PDX Bridge Festival 2011
July 29 – August 7
Festival Events & Information
Radiating like spokes from downtown Portland, the ten bridges that span the Willamette River are central to regional identity, tying the geography and cultures of Portland into a vibrant whole. Beginning with the Hawthorne Bridge Centennial in 2010—followed closely by the Steel Bridge (2012) and the Broadway Bridge (2013) Centennials—we introduced PDX Bridge Festival as an annual, citywide cultural arts festival that celebrates the Willamette River Bridges while harnessing the power of Portland’s creative capacity.
PDX Bridge Festival, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) volunteer-led non-profit organization made up of everyday bridge advocates, with the simple but ambitious goal of celebrating the bridges with a civic festival of artistic excellence. Our mission is to raise public awareness and foster appreciation for the Willamette River bridges through educational, historic, cultural and artistic programming.
The PDX Bridge Festival reinvents the bridges as staging grounds for individual works of art and performance. While showcasing the convergence of industrial design and artistic endeavor, and presenting a diverse program of gallery exhibitions, speakers, musical events and performance, we create a valuable cultural tourist destination in the heart of Portland. Drawing large numbers of visitors and residents to events, our goal is to bring people together in a spirit of civic pride, aesthetic wonder, and community engagement. In short, PDX Bridge Festival treats the bridges as a canvas upon which to tell the story of Portland—who we are, where we come from, where we are going, and how we choose to express the culture of our great city.