We’re heartbroken to share that a recent decision by the St. Johns Boosters and PBOT — made without any input from our team — has put the future of the St. Johns Bizarre in jeopardy.
PBOT is currently installing three new light poles in the St. Johns Plaza. One of them falls directly within the footprint of our 20-by-20-foot stage, which has been at the heart of the Bizarre for over 15 years. That stage isn’t just one more configuration detail — it’s essential to the financial and cultural viability of the event.
Why This Matters
The Plaza is the only location large enough to accommodate a stage that attracts national-caliber talent next to a beer garden big enough to help fund a free, community-wide event.
The Bizarre is funded almost entirely through vendor fees and beer sales — both of which rely on that pairing. There is no alternative layout that maintains that scale and revenue model. We worked with a local architect to try to find one — and it just wasn’t possible.
PBOT and the Boosters fast-tracked this project last summer, skipping standard public engagement to meet a grant deadline. Both parties have since acknowledged they failed to consult the largest and longest-standing user of the Plaza — us. By the time we finally learned the details in May, we learned the design had been locked in since last August and construction was imminent. We proposed a concession: move the pole a few feet. It was dismissed.
Insult to Injury
Just as crews were pouring concrete for the poles this week, PBOT published a newsletter celebrating Street Plazas — highlighting a photo of our Plaza Stage, the very stage their design is now making impossible. That image now represents what the Plaza used to support.
This is bigger than the Bizarre. This pole, as currently placed, divides and obstructs a once-open community space, limiting the ways in which the Plaza can be configured and diminishing the scope of future events.
No organization or event — not just the Bizarre — will be able to set up a scene like the one PBOT featured in their newsletter, unless this changes.
A Bitter Outcome After a Banner Year
The Bizarre has seen three straight years of post-COVID growth, thanks to an all-volunteer team deeply invested in St. Johns and our business community. By any metric, our 2025 event was our biggest and best yet. Local businesses told us directly they had record sales — the metric that made us the happiest. But the Bizarre itself also sold more beer and merch than ever. And our expanded footprint allowed us to host more vendors than ever, too.
Last year we were the runner-up for ‘Best Neighborhood Event’ in Willamette Week’s Best of Portland Readers’ Poll — and this year we’re once again in the running to win.
As the Portland Mercury noted this year, “It’s literally impossible to overstate the importance of community and access when talking about music and food — making the St. Johns Bizarre one of Portland’s most important cultural events of the year.”
To lose this momentum — and potentially the event itself — because of a fixable and preventable design oversight is more than frustrating. It’s devastating.
What’s Next?
We are at an inflection point.
PBOT and the Boosters have both suggested we “get creative” and move the stage from our neighborhood’s public gathering space to the middle of a nearby street, but that proposal reduces space for vendors and forces us to shrink or eliminate our beer garden — undermining our entire event model, something we’ve cultivated and built up intentionally over 18 years.
It’s not just a different layout. It’s a different event. And not one we can guarantee will be sustainable.
What You Can Do
We hate that we’re here, at the 11th hour, if not beyond, making this plea. We were forced into this position by the shocking failure to include the Bizarre — the Plaza’s biggest and most visible permit-holder for almost two decades — in community outreach before the plans were made final last summer.
And now we’re asking that the City step in, hear our concerns, correct this mistake, and move or remove the pole before this project moves any further along.
We’re not giving up. If this matters to you, please make your voice heard. Ask City Council to urge PBOT to revise the pole placement now. Go to bit.ly/savethebizarre, and feel free to use the language included below.
Thank you for standing with us and for believing in the power of free, community-built events.
—The St. Johns Bizarre Team
Subject: Urgent: Please Help Preserve the St. Johns Bizarre – Request for PBOT Design Adjustment
I’m writing to express deep concern about changes to St. Johns Plaza that threaten the future of one of our community’s most cherished events.
Without consultation with the St. Johns Bizarre’s organizers — longstanding permit-holders and central contributors to Plaza activation — PBOT and the St. Johns Boosters approved a lighting project that places a pole directly in the footprint of the Bizarre’s main stage.
This single placement could force a dramatic reduction in the event’s footprint and make the event financially unviable. A modest adjustment — just a few feet — could preserve this space without compromising public safety improvements. If only someone had included the Bizarre in time.
Please press PBOT to make things right and move this pole before this project moves further along. A small change now could save an event that brings joy, commerce and vibrancy to St. Johns every year.
