In the 1970s, Portland did something revolutionary: it tore out a riverside freeway and planted a park instead. Tom McCall Waterfront Park, 36 green acres along the Willamette’s west bank, became the city’s front lawn — and the stage for its biggest celebrations.
The Rose Festival’s CityFair fills it with carnival lights each spring; summer brings the Waterfront Blues Festival and a fireworks-lit Fourth of July; and the Oregon Brewers Festival helped invent craft beer culture on these very lawns. In March, the Japanese American Historical Plaza’s cherry trees erupt in blossoms over the promenade.
Everyday joys are just as rich: the Salmon Street Springs fountain dances for splashing kids, the Saturday Market spreads under the Burnside Bridge, and the esplanade draws runners, cyclists and lunch-break wanderers from dawn to dusk.
Tom McCall — the governor it’s named for — dreamed of a city that valued its river. Stand on this grass at sunset, bridges glowing, and you’ll see his dream kept beautifully alive.
