portland. Photos by Walden Kirsch.

The Portland Winter Light Festival always promises some gigantic art installations. The Harris family found one of those in Couch Park, so they stopped to stare at these colossal and colorful dahlias made of steel and light. Couch Park, NW 19th and Glisan.

At 23pdx Gallery, 23 NW 4th Avenue, we found an inviting exhibit: The Glam Clam and Mermaid Station. A Dutch Shepherd mix named Kimber rested her paws alongside her human, Hannah Morgan. The Glam Clam is not only lit, it’s made of all recycled material such as pool noodles and can tops. A sparkly pink foam mattress lies on a plywood base filled with old milk cartons. A disco ball adds some glam and LED strips add the flash — the artist can program the strips so they change colors.

Lights, music and dancing in the North Park Blocks, just outside the Pacific Northwest College of Art, 511 NW Broadway. Party down with the lit-up “Art Bus Experience,” which actually operates all year round. Entrepreneur Ty Givens came up with the idea about five years ago. It was during COVID and he was thinking about how folks could still have fun outdoors. So basically, he created an instant party. Givens brings his bus and a DJ, and folks dance, sing and hang out. Friday was the only night the “Art Bus Experience” was in Northwest, but next week, it will ride up to Director Park, 815 SW Park Avenue.