Hawthorne Bridge to transform into a grassy park for Brunch on the Bridge

August 3, 2010

When he heard about a breakfast for 6,000 people on a bridge in Sydney, Australia, Tucker Teutsch had an idea. Why not try it in Portland? The creative director of the PDX Bridge Festival, Teutsch likes to think BIG. After contacting the organizers of the Sydney event, he proposed a similar event for the centennial of Multnomah County’s Hawthorne Bridge. The result is “Brunch on the Bridge,” this Saturday, August 7 at 10 am.

A temporary park will be created for this ticketed event in the center lanes of the three westernmost bridge spans. The lanes will be covered with 13,000 square feet of lawn for up to 1,500 guests. Attendees can bring their own picnic lunch or purchase food from some of Portland’s most popular food carts, which will be parked in the outside traffic lanes. Carts include Koi Fusion, Burgerville Nomad, Potato Champion, and Coconut Bliss. The event entrance will be at the west end of the bridge.

Half of the event tickets were given away after an online drawing, and remaining tickets are available for sale at $40 each from pdxbridgefestival.org/brunch. Event proceeds benefit the PDX Bridge Festival, a private non-profit organization.

The festival encourages attendees to bring donations of non-perishable food to the event, which will be given to Fish Emergency Service, a non-profit that assists needy families in Portland.

The bridge will be closed to motor vehicles from 9 am to 2 pm on Saturday. The entrance to the outside eastbound lane on the bridge will be closed at SW Madison St. from 4 am to 7 pm, but eastbound traffic can access the bridge from SW Naito Parkway. TriMet buses will detour to the Morrison Bridge during the lane closures. Bridge sidewalks will remain open to bicyclists and pedestrians.