Sincerely,
[Your Full Name]
[Your Address, if desired to confirm residency]
An Urgent Update on the Future of the St. Johns Bizarre
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Posted: June 7, 2025 by Denis Theriault
We’re heartbroken to share that a recent decision by the St. Johns Boosters and PBOT — made without any input from our team — has put the future of the St. Johns Bizarre in jeopardy.
PBOT is currently installing three new light poles in the St. Johns Plaza. One of them falls directly within the footprint of our 20-by-20-foot stage, which has been at the heart of the Bizarre for over 15 years. That stage isn’t just one more configuration detail — it’s essential to the financial and cultural viability of the event.
Why This Matters
The Plaza is the only location large enough to accommodate a stage that attracts national-caliber talent next to a beer garden big enough to help fund a free, community-wide event.
The Bizarre is funded almost entirely through vendor fees and beer sales — both of which rely on that pairing. There is no alternative layout that maintains that scale and revenue model. We worked with a local architect to try to find one — and it just wasn’t possible.
PBOT and the Boosters fast-tracked this project last summer, skipping standard public engagement to meet a grant deadline. Both parties have since acknowledged they failed to consult the largest and longest-standing user of the Plaza — us. By the time we finally learned the details in May, we learned the design had been locked in since last August and construction was imminent. We proposed a concession: move the pole a few feet. It was dismissed.
Insult to Injury
Just as crews were pouring concrete for the poles this week, PBOT published a newsletter celebrating Street Plazas — highlighting a photo of our Plaza Stage, the very stage their design is now making impossible. That image now represents what the Plaza used to support.
This is bigger than the Bizarre. This pole, as currently placed, divides and obstructs a once-open community space, limiting the ways in which the Plaza can be configured and diminishing the scope of future events.
No organization or event — not just the Bizarre — will be able to set up a scene like the one PBOT featured in their newsletter, unless this changes.
A Bitter Outcome After a Banner Year
The Bizarre has seen three straight years of post-COVID growth, thanks to an all-volunteer team deeply invested in St. Johns and our business community. By any metric, our 2025 event was our biggest and best yet. Local businesses told us directly they had record sales — the metric that made us the happiest. But the Bizarre itself also sold more beer and merch than ever. And our expanded footprint allowed us to host more vendors than ever, too.
Last year we were the runner-up for ‘Best Neighborhood Event’ in Willamette Week’s Best of Portland Readers’ Poll — and this year we’re once again in the running to win.
As the Portland Mercury noted this year, “It’s literally impossible to overstate the importance of community and access when talking about music and food — making the St. Johns Bizarre one of Portland’s most important cultural events of the year.”
To lose this momentum — and potentially the event itself — because of a fixable and preventable design oversight is more than frustrating. It’s devastating.
What’s Next?
We are at an inflection point.
PBOT and the Boosters have both suggested we “get creative” and move the stage from our neighborhood’s public gathering space to the middle of a nearby street, but that proposal reduces space for vendors and forces us to shrink or eliminate our beer garden — undermining our entire event model, something we’ve cultivated and built up intentionally over 18 years.
It’s not just a different layout. It’s a different event. And not one we can guarantee will be sustainable.
What You Can Do
We hate that we’re here, at the 11th hour, if not beyond, making this plea. We were forced into this position by the shocking failure to include the Bizarre — the Plaza’s biggest and most visible permit-holder for almost two decades — in community outreach before the plans were made final last summer.
And now we’re asking that the City step in, hear our concerns, correct this mistake, and move or remove the pole before this project moves any further along.
We’re not giving up. If this matters to you, please make your voice heard. Ask City Council to urge PBOT to revise the pole placement now. Go to bit.ly/savethebizarre, and feel free to use the language included below.
Thank you for standing with us and for believing in the power of free, community-built events.
—The St. Johns Bizarre Team
Subject: Urgent: Please Help Preserve the St. Johns Bizarre – Request for PBOT Design Adjustment
I’m writing to express deep concern about changes to St. Johns Plaza that threaten the future of one of our community’s most cherished events.
Without consultation with the St. Johns Bizarre’s organizers — longstanding permit-holders and central contributors to Plaza activation — PBOT and the St. Johns Boosters approved a lighting project that places a pole directly in the footprint of the Bizarre’s main stage.
This single placement could force a dramatic reduction in the event’s footprint and make the event financially unviable. A modest adjustment — just a few feet — could preserve this space without compromising public safety improvements. If only someone had included the Bizarre in time.
Please press PBOT to make things right and move this pole before this project moves further along. A small change now could save an event that brings joy, commerce and vibrancy to St. Johns every year.
Sincerely,
[Your Full Name]
[Your Address, if desired to confirm residency]
Category: featured, Music, Uncategorized