Thank you again to all the volunteers and for all of the support from our community during the Spring Egg Hunt. The winners of the egg hunt raffle were Donna Amrein, Katie Schaumleffle, Brian Jensen, Michael French, and Catherine Swanson.
Last Thursdays
June is a great month for social events, including the return of last Thursdays on Alberta Street. The plan is to celebrate on Alberta Street between NE 15th Ave. and NE 30th Ave. from 6-9 p.m. every last Thursday of the month. Make sure to mark your calendars and show up to support our local businesses and vendors.
Black United Fund will open up their lot (corner of Alberta St. & NE 29th Ave.) to host several tents supporting our BIPOC community. Alberta Art Works (NE 19th St & Alberta St) will also be hosting live performances, art and many more surprises.
Additionally, Blind Insect (corner of NE 29th Ave. & Alberta St., across the street from Black United Fund) will host “Barrio Parties” on Last Thursdays from June to September, with a different theme each month:
- June: African Party
- July: Argentinian Party
- August: Brazilian Party
- September: Cabaret theme
Several other businesses on Alberta are getting ready to celebrate Last Thursdays, among them:
Bonne Chance (corner of Alberta Street and NE 22nd Ave.) will be celebrating with an eclectic selection of music and adult beverages.
DB Desserts (Alberta St. between NE 26th & NE 27th Avenues) is offering specials on some of their sweet treats to celebrate.
Holy Beanz Coffee (next door to DB Desserts) will host their “After Sundown Spoken Word & Poetry” from 7-9 p.m.
JRJ Skillets (on Alberta St. between NE 25th & NE 26th Avenues) will offer “Aguas Frescas, Tamales, Elotes, Tacos & Nachos” for the whole family on its brand-new patio.
Free concerts
Also coming this summer, the Concordia Neighborhood Association will collaborate with the City of Portland to bring back “Summer at the Park” concerts. The first band, Son de Cuba, a Latin jazz/merengue/salsa group, performs from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, July 15, at Alberta Park. Please stay tuned to next month’s column for more details.
Litter pick-up events
Moving on with neighborhood updates, the neighborhood litter pick-ups have been incredibly successful. Thanks to our many volunteers we have picked up more than 9,000 pounds of trash from Concordia’s streets. We still have work to do though, so please sign up for our next litter pick-up event from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, June 4, at Alberta Park. See Page 2 for more details. If you cannot make it to this one, we have future litter pick-ups scheduled on Aug. 6, Oct. 1 and Dec. 1.
Yard sales
A quick survey for residents: We have received several requests for different events. One of them is a coordinated “Neighborhood Yard Sale” where neighbors can set up their own yard sales. If you are interested in this event please email with the subject “Yard Sale.” Depending on the response we will plan to help coordinate.
Clary Sage
The Concordia Neighborhood Association would like to highlight Clary Sage Herbarium, 2901 Alberta St., which opened in 2011 and changed ownership in 2021. Kara Maymi is the entrepreneur currently behind the shop.
Maymi started her herbarium education as an intern at Clary Sage. Later, when an opportunity to join the management for Clary Sage materialized, the pandemic hit. Instead of letting the business close, Maymi decided to purchase the shop and continued following her passion for medicinal plants.
According to Maymi, her calling is the plant world. The shop has a large variety of medicinal plants, some sourced locally. Sharing knowledge of plants f rom scient if ic, spiritual and practical points of view with customers is a priority.
“We love to see how people express themselves through plants,” Maymi said. In addition to plants, Clary Sage offers house-made essential oils , candles, crystals, incense, body care and many other natural products. They are also proud of the quality of their teas and herbal extracts.
Originally from Puerto Rico, Maymi now considers herself a Portlander at heart, and said she finds Concordia to be her community. Community is one of the pillars of the Clary Sage approach. Plants, like people, live in diverse communities, she said. “When we engage with plants, we can learn how important community is and their relationships among themselves and even with humans.”
Volunteers needed
The social committee needs volunteers for all events. Please email social@ConcordiaPDX.org, or call/text Javier Puga-Phillips, chair of the social committee, at 323.573.1516. Finally, make sure to follow us on instagram @CNAPDX and use #SocialConcordiaPDX to get a shoutout.
Javier Puga-Phillips holds the At Large 4 position on the Concordia Neighborhood Association (CNA) Board of Directors, manages rentals of the McMenamins Kennedy School Community Room and chairs the CNA Social Committee. He is a real estate professional locally, and he is a published author and motivational speaker in Latin America and Spain.