Friends of Congress Square Park

POSTPONED: Open City Night feat. Port Veritas
2019-06-05 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Detroit) | Congress Square Park, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
***This event has been rescheduled for July 10 due to rain forecasts.***

What matters to our community right now? Are we engaged in decision making processes the impact us? Are our needs and hopes being met? Do we know our neighbors? What does it mean to participate in civic life?
Open City nights in Congress Square Park are opportunities for neighbors to gather to ask questions and share information about issues important to our shared community life. Co-presented with local organizations, you can expect these evenings to be artful, participatory, informative and compelling.
All invited, all welcome.

Open City feat. Port Veritas
During this Open City, we’ll ask “Who belongs? Who decides?” Local arts organization Port Veritas will host a poetry open mic. Everyone is invited to share their poems related to the topic — and everyone means, you, too! So, bring your poems or write one during the evening to share.
Port Veritas is a diverse collaboration of creative minds, bound by a common love of creating a space for artists of all kinds to come and express themselves. They host weekly poetry open mic nights and special events.

Open City is a series hosted in Congress Square Park every Wednesday at 6:8pm from June through August. We’ll explore topics related to community life presented in artful ways that spark dialogue.

Chase the Chill: Knitting in Public
2019-06-06 09:30 - 11:00
Chase the Chill: Knitting in Public is a casual hand-crafts group that meets weekly in the Square. If you’re a knitter or crocheter, gather with others to create craft and community each week!
*This event is weather-permitting. Should rain or inclement weather occur, the group will likely meet in the Reiche School Community Room.*

Knitting in Public is hosted in Congress Square Park weekly every Thursday from 9:30 until 11 am May through September.

Open City Night feat. Film Screening "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"
2019-06-12 20:45 - 22:45
What matters to our community right now? Are we engaged in decision making processes the impact us? Are our needs and hopes being met? Do we know our neighbors? What does it mean to participate in civic life?
Open City nights in Congress Square Park are opportunities for neighbors to gather to ask questions and share information about issues important to our shared community life. Co-presented with local organizations, you can expect these evenings to be artful, participatory, informative and compelling.
All invited, all welcome.

Open City feat. free film screening of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
What is it to be a good neighbor? We’ll start the conversation with a screening of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” in which filmmaker Morgan Neville examines the life and legacy of Fred Rogers, the beloved host of the popular children’s television show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
This screening is made possible thanks to Portland Summer Films and Coffee by Design.
Join Portland Summer Films every Sunday at dusk from June through August for free screenings of classic films.

Open City is a series hosted in Congress Square Park every Wednesday at 6:8pm from June through August. We’ll explore topics related to community life presented in artful ways that spark dialogue.

Open City Night feat. Maine Inside Out
2019-06-19 18:00 - 20:00
What matters to our community right now? Are we engaged in decision making processes the impact us? Are our needs and hopes being met? Do we know our neighbors? What does it mean to participate in civic life?
Open City nights in Congress Square Park are opportunities for neighbors to gather to ask questions and share information about issues important to our shared community life. Co-presented with local organizations, you can expect these evenings to be artful, participatory, informative and compelling.
All invited, all welcome.

Open City feat. Maine Inside Out
Maine Inside Out will present their newest production: “Unspoken Truth.” Created by 15 community artists from Portland, Lewiston, Biddeford and Waterville, themes covered in the production include: segregated poverty, homelessness, substance use, violence, justice system-involvement, incarceration, and community resilience.
Maine Inside Out collaborates with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youth to create original theater to engage the community in dialogue about issues related to incarceration. We are committed to dismantling all forms of injustice and building a movement for transformative justice.

Open City is a series hosted in Congress Square Park every Wednesday at 6:8pm from June through August. We’ll explore topics related to community life presented in artful ways that spark dialogue.

Open City Night feat. Yellow Tulip Project
2019-06-26 18:00 - 20:00
What matters to our community right now? Are we engaged in decision making processes the impact us? Are our needs and hopes being met? Do we know our neighbors? What does it mean to participate in civic life?
Open City nights in Congress Square Park are opportunities for neighbors to gather to ask questions and share information about issues important to our shared community life. Co-presented with local organizations, you can expect these evenings to be artful, participatory, informative and compelling.
All invited, all welcome.

