PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 1, 2024--
Celebrating its 40 th holiday season, Pioneer Courthouse Square will present nearly two months of free holiday events and cherished traditions that will bring Portland together Downtown For the Holidays. Events will begin on Wednesday, November 13 at 12:30 p.m. with the delivery of Portland’s 75-foot-tall iconic Douglas fir, generously donated by Stimson Lumber Company.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241101789894/en/
For 23 years, Stimson Lumber Company has skillfully harvested and delivered the tree for our City’s Living Room.
The full calendar of events includes:
Wednesday, November 13, 12:30 p.m.
Stimson Lumber Tree Arrival Presented by SmartPark
This year’s tree, grown on sustainable forestlands in Gaston, Oregon, will make its journey to The Square with the help of Highway Heavy Hauling, a woman-owned, regional Oregon trucking company. Upon its arrival to The Square, the tree will be skillfully lifted into place by NessCampbell Crane + Rigging with the help of Portland Parks and Recreation’s Urban Forestry. Join Santa, carolers and city dignitaries to kick off the holiday season in Downtown.
November 13 – 27, Daily
Tree Building and Light Stringing
Over a two-week period The Square’s Event Production team will skillfully get to work and reattach tree branches to fill out the Tree utilizing lifts provided by EquipmentShare. With all of the branches attached, Portland’s own Hollywood Lights will adorn the City’s tree with over 9,500 multi-colored LED lights which will illuminate Portland’s Living Room through the New Year.
Friday, November 29, 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
40 th Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony Presented by SmartPark
Portland’s Annual Tree Lighting, presented by SmartPark, invites Portlanders to unite for a holiday celebration in Portland’s Living Room the day after Thanksgiving, Friday, November 29, at 5:30 p.m. The ceremony will feature a joyful sing-along with Portland’s own Thomas Lauderdale and Pink Martini, who will be joined by talented band, symphony and chorale performers. Come Downtown to join in the musical celebration as Santa Claus flips the switch to illuminate more than 9,500 colorful LED lights on Portland’s Tree.
Sunday, December 1, 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
The Portland Bazaar at The Square
The Portland Bazaar will once again bring local artisans, makers, and cheer to The Square on the Sunday following Tree Lighting! Nearly 40 vendors will fill The Square. Visitors will be able to shop local for holiday gifts outdoors, under The Tree, with friends and family. For more information, or to be a vendor at the Bazaar, visit: www.portlandbazaar.com.
December 6 th, 5:30 p.m. – 9 p.m., December 7 th, 12 p.m. – 9 p.m. & December 8 th, 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Portland Holiday Brew Festival
In partnership with True West Presents, holiday brews will be back downtown with a multi-day festival under the Tree at The Square. The Portland Holiday Brew Fest will fill The Square for three days with more than 30 holiday and winter beers, ciders, and delicious eats from around the Northwest. Festival goers will enjoy spacious heated tents, food and entertainment all while enjoying tasty and frosty brews. Tickets for this festive event can be purchased at pdxholidaybrewfest.com.
Friday, December 13, 5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
The Great Figgy Pudding Caroling Competition
This multi-block festive musical competition brings caroling groups to The Square and extends into a 10-block radius surrounding The Square Downtown. The public can participate in the event by registering to perform with a caroling group or by visiting downtown carolers to vote for your favorite caroling groups. A “carol-off” hosted by KGW’s Drew Carney will be held at The Square to award prizes to the top caroling groups. The grand prize winner will be selected by crowd applause and awarded $1,000. Second and third place prizes, as well as the coveted People’s Choice designation, will also be awarded. This FREE caroling competition will be held rain or shine from 5:30 - 8 p.m. Team caroling registration is now open to teams of 3-20 carolers per group.
Saturday, December 21, 1:30 p.m.
33 rd Annual Tuba Christmas Concert presented by SmartPark
Experience the mighty sounds of big brass as over 250 tubas play in harmony for the 33rd Annual Tuba Christmas Concert in Portland’s Living Room. This overwhelmingly popular seasonal performance is free for the public to attend. Tuba players can register online at thesquarepdx.org.
December 25, 2024 – January 1, 2025, Time varies depending on the day
Portland’s Public Nightly Menorah Lighting
Chabad of Oregon will bring Portland’s Public Hanukkah menorah to The Square for its nightly lighting. On the first night, Wednesday, December 25 th, there will be music, Chanukah foods, and festivities to kick off the eight nights of Chanukah. For more information about Hanukkah and a local schedule of nightly events visit JPortland.com.
