Spotlight: Saving at Papa Murphy’s and Portland Pizza Wars!

Bonus Article: “Earth Day Deals,” freebies and special discounts for today, Thursday April 22nd.

WEEKEND ON THE CHEAP:

– All weekend: the 2010 Bridgetown Comedy Fest. We love our comedy and this is a great opportunity to see local and national talent in a variety of venues. Single show tickets start at $10 (including the soon-to-be cult classic BIRDEMIC: SHOCK AND TERROR at the Bagdad Theater, Friday at midnight) or better yet, experience the entire festival for $60.

– Free admission at the Portland Art Museum this Friday from 5:00pm – 8:00pm. These are the last four weeks of the current special exhibition “Disquieted.”

– Earth Day in Music and Song 2010 this Friday from 7:30pm – 9:00pm at downtown’s First Unitarian Church at SW 12th and Salmon. Free performance from Michael Allen Harrison and accompanying performances.

– East Portland Homeownership Fair this Saturday at Ron Russell Middle School (3955 SE 112th) from 10:00am – 2:00pm. Admission is free. There will be a raffle drawing for a $4,000 homebuyer’s assistance grant plus food and children’s activities.

– 2010 Comcast/Hands On Greater Portland Cares Day this Saturday, join over 1800 volunteers in a myriad of projects, see web site for project details and to sign up.

– Willow Creek Earth Fair this Saturday at Portland Community College Willow Creek (near 185th and Baseline) features fun activities for kids, hands-on demonstrations from eco-friendly PCC classes, live entertainment, vendors from the Beaverton Farmer’s market, tours of Willow Creek Center’s “green” features and much more. Free.

– Carnival Days at Eastport Plaza, this Saturday from 10:00am – 4:00pm with parade, free community fair, pony rides, Funtastic carnival rides and much more.

– Spring Greening on Mississippi Avenue this Saturday from 12:00pm – 6:00pm as the businesses of Mississippi Avenue celebrate Spring and Earth Day. Most events are free, unless otherwise marked.

– Mhembero “A Celebration of Youth Marimba Music” performances this Saturday from 10:00am – 4:30pm at the Catlin Gabel School, free.

– Willamette Week’s Eatmobile Food Cart Festival this Saturday from 5:30pm – 8:30pm. Sample more than thirty food carts for just $7 in advance at the Willamette Week office (no tickets will be sold at the door!).

– Portland Rose Festival MusicFest this Saturday at Portland Music Company (531 SE Martin Luther King Boulevard) from 5:00pm – 11:00pm. Free and open to the public.

– Clackamas County Master Gardeners Spring Garden Fair this Saturday and Sunday at the Clackamas County Event Center (Fairgrounds). Ooops major error, this event isn’t until next week, May 1st & 2nd, sorry and thanks to Amy for the feedback!

– Spring Paddle Festival Portland this Saturday and Sunday, 9:00am – 4:00pm at Vancouver Lake. More than fifty kayaks and canoes to demo plus instruction.

– Stumptown Comics Fest this Saturday and Sunday, 10:00am – 6:00pm at the Lloyd Center Doubletree Hotel. Admission is just $6 per day.

– Willamette Week’s new Cheap Skate Deal Box includes Buffalo Exchange’s dollar day sale, City Repairs “Re-Seeding Our World” Earth Day Fair and Powell’s free tote bag offer.

– For a complete rundown listing of totally free events this weekend, please visit Aroundthesunblog.

SPOTLIGHT: SAVING MONEY AT PAPA MURPHY’S AND PORTLAND PIZZA WARS

Here’s what we’ve uncovered for saving some dough at Papa Murphy’s (yes, bad pun intended!):

– Go to their web site and look for the ‘Coupons’ section; enter your zip code and you’ll get a printable page of coupons.

– Buy a pizza and along with the cooking instructions will be a sheet of coupons that you can use for a future visit.

– Competitor’s coupons: yes, they accept them!…but they have to be comparable sizes with similar toppings. So if you find a $10 14″ large pepperoni pizza coupon at XYZ Pizza, don’t expect to get a 16″ Family Size Gourmet Chicken Garlic.

– Join the e-Club on their web site or via Facebook. Members receive exclusive deals in their email inbox, discount coupons for menu items, plus free cookie dough on the member’s birthday.

– Look for the seasonal specialty pizzas around Halloween and Valentine’s Day; we can’t say for sure if the promotion price really translates to big savings, but it could still be fun to eat a heart or Jack-O-Lantern shaped pizza.

– Sorry, no bulk discounts and no extra savings for seniors, but we were told that Intel employees receive a discount (show your badge).

– Entertainment book: in year’s past Papa Murphy’s had a coupon for 50% off of their Calzone “Stuffed” pizza, but sadly all they offer now is a $3 off a family size.

– Valpak: a few weeks ago we received an envelope of Valpak coupons, and one of inserts happened to be from Papa Murphy’s. There was a $3 off any family size pizza coupon and the best promo we’ve seen anywhere: $10 for any pizza, any size. The coupon has an expiration date of 5/15/10 and it is valid at over 35 locations in Portland and Salem. We looked on the Valpak web site and unfortunately it is not listed on there to print, so next time you receive that Valpak envelope full of coupons, take a look!

– Google it! Just type in ‘Papa Murphy’s coupons’ and you’ll get web sites like Retailmenot.com and Dealpl.us that feature printable coupons.

– Did we miss any other strategies for saving? If we did, please share your wisdom and make a comment!

Papa Murphy’s sells some pretty good pizza and at a very reasonable price, the only drawback being that you have to cook it yourself. If you can’t wait to bring a take-n-bake pizza home, then try some of these pizza chains that have recently blitzed the Portland area with their promotions. People are picky about their pie so hopefully one of these chains will do it for you!

– Pizza Hut: Any pizza. Any size. Any toppings. Any crust (well, except stuffed crust). For just $10. Limited time offer and no double toppings. Valid for pick-up, delivery and in-store.

– Domino’s Pizza: 2 Medium 2-Topping Pizzas for $5.99 each. 2 pizza minimum. They also offer the 14″ Large 1-Topping Brooklyn Style Pizza for $9.99. They’ve changed their sauce and upgraded their ingredients so try them out with these limited-time promotiona.

– Papa John’s: All large pizzas are just $10, even specialty pies. Or get the Papa John’s XL4 for just $11.99 with up to four toppings on ten slices of pizza.

– Round Table Pizza: $10 large pizza, Specialty or up to three toppings with coupon from their web site. Expires this Sunday, April 25th. Just click on the ‘Coupons’ tab and select your closest location. If you don’t have the coupon, then their large is still $10, but you only get one topping.

– Godfather’s Pizza: Any large with up to four toppings for just $10, but you’ll need a coupon that we found in a recent mailing of ‘Community Advantage Guide Magazine.’ Otherwise just go to their web site to download and print other savings coupons.

– Little Caesar’s: Large 14″ Pepperoni or Cheese for $5. No coupon needed. This is their usual deal so no worries about it being a ‘limited time offer’ or anything.

We know there are plenty of pizza choices in Portland, we just wanted to list some of the national pizza chain promotions that we’ve seen around town, and the magic number seems to be $10. If there are any other places we may have missed with this price point, please leave a comment and thanks for visiting Portlandonthecheap.