Open City feat. Yellow Tulip Project
Yellow Tulip Project will present a visual art show called “I Am More” and invite the public to engage in arts activities that explore the impact of stigma.
The Yellow Tulip Project focuses on smashing the stigma that surrounds mental illness and building a community where people realize there is help and hope out there. The YTP is meant to let people know that “Hope Happens”. We know that the stigma often prevents people who experience mental health challenges and their families from getting the support they need and deserve. We are fiercely dedicated to helping people know that there are ways to get help, people there for them and that circumstances can and will change. We hope that someday soon talking about mental illness will be as comfortable and normalized as talking about any physical illness and that more people will know that there is help and hope out there. Our message is simple and clear: come together- plant hope gardens-build community, talk about mental health and smash the stigma- and we are proud of the way that The Yellow Tulip Project is spreading to communities across the US.
For more information or to get involved please contact us at: http://www.theyellowtulipproject.org

Open City is a series hosted in Congress Square Park every Wednesday at 6:8pm from June through August. We’ll explore topics related to community life presented in artful ways that spark dialogue.

POSTPONED: Pickwick & Friends Print Fair
2019-06-29 10:00 - 16:00
***Sadly, the risk of thunderstorms today is too high, so this event has been postponed until July 20th. Join us then!***

Join us for the 4th annual Print Fair co-presented with Portland’s Pickwick Independent Press! Over 40 Maine Printmakers will be exhibiting, demoing, and selling their work in Congress Square Park.

Open City Night feat. The Art Department
2019-07-03 16:00 - 20:00
What matters to our community right now? Are we engaged in decision making processes the impact us? Are our needs and hopes being met? Do we know our neighbors? What does it mean to participate in civic life?
Open City nights in Congress Square Park are opportunities for neighbors to gather to ask questions and share information about issues important to our shared community life. Co-presented with local organizations, you can expect these evenings to be artful, participatory, informative and compelling.
All invited, all welcome.

Open City feat. The Art Department’s Bizarre Bazaar
Bizarre Bazaar is a mini carnival extravaganza for people of all ages and abilities. Featuring live events, music, carnival games, and exhibits all created by artists with intellectual uniqueness. This inclusive and interactive event invites the community to play games, learn something new, and interact with their community in an upbeat and eclectic environment.
Play a game, win some tickets, take a home a prize and enjoy an evening pf outdoor excitement!
The Art Department and Publication Studio are non-profit leadership programs of Creative Trails that advocate for career exploration for Maine artists with developmental and intellectual disabilities. They have been providing professional support since 2011 for artists striving to reach their creative potential. They provide an environment that encourages each individual to develop technical skills to collaborate with local artists and pursue strategies for self-promotion and connections through community events. Through public access to their studio space and art exhibitions, they strengthen community contacts and spark conversations that add to the vibrancy of the Portland art scene. The Art Department and Publication Studio are located at 611/613 Congress St where you can shop at the gallery and gift store.

Open City is a series hosted in Congress Square Park every Wednesday from June through August. We’ll explore topics related to community life presented in artful ways that spark dialogue.

Open City Night feat. Port Veritas
2019-07-10 18:00 - 20:00
What matters to our community right now? Are we engaged in decision making processes the impact us? Are our needs and hopes being met? Do we know our neighbors? What does it mean to participate in civic life?
Open City nights in Congress Square Park are opportunities for neighbors to gather to ask questions and share information about issues important to our shared community life. Co-presented with local organizations, you can expect these evenings to be artful, participatory, informative and compelling.
All invited, all welcome.

Open City feat. Port Veritas
During this Open City, we’ll ask “Who belongs? Who decides?” Local arts organization Port Veritas will host a poetry open mic. Everyone is invited to share their poems related to the topic — and everyone means, you, too! So, bring your poems or write one during the evening to share.
Port Veritas is a diverse collaboration of creative minds, bound by a common love of creating a space for artists of all kinds to come and express themselves. They host weekly poetry open mic nights and special events.

Open City is a series hosted in Congress Square Park every Wednesday at 6:8pm from June through August. We’ll explore topics related to community life presented in artful ways that spark dialogue.

