Poet's_Beach

Poet's Beach

Poet's Beach

Urban beach in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Poet's Beach is an urban beach along the Willamette River, near Portland, Oregon's Marquam Bridge, in the United States.[1]

Quick Facts Location ...

History

Signage, 2020

The beach was established, along with a kayak launch point, in 2000, but it lacked signage and easy access. The re-imagining of the beach was the brainchild and spearheaded by the volunteer organization Human Access Project (HAP) who starting in 2014, raised funds and obtained permits to improve access to the river.[2][3][4]

HAP's work consisted of cutting through basalt rock at the perimeter of the trail near the beach to improve access and adding an art component and signage. The organization collaborated with Honoring our Rivers, who provided 30 excerpts of children's poetry about the Willamette River, and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, who provided Chinook Jargon with phonetics and English translation. Both of these contributions were engraved into rocks on the path leading to the beach. The completion of these initial improvements received a staged opening by HAP on July 8, 2014.[2][5]

The beach in 2020

In July 2017, Portland mayor Ted Wheeler swam at the beach with a group of other supporters, to draw attention to the addition of lifeguards and to encourage residents to swim at the beach.[1][6][7] This opening was characterized as the city's first "pop-up" beach. The pilot swimming program cost $178,000.[1][8][9][10][11]

In May 2018, the City of Portland announced the Poet's Beach program would continue but without lifeguards.[12]

In July 2022, Portland Parks & Recreation in partnership with HAP named Poet's Beach as one of six safer swimming areas on the Willamette River.[13]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Hale, Jamie (July 13, 2017). "Poet's Beach in downtown Portland adds lifeguards, buoys to encourage swimmers". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  2. [2]
    Reddick, James (July 9, 2014). "A beach in downtown Portland? Obscure spot under Marquam Bridge gets a facelift, easy access (Video)". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on 2018-06-25. Retrieved 2018-06-24.
  3. [3]
    Giegerick, Andy; Cheney, Cathy (July 9, 2014). "Check out the new Willamette River beach photos". Portland Business Journal. Archived from the original on September 29, 2014. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  4. [4]
    Jaquiss, Nigel (December 10, 2020). "Metro Will Now Consider Full Cleanup of Contamination at Willamette Cove". Willamette Week. Archived from the original on 2020-12-16. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  5. [5]
    Culverwell, Wendy (July 8, 2014). "As of today, Portland has its first beach on the Willamette". KATU. Archived from the original on 2018-06-25. Retrieved 2018-06-26.
  6. [6]
    Steele, Tim (July 11, 2017). "Poet's Beach, Big Float merge water fun on Willamette". Portland, Oregon: KOIN. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  7. [7]
    "Poet's Beach along Willamette River will open in Portland next week". Portland, Oregon: KATU. July 6, 2017. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  8. [8]
    Flaccus, Gillian (2017-07-15). "Portland touts revived Willamette River". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2018-06-25. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  9. [9]
    Law, Steve (June 7, 2017). "Welcome to Portland's first pop-up beach". Portland Tribune. Pamplin Media Group. OCLC 46708462. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  10. [10]
    Flaccus, Gillian (2017-07-14). "Portland river once shunned by swimmers enjoys rapid renaissance". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Archived from the original on 2018-06-25. Retrieved 2018-06-26.
  11. [11]
    Theen, Andrew (2017-06-08). "Portland eyes future of Willamette River, talks 'renaissance'". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
  12. [12]
    Kent, Kandra (May 23, 2018). "No lifeguards for Poet's Beach this summer". KPTV. Archived from the original on 2018-06-24. Retrieved 2018-06-24.
  13. [13]
    "Portland Parks & Recreation highlights 6 safer swimming spots along the Willamette River". KATU. 2022-07-25. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Poet's Beach.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Poet's_Beach, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.