Photos and memories from our 10th birthday celebration

dark crowd

A slice of the crowd at Velo Cult Friday.
(Photos: Margi Bradway unless noted)

Any room becomes a special place when it’s full of people you love and respect, and BikePortland’s 10th birthday party on Friday was one of the most special rooms we’ve had the honor of bringing together.

Nearly 300 people turned out. True to the spirit of the site, we welcomed citizen gadflies and academic brainiacs, bike-club party kids, family members of traffic-violence victims, indie framebuilders and a U.S. congressman.

Everybody packed into Velo Cult, the bar-and-bike-shop hangout in Hollywood, to talk about the past, the future and the launch of the new subscription program that we hope will deepen our connection with our community, elevate more of its voices, serve a broadening range of readers and of course get BikePortlanders good deals on cool bike stuff.

bar

The bar was packed all night!

Jonathan told us how, until about a month ago, he hadn’t decided whether the announcement at Friday’s party was going to be a grand goodbye to the community or a leap into a plan for another decade of growth. He said the outpouring of encouragement that came from readers after his frank post last month about the challenges of local journalism answered the question for him.

jonathan michael mike

He also had a chance to thank his mom, Jackie Wayman, the woman he said gave him permission to follow big goals:

mama maus

And his wife Juli (pictured holding their son Everett (4), with their daughter Dani (10) at right) and the rest of his family, who’ve pulled with him over the last decade while they’ve built a very daring business together.

maus family

Early in the evening, Congressman Earl Blumenauer unexpectedly came by to present a “Certificate of Congressional Recognition” to BikePortland. He said Portland has had ups and downs over the years that we’ve been covering his work on its behalf but says it’s currently enjoying a high point in its transportation progress.

earl

All the photos in this post except that last one were taken by Portland Bureau of Transportation Active Transportation Division Manager Margi Bradway, who somehow acquired my camera early in the evening and proceeded to have what she frequently announced was a fantastic time getting shots of everyone. We couldn’t get them all in but here’s a smattering of the good times that were had…

Paul Jeffrey (PJ), Brad Reber and Halley Weaver:

halle

Cory Poole and his daughter Penny:

cory daughter

Heidi Guenin and friends:

heidi

Timo Forsberg and Esther Harlow:

timo esther

Fred King:

goatee

Maria Schur:

maria schur

Susan Kubota:

bp cap

Nils Tillstrom, Corey Cartwright, Mark Ginsberg:

ginsberg trio

Fans of the site having a great time:

four guys

Hau Hagedorn:

hau

Emily Guise and Erik Soltan:

blond smile

Jonathan’s stepfather Art Wayman and his neighbors Kim and Jim:

bikepin

Katrina Yuen and Lars Larson:

beer grins

Carl Larson and Jonathan:

carl larson

David Griffiths:

david griffiths

Aaron Kaffen and friend:

aaron kaffen

Cameron Whitten, Scott Nowicki, Ken Southerland:

cameron ken

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Erinne Goodell and Kirk Paulsen:

kirk erinne

Brian Sysfail:

sysfail

P.J. in his natural environment:

peejay

Ryan Hashagen and Nick Falbo:

ryan nick

Friends enjoying the evening:

trio gals

Laura Weiss and friend:

beer curls

Cameron Whitten and friend:

cameron

My awesome wife Mo volunteered at the front-door table:

mo beer

We also invited people on stage for a live comments section. Speakers included the doggedly good-natured biking advocate Reuben Duemling, sometimes (OK, often) known online as 9watts:

reuben mike

Bicycle Transportation Alliance Executive Director Rob Sadowsky:

sadowsky

The do-it-yourself scourge of unsafe roads Jim Parsons, aka K’tesh:

jim parsons

Lenny Anderson, formerly of the Swan Island Transportation Management Association:

lenny

Safety advocate Kristi Finney:

kristi finney

City traffic signals engineer Peter Koonce:

peter koonce

Timur Ender, of Commissioner Steve Novick’s office:

timur ender

Aaron Brown (big hands) and friends:

aaron brown

Marsha Hancrow and Doug Klotz:

doug marsha

Josh Chernoff (L) and Eric Wilhelm:

eric l

Todd Mobley (L), Susan Koonce, Peter Koonce, Brian Davis, Mike Ard, Gwen Shaw, Jordan Norris:

lancaster crew

Laura Crawford and Adam Newman:

laura pathlesspedaled

Scott Mizee (L) and Robert Ping:

mizee ping

Sky Boyer (VC hat), Brad Carpenter (foreground) and friends:

sky and friends

A few celebrities arrived in uniform:

belligerante

And we also turned three empty bike boxes into a huge timeline of some of our favorite moments from the last 10 years.

timeline 1

We were glad to have several hundred temporary bike parking spaces (thanks to Bikeracker):

parking

(Photo: Aixe Djelal)

And two big chocolate cakes (thanks to Whole Foods Laurelhurst):

cake

It was a very memorable night and we are deeply grateful for all your well wishes and support.

If the people who surround you determine the person you become, we were lucky to have company like this on Friday to welcome BikePortland into our second decade. A lot more things are certain to happen, both for this 10-year-old start-up and for the city we all love. If you’ll be here for us to watch it happen, we’ll be here for you too.

Michael Andersen (Contributor)

Michael Andersen (Contributor)

Michael Andersen was news editor of BikePortland.org from 2013 to 2016 and still pops up occasionally.

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Spencer Boomhower
Spencer Boomhower
8 years ago

Wish I could have made it. Happy birthday!

Emily Guise (Contributor)
Emily G
8 years ago

It was such a great party! I’m so glad it turned out to be an anniversary party and not a good-bye party, because BikePortland is too important to the community to lose. Can’t wait to see what the future brings!

9watts
8 years ago
Reply to  Emily G

Hear, hear!

A huge thanks to Michael & Jonathan & team!

Josh Chernoff
Josh Chernoff
8 years ago

You guys think your funny do you?

Josh Chernoff
Josh Chernoff
8 years ago

I’m not the one who gave a microphone to a guy who had been drinking. 😛

Anne Hawley
8 years ago

I’m afraid introversion won out at the last minute over my sincere intention to attend. I’m extra sorry now that I missed it. I looks like it was a wonderful event. I’m so glad it wasn’t a goodbye party!

John Liu
John Liu
8 years ago

Really sorry I was out of town. Great pick of location too! Will arrange to be “shaded” shortly.

gutterbunnybikes
8 years ago

Had a good time for the short time I was there, Happy to finally meet you two. Wish I could have stayed longer, but family/kid duties piled up that night.

Michael, the book I was trying desperately to recall was “Geography of Nowhere” but I was fairly distracted as Blumenauer showed up . In retrospect I probably shouldn’t have been surprised but… Seems to have been my month of brushes with politicians (I ending up in line behind Wyden a couple weeks ago at Fredies Hawthorne – though that was so out of context it took me awhile to figure out who’s familiar face was).

Anyway good luck and keep it going.

AndyC of Linnton
AndyC of Linnton
8 years ago

Thank you for the party and for deciding to stick around. Kinda had to breeze in & out, but it was nice meeting GutterBunny in person. Hello, sir!
Wish I could have talked to you both in person, but it’ll have to wait until next time. Cheers!

KristenT
KristenT
8 years ago

Wish I had been able to attend! Happy birthday from Tigard, and thanks for keeping us informed, educated, entertained– I’m looking forward to the future!