CANCELLED: Celebration Barn's Happenstance Theater & Playshop
2019-07-12 18:00 - 20:00
***Sadly, due to a risk of thunderstorms, this event has been cancelled.***
PREPOSTEROUS! is Happenstance Theater’s sophisticated, family-friendly, pocket-sized theatrical clown circus!
These charming vintage clowns play circus animals sing as a human calliope, do the classic circus mirror routine, invent a number of ridiculous “entrées”, perform live music, and execute a very satisfying slow motion number involving a pie!
The show premiered in the summer of 2017 at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and has been performed at The National Theater as part of their Saturday Morning family series.
Following the hour-long performance, clowns will offer a playshop in physical theater/mime for audience members who want to learn how these fantastic performers do what they do!

CELEBRATION BARN:
Celebration Barn is an immersive physical theater center that annually draws over 200 artists from around the world who are seeking to train and create their own works. The Barn’s mission is to inspire creativity and community by harnessing the power of live performance.
Located in South Paris, Celebration Barn’s restored horse barn in the woods of Maine provides an inspiring natural setting away. Celebration Barn’s 46-year history fuels a super-charged atmosphere that encourages artists to play at their creative edge–nurtured and provoked by a community of collaborators–and launch performance in new directions.
Our alumni are currently performing on broadway, on television, and in internationally touring shows including Cirque du Soleil.
HAPPENSTANCE THEATER:
The Washington City Paper says, “Happenstance Theater’s ensemble comedy is a gut-busting kind of funny.” The Washington Post describes our work as “visually striking and whimsical without being precious” and calls Happenstance Theater “DC’s leading peddler of whimsy.”
HAPPENSTANCE THEATER, founded in 2006, is a professional company committed to devising, producing and touring original, performer-created visual, poetic Theatre. Our ensemble has been developing work together since 2012. We are multi-talented performers who craft all aspects of our pieces from concept to realization. Under the Artistic co-Direction of Mark Jaster and Sabrina Mandell, we harvest imagery from the past and re-contextualize it in performances that address eternal themes of life, death, and the ephemeral. With the simplest means – movement, silence, theatrical clown, music, text, physical comedy and beauty – we seek to elevate the moment when the performers and audience meet, to lift the encounter beyond the daily and pedestrian into the realms of dreams, poetry, and art. Meaning is often discovered by happenstance.
In 2016 Happenstance received three Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Ensemble, Outstanding Costume Design and Outstanding Lead Actor. In 2017 Happenstance received two Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Costume Design and Outstanding Musical Direction.

Social Justice Street Fair
2019-07-13 11:30 - 15:00
Join Maine’s social justice organizations for our second annual Social Justice Street Fair! Learn about the amazing work happening in our community to advance social, economic, environmental, and racial justice. Organization list and food vendors TBA.
Hosted by Maine Initiatives, this fair is open to any organization working on social justice issues– come join us, set up a table, and share your work with the community.

Open City Night feat. Somali Mainer's Youth Network
2019-07-17 18:00 - 20:00
What matters to our community right now? Are we engaged in decision making processes the impact us? Are our needs and hopes being met? Do we know our neighbors? What does it mean to participate in civic life?
Open City nights in Congress Square Park are opportunities for neighbors to gather to ask questions and share information about issues important to our shared community life. Co-presented with local organizations, you can expect these evenings to be artful, participatory, informative and compelling.
All invited, all welcome.

Open City feat. Somali Mainer’s Youth Network Community Arts Showcase
Join Somali Mainer’s Youth Network for an evening of community arts – from music and fashion to poetry and acting!
Somali Mainer’s Youth Network’s mission is to bring unity and awareness through the Somali community by empowering youth, getting both parents and youth involved in and aware of what goes on around their community. Through workshops, community service, and local events, they aspire to unite Somali Youth and give them opportunities to break the language barrier, gain educational opportunities, and engage as citizens of Portland. Finally, they give youth space where they can talk about issues around youth living in between two different cultures. They hope to educate the Somali youth in Southern Maine about the importance of having an education and how the choices they make a difference back home in Somalia.

