Spotlight: The Return of Portland on the Cheap

We’re back! We spent the summer months backpacking through El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua on a shoe-string budget, splurging every now and then for A/C and English-language cable TV. We survived the mosquitoes, the rainy season (nightly thunderstorms), food poisoning and all the chicken bus rides to finally return home…we missed ya Portland! It is hard to get back into blogging, so we’ll take the easy way out for this post by updating you with some notable submissions (and for those that emailed us events for earlier this summer—sorry!):

From Dianne:
“Birthday freebies: Gustav’s gives a free Apple Strudel!”

From Bank of America:
“Free museum access from Bank of America is coming again on September 4-5! This program is available the first full weekend of every month through December 2010.
Bank of America’s Museums on Us program offers Bank of America/Merrill Lynch credit or debit card holders free access to the below museums the first full weekend of every month through the rest of the year (this time, Saturday, September 4, and Sunday, September 5) just by showing their cards. The Portland area museums are the Pittock Mansion and Portland Art Museum.”

From Daniel:
“Greetings, friends! Attached is the latest and final press release for Portland’s first Candlelit Concert for Clean Energy. This benefit concert is sponsored by the Music Studio on Harrison Hill at Saint David of Wales Episcopal Church in SE Portland on September 11 at 7:30 pm. Please consider listing and promoting it among your communities and friends.”

From the Oregon Zoo:
“We’ve raised our discounted admission on the Second Tuesday of every month from $2 to $4. The MAX discount still applies, and since these are busy days, we strongly encourage folks to avoid the parking headaches and take MAX. Thanks!” The next $4 Oregon Zoo Day is on Tuesday, September 14th!

From Joe at the University of Portland:
“Patrick Jordan, managing editor at Commonweal Magazine – an independent journal of opinion managed by lay Catholics – is set to give a lecture on legendary Catholic activist Dorothy Day on Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. on campus at the Buckley Center Auditorium, 5000 N. Willamette Blvd. The lecture is free and open to the public and sponsored by the University’s Garaventa Center for Catholic Intellectual Life and American Culture in conjunction with the Commonweal Speakers Program, made possible by a generous gift from James H. Duffy…The Blanchet House in Portland’s Old Town, founded by University of Portland alumni who in 2010 were awarded the Christus Magister medal at Commencement – the University’s highest honor, was modeled on Dorothy Day’s example.”

There’s plenty happening this weekend for Labor Day, including tonight’s Portland First Thursday and free Oregon Symphony concert at Waterfront Park; Art in the Pearl, the Oregon State Fair, the Portland Beavers final home stand (ever?) at PGE Park, and $2 admission to OMSI this Sunday.

Check out Aroundthesunblog and PDX Pipeline for a complete rundown for activities free and cheap this weekend.

Have a great Labor Day—we’ll be taking this Monday off, so look for us next Thursday as we try to get back to a routine of blogging once again. Thanks for stopping by!