In addition, The Square will carry on its tradition of showcasing Live Holiday Art Performances, featuring local musical artists, dancers, schools, bands, and performance groups on The Bricks at The Square and will program live holiday pop-up performances.
In partnership with Portland Mall Management, throughout the month of December along Portland’s Transit Mall, SW 5 th & SW 6 th Avenues and SW Morrison and SW Yamhill St., live Holidays on the Transit Mall In Concert performances will bring joy to neighboring retailers throughout Downtown.
For a complete schedule of all of these fun holiday events Downtown click here or follow The Square on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay up to date.
Sponsors and Supporters
The 2024 Holiday Season at Pioneer Courthouse Square is made possible by SmartPark, with additional support from Nordstrom, Stimson Lumber Company, Skanska, Travel Oregon, Highway Heavy Hauling, NessCampbell Crane + Rigging, Portland Parks & Recreation, EquipmentShare, Portland Mall Management Inc., OSU Foundation, The Oregonian, KGW, and KINK.
About Pioneer Courthouse Square
Pioneer Courthouse Square is where Portland comes together. Through arts, culture, and civic programming, the nonprofit operating The Square strives to be the foundation of a diverse and thriving downtown, and in turn a better Portland. With more than 300 events per year, The Square is home to many of Portland’s favorite community traditions including concerts, festivals of food and drink, and cultural celebrations. Through a variety of public and private partnerships, Pioneer Courthouse Square operates within an annual budget of $2.2M composed of cash and in-kind donations.
The Great Figgy Pudding Caroling Competition, Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland, OR (Photo: Business Wire)
Tuba Christmas Concert, Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland, OR (Photo: Business Wire)
In the waning days of the presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump zero in on the battleground state of Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, concerns over attempts at outside interference in Tuesday's election sprang up in the state of Georgia. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said his state has been targeted with a video that’s “obviously fake” and likely the product of Russian trolls.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it is investigating the video.
Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
Here's the latest:
Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday cast former President Donald Trump as an angry man who has exhausted Americans with his focus on division in a speech at an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers labor union hall in Janesville, Wisconsin.
After arguing, as she often does, that it is time to “turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump,” Harris put a finer point on the way she believes people feel about Trump’s time in the national spotlight: “Folks are exhausted with this stuff.”
“The man,” Harris said, referring to Trump, “is angry.”
She also said Trump was “one of the biggest losers of manufacturing jobs in America’s history,” hanging on the word “loser.”
Harris, who was flanked by IBEW workers, said Trump is “all talk, no walk” on unions, calling him “no friend to labor” and “a union buster his entire career.”
“He’s got a lot of talk, but if you pay attention to what he’s actually done... you’ll see who he really is,” she said, calling Trump “an existential threat to America’s labor movement.”
Union workers are important in a series of key swing states. While Democrats have long enjoyed the support of union leadership, Trump has improved Republican’s standing with rank-and-file union workers in both 2016 and 2020.
Harris has closed her campaign by arguing that the former President is more focused on the people he believes have wronged him than the American people.
Several Arab American leaders in Dearborn say they declined invitations to meet with Donald Trump, who is visiting the nation’s largest majority-Arab city in metro Detroit today.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud declined an invitation to meet with Trump this week, confirmed Katie Doyal, a spokesperson for Hammoud, to The Associated Press. Hammoud, a Democrat, has not endorsed any presidential candidate this year.
Arab American News publisher Osama Siblani said he was invited to a “handshake” meeting with Trump but responded with conditions, requesting a substantive discussion on community issues.
Siblani also informed Trump allies that the Arab American PAC, which he co-founded, and The Arab American News would not alter their nonendorsements in the presidential race, even if he met with Trump. Siblani said the meeting never materialized after the requests.
The number of people who’ve cast early in-person ballots in North Carolina has exceeded the total from four years ago. Such voting ends Saturday.
State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said that 3.71 million people had cast early in-person ballots as of early Friday.
The previous record was 3.63 million people voting in fall 2020. Early in-person voting has become increasing popular in the presidential battleground state over several election cycles.