Open City is a series hosted in Congress Square Park every Wednesday at 6:8pm from June through August. We’ll explore topics related to community life presented in artful ways that spark dialogue.

Pickwick & Friends Print Fair
2019-07-20 10:00 - 16:00
Join us for the 4th annual Print Fair co-presented with Portland’s Pickwick Independent Press! Over 40 Maine Printmakers will be exhibiting, demoing, and selling their work in Congress Square Park.
(This event is a rain date from the originally scheduled date of June 29.)

Open City Night feat. Brooklyn Swing Ensemble
2019-07-24 18:00 - 20:00
What matters to our community right now? Are we engaged in decision making processes the impact us? Are our needs and hopes being met? Do we know our neighbors? What does it mean to participate in civic life?
Open City nights in Congress Square Park are opportunities for neighbors to gather to ask questions and share information about issues important to our shared community life. Co-presented with local organizations, you can expect these evenings to be artful, participatory, informative and compelling.
All invited, all welcome.

Open City feat. Brooklyn Swing Ensemble
What better way to meet your neighbors then through dance? Join Brooklyn Swing Ensemble for a few hours of social dance. Swing, jazz, folk, klezmer – they’ll bring a mix!
BSE started out playing for a swing dance in Philadelphia and has evolved into a dance band for many genres. They are well known in the Northeast for their unique blend of Fiddle tunes, Klezmer music and Swing/blues – playing for contra dances and other events throughout the region. With fiddle and clarinet as the lead instruments, they are sure to get you out of your seats!

Open City is a series hosted in Congress Square Park every Wednesday at 6:8pm from June through August. We’ll explore topics related to community life presented in artful ways that spark dialogue.

Wazo Fest "Black Panther" Film Screening
2019-07-27 21:00 - 23:00
Wazo Fest is a three day festival hosted in Portland, Maine by Kesho Wazo, a youth art collective. Join them for a screening of “Black Panther” in Congress Square Park at dusk!
“Black Panther” is a 2018 superhero film, based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name. After the events of Captain America: Civil War, King T’Challareturns home to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country’s new leader. However, T’Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne from factions within his own country. When two foes conspire to destroy Wakanda, the hero known as Black Panther must team up with CIA agent Everett K. Ross and members of the Dora Milaje, Wakandan special forces, to prevent Wakanda from being dragged into a world war
Kesho Wazo, or “tomorrow’s ideas” in Swahili, is an up and coming youth art collective. The group was created as an outlet for young people to express themselves through art, music, fashion, and social advocacy. It is composed of 15 energetic members, who share high ambitions to break boundaries and positively impact history.

Open City Night feat. One Climate Future Initiative
2019-07-31 18:00 - 20:00
What matters to our community right now? Are we engaged in decision making processes the impact us? Are our needs and hopes being met? Do we know our neighbors? What does it mean to participate in civic life?
Open City nights in Congress Square Park are opportunities for neighbors to gather to ask questions and share information about issues important to our shared community life. Co-presented with local organizations, you can expect these evenings to be artful, participatory, informative and compelling.
All invited, all welcome.

Open City feat. Portland’s One Climate Future Initiative
Climate change is causing more rainfall, less snow, increasing temperatures, and sea level rise in #PortlandME and #SouthPortlandME. What are your top concerns and priorities? Share them to make sure they are addressed at Open City Night, Wednesday, July 31st, 6:00 – 8:00 pm. A volunteer from Portland will there to present #OneClimateFuture and get your feedback.
Our businesses, neighborhoods, and way of life are worth protecting. Knowing our future will be impacted by climate change, we have a responsibility to work together to see that our communities continue to be places of opportunity. The Cities of Portland and South Portland are taking the lead on this by developing a joint climate action and adaptation plan—One Climate Future: Charting a Course for Portland and South Portland. The goal of this planning process is to make our communities even stronger tomorrow than we are today. But we can’t do this alone. We all need to work together to make it a success.

Open City is a series hosted in Congress Square Park every Wednesday at 6-8pm from June through August. We’ll explore topics related to community life presented in artful ways that spark dialogue.

