Defending champs
The Wheels of Justice, the Rose City Rollers all-star roller derby team, will be back to defend its championship on their home turf.
The Wheels of Justice placed first in playoffs at Columbia, South Carolina, securing the No. 1 seed in the World Flat Track Derby Association championships, Nov. 4-6 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Championship tournament brackets, matchups and times will be announced Sept. 25.
The Portland team easily beat Columbia QuadSquad (439-67), Atlanta Rollergirls (206-133) and Denver Roller Derby (270-191) in playoffs.
Were happy to have that first-round bye, says captain Elicia Nesbit-Smith.
For more: www.wftda.com and www.rosecityrollers.com.
Parks extravaganza
The big Parke Diem is coming up. The largest citywide volunteer event for Portland Parks & Recreation takes place Friday and Saturday, Oct. 14-15.
The Portland Parks Foundation and parks and rec department are expecting more than 1,000 volunteers to join forces with 58 community gardens, neighborhood parks and natural areas for the fourth annual event.
The parks foundation is awarding more than $11,000 in micro grants to support Parke Diem projects this year and launched a campaign to raise $15,000 to invest in parks, installing new trail railings at Forest Park, renovating the display garden at Leach Botanical Garden, and installing and winterizing garden beds in 57 percent of the citys community gardens.
Volunteers can sign up at www.parkediem.org.
Leach garden
Speaking of Leach Botanical Garden, therell be an 80th birthday party for the Leach Garden Manor House, 6704 S.E. 122nd Ave., at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21.
Therell be a lecture, The Art & Architecture of the Leach Garden Manor House, by Portland author/architect William J. Hawkins.
Designed by Morris Whitehouse, the 1936 home provided the centerpiece for John and Lilla Leachs Sleepy Hollow estate.
For more: www.leachgarden.org.
National Arts in Education Week
The Regional Arts & Culture Council and others are celebrating National Arts in Education Week through this weekend. RACC and the Right Brain Initiative will share stories on social media about how arts education has impacted our community, including perspectives from staff, students and educators. See their pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more.
Megan Bomgaars
A woman from the A&E reality show Born This Way, Megan Bomgaars, will come to Portland to celebrate diversity at the 18th annual NWDSA Portland Metro and SW Washington Buddy Walk Festival, 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at Moda Center Commons, One N. Center St.
Bomgaars is a self-advocate experiencing Down syndrome, an entrepreneur and Born This Way cast member. Shell be the keynote speaker in the Northwest Down Syndrome Association event during Down Syndrome Awareness Month.
For more: www.nwdsa.org.
The Color Run
The Color Run Tropicolor World Tour 5-kilometer race, 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 17 at Portland International Raceway, features palm trees, beach balls, festive music, lots of color (covering the runners), island flowers and more. Spectators are welcome; check www.thecolorrun.com/locations/ portland for information and entry availability.
The Boss is coming
Powells City of Books, 1005 W. Burnside St., announced this week that theyll have a special guest coming to Portland Bruce Springsteen at noon Tuesday, Oct. 4, as part of the promotion for his long-awaited autobiography, Born to Run. (Itll likely be a sold-out appearance); for more: check www.powells.com.
Springsteen has spent the past seven years writing the story of his life.
Interestingly, Portland author Peter Ames Carlin also wrote about Springsteen, saying he had very good cooperation from Springsteen and everybody around him in producing the 2012 book Bruce. But, clearly The Boss wanted to pen his own; its written entirely by him, a 500-page tome.