Critical Mass in November coincides with the day after Thanksgiving--known in the popular press as "Black Friday," i.e., the biggest shopping day of the year, and known in more progressive circles as "Buy Nothing Day," a day to relax in your pajamas all day, watch movies, eat leftovers with friends, work on handmade holiday gifts--or at the very least, a day *not* to drive out to the big boxes and trade punches with six hundred desperate strangers over the last $388 laptop. Critical Mass Portland converged in an anarchically unorganized fashion to share bagels, bananas, cookies, friendly chat, even a bin of spare change where you could leave some or take some depending on your means. We didn't buy anything--and some of us went out afterward and liberated perfectly good food from NE Portland garbage bins.

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Two stories:

Jonathan said (and included photos):

On Friday’s Critical Mass we timed the tree-lighting ceremony in Pioneer Courthouse Square just right. After creeping up Broadway we ended up stopped just outside Starbucks on the west side of the square when the countdown began and the big tree was lit. It was kind of a cool moment. Our bike bells mingled nicely with the cheers and claps of the Black Friday throngs.

After a short loop around the square, we headed back to the Park Blocks and met up with more riders. I peeled off at this point but I heard that the group ended up spreading the cheer on NW 23rd, bombing down Burnside (that’s always fun) and then doing a “mini-Mass” up MLK en route to a “furious dance party”. (Read Elly Blue’s recap for more details).

As for the cops…they seemed much more relaxed than usual. Must be the holiday spirit!

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Elly said:

Dear all,

I just want to say good on all of us for showing ourselves and
Portland a damn good time.

Thanks to everyone who brought stuff to share. And thanks to the
weather for being awesome. And thanks to Portland metro residents for
being out walking around downtown, no matter how they got there--that
was great to see. Good fun, totally FREE.

Our numbers were bolstered by the one-to-one ratio of cops to not. I
counted 30-35 people on bikes (including all) as we bombed down
Burnside. There were probably another 15 or 20 of us when we began.

Part one: An exploratory party braved the immobile traffic up Broadway
to Pioneer Square, arriving just in time to count down and watch the
whole square light up. (Have you ever seen so many people there?) A
quiet cheerful ride.

Part two: Back to the park for a healthful banana snack from Food Not
Bombs (thanks Jeremy and Jasun for making that happen). We then
decided to head up to Northwest Trendythird--the stores were open but
the streets were pretty empty. We rang our bells and waved at some
cute kids. On the way back, half our cop escort swerved off to
surround a motorist who was driving without lights, and didn't catch
back up for a while.

Finale: The night ended with a mini-mass up MLK (only honked at twice)
with a furious dance party at the end of it.

Cops were weirdly polite and most seemed to be in a good mood. I saw
one probable citation, otherwise it was pretty chill, enforcement
consisting mainly of a cop occasionally shouting out something in the
vein of "You guys all have all the lights you're supposed to, right?"

Elly

Here are some photos (mostly of the beginning of the ride but capturing some of the great costumery).

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Glorious!

105 riders in the third block, including cops on bikes and one dog, all sharing the road.

A good fastish ride around on the east side. Bike lifts, bike loops, chanting, camaraderie. Amazing costumes–props to all of your creative madness!

Everyone, in uniform or costume, having fun and bopping around to the music coming from at least two bike-mounted sound systems. Yeeaaaa! Thanks again to the people who stopped to help fix flats. We passed the cops on their way home in a mini-mass down MLK, and they had a happy post-party glow about them. Fun and good times for all in NE and then…

The definitive event of the night was swooping down the ridge from Party One to Party Two, all madcap haywire, OWNING the road.

And ending with dancing and wine, great music, great vibe.

Can we do it again next month?

Keep on rolling,
Elly