Portland Maine Comedy Festival Showcase
2019-08-03 18:00 - 20:00
The Portland Maine Comedy Festival and Friends of Congress Square Park present and evening of comedy! Join the PMCF and a handful of talented and funny comedians from all over the country. This show is perfect for the comedy-lovers in your family. One-liners, witty-puns and funny stories will all be present and presented at this rib-tickling event.

Nia Fitness Class
2019-08-05 12:00 - 13:00
Join local teacher Erin Curren for Nia – a fun and expressive fitness class – every Monday in August from 12-1pm! Though typically done barefoot, shoes are recommended for Nia in the park. $10 suggested, class cards available.
Nia is an exhilarating, non-impact fusion fitness class that draws from the Martial Arts, Dance, and Healing Arts. Have fun while getting a great workout that is easy on the joints and connects you to your awareness in motion. Participants will learn to personalize the five sensations of fitness while exploring new movement patterns that will leave them feeling energized and grounded in the present moment, loving the gift of the body! www.nianow.com
Nia Black Belt Instructor Erin Curren has been sharing the Joy of Movement all over the state of Maine for ten years. She brings her love of improv, expressiveness and enthusiasm to each and every class. www.erincurren.com

"5 Year Supper" Anniversary Party & Community Meal
2019-08-31 18:00 - 20:00
Friends of Congress Square Park is marking our 5th anniversary this season! We’re celebrating the thousands of people who helped create this one-of-a-kind place by throwing a casual picnic party. Delicious local food, outstanding local artists – including live music… All free and all fun. Join us!
Bring your own food and picnic with us, or get a tasty BBQ dinner from Moe’s Original BBQ (pay what you can donation).
Live music featuring Kafari (6-7 pm) and Sylvain’s Acadian Aces (7-8 pm).
‘Kafari’ is the alias of Portland, ME based ambient loop master, pianist, and rhythm bonesman Ahmad Hassan Muhammad. Kafari seamlessly weaves together jazz, electronic music, ambient music, and hip hop in his experimental manipulations of loops taken from old jazz recordings. His most recent release ‘Knockturnes’ is a dreamy, hypnotic tribute to the legendary Bill Evans trio. Using his keyboard controller, Kafari manipulates the pitch and tempo of old jazz samples, altering them nearly beyond recognition and transforming them into etheral backdrops for keyboard and saxophone improvisations.
Sylvain’s Acadian Aces keeps the ‘cajun flame alive in old Acadie with an energetic brand of raw, rootsy ‘cajun music derived directly from the source. The vocal power of guitarist Robert Sylvain and charismatic fiddler Hawk Kallweit supplies a one-two punch that’s instantly compelling and distinctive. With Maine’s own true accordian ace Junior Stevens on button-box, and the unstoppable combination of Tom Jacques on upright bass and Kris Day on drums, Sylvain’s Acadian Aces deliver heart-wrenching lovesongs and electrifying dance numbers that can bring even the most stoic New Englanders to their feet. Rooted in classic cajun two-steps and waltzes, the repertoire also folds in elements of creole and zydeco traditions along with original Americana and rock ‘n roll sensibilities.

Create with ME Festival hosted by Dead Flow It Society
2019-09-04 19:00 - 21:00
***This event has been delayed by one hour due to weather. Join us from 7-9pm!***

Join us in Congress Square Park for a continuing series of open creative workshops and performances! This event encourages collaborative participation from the crowd for all age groups, and skill levels with art, poetry, dancing, crafting, and music. Throughout the night there will be live local art vendors, open workshops, and end with two headlining acts. Whether you are watching or participating, you are sure to leave with inspired creativity!
This event is hosted by The Dead Flow It Society. Kyler Henningsen and Nathan Lapointe are co-founders of Dead flow it Society and Family Banned Records. Both groups aim to support artists and enable them to maximize their potential through their creative work and in the community. Family Banned has pledged to give 25% of profits to charity. Mr. Henningsen is a father, coach , poet , artist, former board member of the Maine Artist Collective and front man for the rock group “Soul or Power.” Mr. Lapointe is an Actor, musician, singer, producer, and hip hop artist. He performs regularly locally as Unique Unknown. His new album, professionally produced for radio, “Just Another Day” will be the first released under Family Banned Records.

