- Organic apples and pears for just $.78 per pound? Yes, until this Saturday at all area Fred Meyer stores for their 88th anniversary sale. No coupon necessary, includes Gala, Fuji, Braeburn and more.

- Pass It On Children’s Consignment sale continues today through Sunday at the Washington County Fair Complex. Free admission and free parking.

- The 2010 Portland Baby Boomer Lifestyle Expo runs this Friday – Sunday at the Portland Expo Center. Free admission includes information on health, travel, food, wine, finance, home, gardening and much more.

- 11th Annual Art in the Burbs art exhibit show and sale this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Tigard’s Alberta Rider Elementary School. Free admission.

- Welcome the Rain free workshops and information resources this Saturday from 10:00am – 3:00pm at Atkinson Elementary School. Free admission, free raffle and free daycare provided.

- 7th Annual West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta this Saturday from 8:00am – 4:00pm at the Lake at Tualatin Commons, rain or shine. General entertainment begins at 10:00am and includes strolling entertainment, costume contest, live music, pumpkin carving and more.

- Livingscape Fall Festival this Saturday, 1:00pm – 5:00pm featuring cider pressing, live music, food demos, apple and garlic tastings and more.

- 6th Annual Portland Zombie Walk, this Saturday at 4:00pm at Pioneer Courthouse Square. The walk will be preceded by Thrill The World Portland’s performance of the “Thriller” dance. Free to participate or spectate.

- “About Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?” PBS documentary series at McMenamins Mission Theater, 2:00pm. $3 admission.

Submission
Oregon FIRST Robotics Showcase
Description: This Saturday, October 23rd from 10:00am – 3:00pm, OMSI will host the Oregon FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Showcase, a day of mechanical madness featuring robots built by local high school students. In conjunction with the Oregon Science and Engineering Festival, this scrimmage event will offer families a close-up look at a 120-pound robot in OMSI’s auditorium and classroom.
Where: OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), 1945 SE Water Ave., Portland
When: Saturday, Oct. 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Cost: Oregon FIRST Robotics Showcase is free, but does not include museum admission.”

- New OSU Food Innovation Center taste test recruitment:

The Sensory and Consumer Group at the Oregon State University Food Innovation Center is looking for participants for focus groups to take place on Tuesday, November 2nd. Each focus group will be about 2 hours and the compensation is $100.
Test times run at 12pm, 2:30pm, 5pm and 7:30pm. If you are interested, please click on this link to submit a questionnaire. If you are selected to participate, we will contact you via email by Wednesday, October 27th, where you must confirm your intent to participate. We will then send you another reminder email the day before the test. We only contact those who were selected to participate and will be sending out those confirmation emails by October 27th.

- For more ideas on cheap and free activities this weekend, please visit Aroundthesunblog and PDXPipeline!

SPOTLIGHT: THE PEOPLE’S YOGA

The People’s Yoga is a unique NE Portland community yoga studio that opened about two years ago. The owner, Michelle Sarchiapone, rented a small studio on 31st and Alberta and called it “The People’s Yoga.” Her aim was to make yoga accessible to those who haven’t been able to afford it before. With typical drop-in rates between $10-$12 in the Portland area, her drop-in rates started at only $6.

A year ago The People’s Yoga moved into a new space on Killlingsworth to accommodate the quickly growing size of their community. There, Michelle finally admitted that they had to change their payment system in order to keep financially afloat and to actualize the scholarship program she had always dreamed of. The studio is now financially stable in a way that can support a good number of scholarship students every month, plus rates are still very affordable at $8 for a drop-in class. The People’s Yoga also partners with local non-profits Street Yoga and Living Yoga to provide classes/programs for under-served populations with specific needs and concerns.

The studio offers over 30 yoga classes per week, with styles ranging from beginner to advanced, and from Hatha to Vinyasa. The studio is located on the #72 bus line and is also six easy walking blocks from bus line #73. If you are driving, street parking is free and plentiful. Mats are available to borrow for $1.

Every Saturday night The People’s Yoga offers a special event. The fourth Saturday of the month is always a party, whether celebrating a new art opening, holding a potluck or a movie night; fourth Saturdays are “community fun time.” Every other Saturday night of the month is “Moonlit Yoga,” a yoga event which includes a donation-based class (suggested donation $6-$10) followed by a community tea. Proceeds from Moonlit Yoga are a significant source for the scholarship fund.

