Collection is open for research.
Acquired prior to 1997; most likely compiled by Oregon Historical Society staff over a period of time (Lib. Acc. 23168).
The Park Block Revels was an annual December festival that took place on and around the South Park Blocks in Portland, Oregon, beginning in 1973. Initially named Medieval Winter Revels, the event featured food, music, and dancing, as well as special events and workshops held at participating organizations. These organizations included the First Christian Church; the First Congregational Church; the St. James Lutheran Church; the Old Church; the Sixth Church of Christ, Scientist; the Oregon Historical Society; the Portland Art Museum; and Portland State University. The last Park Block Revels were held in December 1992, and in early 1994, the organizing committee dissolved.
Sources: Articles in the Oregonian, 1975-1994; collection materials.
The South Park Blocks Association was an organization formed in 1988 by institutions on and near the South Park Blocks in Portland, Oregon. The association sought to make the neighborhood more desirable to visit through public events, beautification, and crime prevention.
Source: Collection materials.
Park Block Revels and South Park Blocks Association records, Coll 1017, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
The collection consists of records of the Park Block Revels and of the South Park Blocks Association, both of Portland, Oregon. The bulk of the records are for the Park Block Revels, an annual winter festival. These include meeting minutes and agendas; correspondence; planning notes and documentation; programs, flyers, schedules, and posters; several photographs of festival activities; press releases; financial records; stationery; and records relating to the organizers' decision to discontinue the festival. The South Park Blocks Association records consist of meeting minutes and agendas, correspondence, and materials distributed at meetings, including some relating to the Northwest Pilot Project. These materials reflect the association's efforts to make the South Park Blocks neighborhood of Portland more appealing through a combination of public events, crime prevention, and beautification. The collection also contains a 1990 memo regarding the relationship between the Park Blocks Revels steering committee and the South Park Blocks Association, expressing the author's concerns about the two organizations' agendas potentially intermixing at meetings; and a small amount of records relating to Winterfaire, a festival that possibly coordinated with the South Park Blocks Association and the Park Block Revels.
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