If I told you about a collective of cyclists and artists that started a movement called PINK to spread love by delivering notes around the city while wearing pink jumpsuits and pedaling pink bicycles, you might think it’s a natural fit for Portland.
After all, this city has serious penchant for pink, bikes, and love.
pink, bikes and love.
We’ve got our lovely, pink, mini-bike pedaling Sprockettes, we’ve got Team Veloshop, whose official motto is “Bring on the pink” (and they already wear pink jumpsuits!), we’ve got an ex-messenger framebuilder who builds pink bikes, we’ve got Shift, who promotes bike love events like their Bike Kiss-ins, and so on…
But in this case, the folks behind PINK are from Austin Texas, and they’re on their way to Portland to share it with us.
According to creator Artistic Director Jaclyn Pryor, PINK: A (LOVE) COURIER SERVICE started last New Year’s Eve and was a,
“…month-long, site-specific, community-engaged, interactive performance event as operated out of an empty storefront in a rapidly gentrifying commercial district and run by a collective of cyclists, visual artists, performing artists, activists, and poets.”
Photo: PINK
Jaclyn and her cohorts converted a downtown storefront into a love factory, and people throughout Austin, as well as local passersby, visited PINK to write and send pink love notes to friends, lovers, co-workers, and strangers. Then, a team of pink-attired volunteer bicycle messengers hand-delivered them to people’s homes and workplaces.
Jaclyn said those who received love were then encouraged to pass it on by visiting the PINK love factory, writing a love note, and sending it on to those they love,
“2007 bottles were sent and received in the month of December, and the event culminated in a community parade and bicycle carnival in downtown Austin, as part of First Night Austin.”
Now they’re preparing to take PINK on tour and their first stop will be Portland!
They plan to get here and begin set-up for the project in May. I told Jaclyn their timing was perfect because Pedalpalooza, the world’s largest bike love fest, runs from June 7-23.
Once they get here, they’ll mobilize local artists and cyclists to volunteer for the project and set up their headquarters.
The group is currently in Austin, raising funds to make the trip.
For more info, check out PINK on MySpace, read about them on The Austinist, or contact Jaclyn at jaclyn.prior[at]gmail.com.
I have a feeling they’ll get a nice, warm, pink Portland welcome.