This Saturday’s theme is Art Party, showcasing the paintings of Jaik Faulk. To celebrate his work in the studio there will be a performance by Portland dance company ‘Trip the Dark Fantastic’ and spoken word readings by Jocelyn Edelstien and Solomon Trimble…not to mention snacks and wine!

Drop-in classes cost $8; buy a 5-class card for $38 or a 10-class card for $70. Monthly memberships for unlimited classes are $55. Please see the web site for more details and information on class schedule, financial aid and to download the scholarship application. Yelp users give the studio 4 1/2 stars based on 17 positive reviews. Our advice is to try out a class as a drop-in participant and meet the yoga instructor to learn more.

Namaste!

- Free admission to the Portland Art Museum on Friday, from 5:00pm – 8:00pm

- Hillsboro’s Main Library has ‘Groovin at the Library‘ Friday night from 7:30pm – 8:30pm, featuring the Montavilla Brass Quintet

- Saturday choose from a free Homeownership Fair; PCC’s 9th annual Harvest Festival (with free admission to the Washington County Historical Society Museum); community Health Fairs in Milwaukie, Battleground and Vancouver’s Community A.M.E. Zion Church; the Portland Zombie Walk at 3:30pm in downtown; the events of the Portland 350 Global Day of Action; and FREE waffles from 9:00am – 3:00pm at FlavorSpot during their 3rd anniversary SpotFest:09

- Sunday take part in Family Bicycle Transportation Day at Oregon Manifest Bike Union

- For more free weekend happenings, go to Aroundthesunblog

- Willamette Week’s new Cheap Skate deal box features half-off Halloween tattoos, bike mechanic school open house, a free concert and more.

Spotlight: Free DVD Rentals

We love our movies, and we go out perhaps twice a month to see a movie on the big screen, but mostly we watch on the small screen in the comforts of home. Here are some ways to score some free DVD rentals for the long winter ahead.

- Redbox rental kiosks are found at a variety of locations around the Portland area inside of Fred Meyers, Albertsons, and McDonalds. Most rentals are just $1.00 a night, but get them free by using a special code at checkout at InsiderRedBox.com, or combined with other promotions (for example, buy a certain McDonald’s value meal and get a free rental).

- A direct competitor is DVDXpress, found inside grocery stores such as Haggen, Lambs, Thriftway, Roth’s and Food 4 Less. Use the special codes listed here upon check out for your free rental. Provide your email address to the service and you’ll get you’ll also receive occasional BOGO free offers.

- Netflix: get a free 2-week trial for their mail-service DVD rentals. Great selection to choose from, but just remember to cancel before the end of the trial period! At one time they offered a 30-day trial, but they wised up and now it is limited to 2 weeks.

- Blockbuster by Mail: similar 2-week trial as offered by Netflix. The advantage is that you can sign up for their 3 DVDs at a time with 5 in-store exchanges. What that means is when you are finished with one DVD, instead of mailing it back and waiting for your next DVD on the queue, just go to your local Blockbuster and exchange it for one on the shelf and save yourself the wait.

- Borrow from your friends or co-workers, start up an exchange! Chances are that you must know somebody with a huge inventory of the latest movies…

- Columbia House DVD Club. Um, we said rentals, and Columbia House is not for that, so we do not recommend it. You know the drill: get 3 DVDs for free or for $1 each and just pay shipping and handling AND buy 3 more movies at regular price during the year…and don’t forget that you’ll get a monthly director’s featured selection mailed to you and if you don’t cancel in time, guess what?….yeah, no thanks!!!

- And drum roll please for our favorite method of getting free DVD movie rentals…ta da!…. it’s at our local library! Log-in online and reserve a copy of the DVD and just wait until it is your turn on the waiting list. Even the most popular movies like Transformers 2 will have 20 or more copies available, and if you own a Blu-Ray then you’re in the minority and you’ll get your rental much sooner. Take a spin at Washington County, Multnomah County, Clackamas County (new link for 13 libraries provided by Jon) and Fort Vancouver Regional libraries!

If you know of any other ways of scoring some free DVD rentals, we’d love to hear them so please leave a comment and share. Thanks for reading and for your support!