Staying Close to Home

It’s been my experience that the summertime three day weekends—Memorial Day and Labor Day—are usually pretty quiet in Portland’s Pearl District. At least they have been over the years that I’ve lived here. My working theory has always been that everybody usually gets out of town during the weekend and goes somewhere else. Today, however, on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, things are noticeably different. Jameson Square is hopping with people. Hot Lips and Laughing Planet over in the Ecotrust building are slammed. And Barista has a set of full tables and reported that they’ve been busy all day so far.

Seems to me that people are staying close to home this year. Instead of taking a trip somewhere far away, or even heading out to the coast for a couple of nights in a hotel or motel, a bunch of people seem to be saying “Hey, let’s just head downtown and wander around today.”

I’m all good with that. Maybe it’s not so good for the broader economy, but it’s certainly helping out my super-local economy.