State and national Republicans this year have encouraged supporters to vote early. Brinson Bell said voter turnout in counties affected by Hurricane Helene continues to outpace turnout statewide.
Harris says that recent comments by Trump about Liz Cheney show that he is not qualified to be president.
Late Thursday, Trump suggested that Cheney, one of his most prominent Republican critics, should have rifles “shooting at her” to see how she feels about sending troops to fight.
Harris bristled at the remarks.
“Anyone who wants to be president of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president,” Harris said. “Rep. Cheney is a true patriot who has shown extraordinary courage in putting country above party.”
Harris spoke after landing in Madison, Wisconsin, for a series of events.
Cheney, a former Wyoming congresswoman, voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. She has endorsed Harris.
Trump has landed in Detroit, Michigan, where he is expected for a rally in the suburb of Warren. In the area, he will also visit a restaurant in Dearborn, the nation’s largest Arab-majority city.
Nearly half of the 110,000 residents of Dearborn are Arab American, and the city has become the centerpoint of Democratic dissent over the Israel-Hamas war.
To agree to the visit, the restaurant’s owner told The Associated Press he asked Trump to issue a statement about ending the war and calling for peace in Lebanon, which Israel invaded a few weeks ago. Trump released a statement on Wednesday.
“Your friends and family in Lebanon deserve to live in peace, prosperity, and harmony with their neighbors, and that can only happen with peace and stability in the Middle East,” Trump wrote on X.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says Donald Trump knows nothing about how middle class Americans really live.
“To those undecided folks, the only thing Donald Trump knows about working-class and middle-class people is how to take advantage of them,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee said at a rally in Detroit on Friday. “He talks about manufacturing. The only thing he knows how to manufacture is b———-.”
Walz is scheduled to visit a United Auto Workers union hall outside Detroit after the event.
US intelligence officials say that “Russian influence actors” are responsible for a video circulating online that falsely claimed election fraud was taking place in the state of Georgia.
The video, which began circulating on the social media platform X on Thursday afternoon, claims to show a Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia IDs who says he is planning to vote multiple times in two counties.
A joint statement issued Friday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said that “Russian influence actors manufactured a recent video that falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally" in Georgia.
The activity is “part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans,” the statement said.
Earlier Friday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said his state has been targeted with a video that’s “obviously fake” and likely the product of Russian trolls “attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election.”
The original video was no longer on X on Friday morning, but copycat versions were still being shared widely.
The Justice Department is deploying election monitors in 27 states on Election Day to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws.
The department made the announcement Friday.
The federal monitors will be in 86 jurisdictions across the country. The Justice Department regularly sends monitors across the country on Election Day, to make sure federal laws are being followed at polling places.
The jurisdictions being monitored on Tuesday include Maricopa County, Arizona and Fulton County, Georgia, which in 2020 became the center of election conspiracy theories spread by former President Donald Trump and other Republicans.
Other jurisdictions the Justice Department is sending monitors to include Miami-Dade County, Florida; Detroit, Michigan; Queens, New York; Providence, Rhode Island; Jackson County, South Dakota; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Friday that state workers have updated election system passwords that were accidentally leaked on a public-facing state website.
The passwords were left on a hidden tab of a spreadsheet online for months, though they were only one of two passwords needed to access voting systems.
The state has layers of security for its voting system, including secured rooms and round-the-clock surveillance.
Colorado’s secretary of state’s office said in a statement Friday that the leak “never posed an immediate security threat” and that the passwords were changed out of an “abundance of caution.”
The mishap came amid skepticism of voting systems, even though U.S. elections nationwide are remarkably fair and reliable. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign sent a letter to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold expressing concerns. In a reply, Griswold reiterated that “no single error can compromise the integrity of the system.”
Election officials in Georgia’s third-largest county say they’re late in mailing more than 3,000 absentee ballots to voters just a few days before the election.
Election officials in Cobb County north of Atlanta say they’re using express mail and UPS overnight shipping in an effort to deliver the ballots on time for them to be returned by Tuesday’s deadline.
A statement from the county Board of Elections blamed the delay on faulty equipment and a late surge in absentee ballot requests. Officials say voters receiving their mailed ballots late can hand-deliver them to the elections office or vote in person.
Meanwhile, civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Friday asking a judge to give Cobb County three extra days to receive and count absentee ballots.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has ordered two partner organizations to stop sending letters to Maryland voters that threaten to publicly expose registered voters who do not vote in this year’s election.