Try Your Hand International Calligraphy Festival
2019-09-07 10:00 - 13:00
Did you ever wish you could write in another language? Or have beautiful penmanship in your own? Here’s a chance to Try Your Hand at an international calligraphy event at Congress Square Park!
People from around the world will show you how to write in their native script, such as Cyrillic, Japanese, Arabic. You’ll also have a chance to try Medieval and Modern Latin alphabet calligraphy. You’ll learn a few words and perhaps a proverb from the different cultures and be able to make a keepsake pendant with your choice of two languages. Come out and do something different at Congress Square Park!
Supplies will be provided and instruction is free.

Contra Dance with Portland Intown Contra Dance featuring Lake Effect with Katy Heine
2019-09-13 18:00 - 20:00
Join us for dancing in Congress Square Park!
If you can walk, you can contra. Truly. It’s an easy, enjoyable, and accessible dance form for most people. Contra dance is community social dancing to live music. It’s lively, joyful, welcoming, modern, traditional, and fun!
No partner is needed – you dance with everyone! Our community is diverse and intergenerational, so you know you’ll meet a lot of different people as you make your way down the line. Live music will be provided by Lake Effect, the fiddle and guitar duo of Upstate New York featuring musicians Matthew Sloboda and Chuck Abell. For more information connect with them on Facebook! Come enjoy some lively music, smiling and spinning people, or save us a dance!
Hosted by Portland Intown Contra Dance.

POSTPONED: Play Me a Story with Portland Stage
2019-09-14 14:00 - 15:30
***Risk of rain and lower temperatures means we need to postpone this event until 2020. Stay tuned for a new date!***

Join us for a fun, interactive, and family friendly theatre event hosted by Portland Stage!
Experience the Fun & Magic of Theater with Play Me a Story! Enjoy a performance of children’s stories, then participate in an acting workshop with professional theater artists. Build literacy, encourage creativity and spark dramatic dreams!

Swing Night with Portland Swing Project
2019-09-20 18:00 - 20:00
Join Portland Swing Project for live music and dancing in Congress Square Park! All are welcome and no experience is necessary for lively fun!
Portland Swing Project spreads the appreciation of swing music and dance through weekly classes and events for all levels of experience. They teach, dance, perform and provide live and DJ’d music to venues throughout Maine. Absolute beginners welcome, no partner needed.

Metamorphosis (Waking Windows)
2019-09-21 15:00 - 21:00
Metamorphosis hosted along Congress Street!
Over four ever-growing annual festivals, Waking Windows Portland has hosted more than 250 bands, 50 authors, 35 DJs, dozens of special events and performances, artist projects, films, comedians, and so much more, across 20 different venues through Bayside and Congress St. It’s been a beautiful and wild ride. Ecstatic, joyful, transformative…
This year, we’re presenting something a little different. We’re calling it Metamorphosis.
Seasons change. So do cities and everything in them. Celebrations can bring people together. People together can change place, the spaces we occupy, the streets we walk together. People together can make the world smaller. That’s what we’re after.
Music. Art. Performance. Poetry. Prose. Endless truth-telling.
From the transcendent rhymes of Boston rapper, poet, and self-described champion of “the queer, black, orphaned, hood kids and them” Oompa and the otherworldly melodies of Sub Pop psych-folk songwriter Death Vessel, to the radical rural storytelling of true Maine original Carolyn Chute and the immersive world of New Fruit co-founders’ new performance project Cavatica, to interactive family arts activities with Love Lab Studio and the overflowing crates of vinyl at the Portland Record Fair…

Saturday, September 21st.
Participation. Exploration. Community.
We hope to see you there!

Activities in Congress Square Park
Saturday, September 21st | free | all ages
FAMILY ARTMAKING
3:00 – 5:30 PM Family arts activities with Love Lab Studio
Bird enthusiasts of all ages are invited to celebrate Metamorphosis by building, designing, and decorating Maine’s migratory birds.

MUSIC
4:00 Skulken
4:50 Angelikah Fahray
5:45 Hannah Epperson
6:40 Cavatica
7:20 Dead Gowns
8:20 Ian O’Neil (of Deer Tick)

For more information on all programming for this year, visit Waking Windows Portland’s website.