Brown issued a cease and desist letter to the Center for Voter Information/Voter Participation Center, which is based in Washington, D.C.
The letter also orders them to refrain from sending threatening communications in the future, and to not follow through on threats to embarrass nonvoters by publishing the information to their neighbors.
The attorney general’s office and the state elections board have received several complaints about letters sent by the organizations, claiming to be “Voting Report Cards.”
Maryland law permits a requestor to receive a copy of the voter registration list with voters’ election participation history included. However, Maryland law prohibits conduct designed to “influence or attempt to influence a voter’s decision” or to do so “through the use of force, fraud, threat, menace, intimidation, bribery, reward, or offer of reward.”
Elon Musk, the tech and business titan who is also the world's richest man, has spent at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee.
Musk’s conversion to a self-described “Dark MAGA” Trump warrior is a recent one.
In the past, he donated modest sums to both Republicans and Democrats, including $5,000 to Hillary Clinton in 2016, records show. He didn’t contribute to Trump’s political efforts until this year, according to federal campaign finance disclosures.
Musk is now leading America PAC, a super political action committee that is spearheading Trump’s get-out-the-vote effort.
Trump has made his opposition to transgender rights a central theme in the closing days of the campaign.
The Republican nominee’s campaign and aligned political action committees have spent tens of millions of dollars on advertising that attacks Harris for previous statements supporting transgender rights.
Trump has vowed to target transgender people if elected. He has said he would ask Congress to pass a bill stating there are “only two genders” and to ban hormonal or surgical intervention for transgender minors in all 50 states.
Harris has been underscoring that she has supported federal policies that were in place when Trump was president. LGBTQ advocates argue that Trump’s rhetoric encourages hostility toward transgender people and fosters misunderstandings about who they are.
The final day for voters to apply for an early mail-in ballot in a populous suburban Philadelphia county is underway.
Voters in Bucks County, a bellwether whose residents Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris have courted in the presidential campaign’s final days, have until 5 p.m. Friday to apply for, receive and cast on the spot a mail-in ballot.
The court-ordered deadline is a three-day extension, stemming from a lawsuit brought by Trump’s campaign, the Republican National Committee and GOP Senate candidate David McCormick’s campaign this week.
They alleged that voters faced disenfranchisement when they were turned away when county government offices that process the applications closed.
Harris and Trump will host dueling rallies on Friday in the Milwaukee area as part of a final push for votes in swing-state Wisconsin.
Milwaukee is home to the most Democratic votes in Wisconsin, but its conservative suburbs are where most Republicans live and are a critical area for Trump as he tries to reclaim the state he narrowly won in 2016 and lost in 2020.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said his state has been targeted with a video that’s “obviously fake” and likely the product of Russian trolls “attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election.”
The video, which began circulating on the social media platform X on Thursday afternoon, claims to show a Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia IDs who says he is planning to vote multiple times in two counties.
“This is false and is an example of targeted disinformation we’ve seen this election,” Raffensperger said.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it is investigating the video.
An Associated Press analysis of the information on two of the IDs confirms it does not match any registered voters in the counties.
The original video was no longer on X on Friday morning, but copycat versions were still being shared widely.
Former President Donald Trump launched another attack on former Rep. Liz Cheney late Thursday, calling the Republican former Wyoming congresswoman a “war hawk.”
During an event in Glendale, Arizona, with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the Republican presidential candidate was asked if it is weird to see Cheney campaign against him.
Cheney held the No. 3 GOP leadership position in the House, but lost the job after she voted to to impeach Trump for the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. She has since campaigned for Harris.
Trump called Cheney “a deranged person,” then added: “But the reason she couldn’t stand me is that she always wanted to go to war with people. If it were up to her we’d be in 50 different countries.”
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks with Tucker Carlson during a Tucker Carlson Live Tour show at Desert Diamond Arena, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Vice President Kamala Harris listens during an event with President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak on the final day of the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump departs after a Tucker Carlson Live Tour show at Desert Diamond Arena, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks with Tucker Carlson during a Tucker Carlson Live Tour show at Desert Diamond Arena, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris steps off Air Force Two as she arrives in Madison, Wis., Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump gestures after a Tucker Carlson Live Tour show at Desert Diamond Arena, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