Open City Night feat. Maine Coalition for Sensible Drug Policy
2019-09-25 18:00 - 20:00
What matters to our community right now? Are we engaged in decision making processes the impact us? Are our needs and hopes being met? Do we know our neighbors? What does it mean to participate in civic life?
Open City nights in Congress Square Park are opportunities for neighbors to gather to ask questions and share information about issues important to our shared community life. Co-presented with local organizations, you can expect these evenings to be artful, participatory, informative and compelling.
All invited, all welcome.

Open City feat. Maine Coalition for Sensible Drug Policy
Maine Coalition for Sensible Drug Policy brings “Lead with Love” to Congress Square Park on August 7th from 6-8pm to highlight policies and approaches to Maine’s drug crisis that lead with love and public health, instead of criminalization and stigma. Expect art making, music, love letter writing to people impacted by drug use and more.
Members of the Maine Coalition for Sensible Drug Policy include Maine People’s Alliance, Health Equity Alliance, Maine Family Planning, the ACLU, and Portland OPS.

Open City is a series hosted in Congress Square Park every Wednesday at 6:8pm from June through August. We’ll explore topics related to community life presented in artful ways that spark dialogue.

Portland Intercultural Festival
2019-09-28 14:00 - 20:00
The Portland Intercultural Festival (PIF) is being organized through the Friends of Congress Square Park in association with the Root House organization and local artist AFRiCAN DUNDADA. This event is a celebration of the richness of Portland’s Black and Brown creative community as well as showcasing new and unexpected artists with diverse backgrounds and strikingly unique music and visual art.
In the afternoon, expect interactive creative work shops. In the evening, musical and spoken word acts will take the stage.
Schedule
2:30 – 3:30 pm – Workshop with Youth Voices Matter
3:30 – 4:15 pm – International Open Mic
4:30 – 8:00 pm – Performances by artists including Unique Unknown, Signature Soul, AFRiCAN DUNDADA and Malcolm Henry

Join us for an all day experience sure to widen your perspective and put swivel in your hips. Come create and turn up with us.

El Malo
2019-10-04 18:00 - 20:00
Join us for music and dancing in Congress Square Park with El Malo!
El Malo is a contemporary Latin-Rock band out of Portland, Maine. They play a blend of classic salsa tunes and original instrumental Latin music that is sure to get any crowd up and dancing! No matter what your usual playlist may be, El Malo promises to create a musical common ground among its viewers! Come enjoy a diverse setlist of relaxing drum beats to lively horn section solos!

Planting Day with Yellow Tulip Project
2019-10-06 12:00 - 14:00
Join us for the 4th annual community yellow tulip planting ceremony in Congress Square park! Come plant tulips in the Square and hear speeches, poetry, and musical performances from representatives of the Yellow Tulip Project!
The Yellow Tulip Project focuses on smashing the stigma that surrounds mental illness and building a community where people realize there is help and hope out there. The YTP is meant to let people know that “Hope Happens”. Their message is simple and clear: come together- plant hope gardens-build community, talk about mental health and smash the stigma- and we are proud of the way that The Yellow Tulip Project is spreading to communities across the US.
For more information or to get involved check out their website.

Pumpkins in the Square feat. Jenny Van West Music
2019-10-11 16:00 - 18:00
Join us for the 5th annual Pumpkins in the Square! Friends of Congress Square Park is welcoming Fall and celebrating a successful season with:
Live music with Jenny Van West Music
Donuts and cider!
Pumkin carving and decorating! Bring your own pumpkin or buy one at the event (suggested donation $10). We’ll have a contest to show off the creations!
Fall arts and crafts!
Fun for the whole family. See you there!

Volunteer Clean Up Day!
2019-10-12 09:00 - 12:00
Come volunteer with Friends of Congress Square Park and prepare the park for hibernation! We’ll gather from 9am until noon on October 12th to:
– Garden! Replant the hydrangeas trees and trim plants
– Clean up! Put away the umbrellas and mobile planters in storage
We’ll have all the supplies needed. Dress in layers, in clothing you don’t mind getting a bit messy. Bring work gloves if you can.
All ages and abilities encouraged!
