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hey tiny.
the clocks fall back saturday night. at two in the morning it turns back into one in the morning, on halloween. that is a free hour of halloween. the party in a st. johns lot that runs until five now runs an hour past that, technically. i did not arrange this. i will take the credit anyway.
tuesday is election day. fill out your ballot. drop it in an official box by 8pm, or mail it with a tuesday postmark. your county elections office has the drop box map. it is the only deadline in this letter that matters more than a ticket.
the battle jacket royale happened. thirty-three of you voted at brujos. uriah took first. phreddy took second. mark took third. none of the three had read a single letter before that night. now all three are behind the wall, on the house. that is one way in. win.
first place. uriah's jacket, from behind, which is the side that gets judged.
thank you to adx for standing behind the night, and to every tiny who walked in and claimed their hand printed patch.
new behind the wall. amy and dj sappho went annual. cathryn climbed over on the monthly. five more tinies came through the halloween door before it shut. mary beth already had a key and paid anyway. i am calling it a tip. welcome in, all of you. it is warmer back here than it looks from the street.
the sardines party is friday. the clues come by text. more of you clicked it last week than anything except the royale. go get found.
up front this week. naked zombies on bicycles. a werewolf movie for one tiny in particular. a front-yard graveyard turns thirty. dogs in costume on sandy. a movie stitched by hand.
[ see all of it ]
pick a night. pick three. i will be out past the clocks.
[ BEHIND THE WALL ]
this is the last halloween weekend of the year, and your key opens all of it. the halloween list. the weekend page, more than a hundred ways to spend saturday. below the fold, the overflow from the main letter, the quieter nights in the week after the costumes come off.
sunday the list goes quiet. the wall does not.
X X X
[ HALLOWEEN ]
fifteen for the last weekend of october, thursday to sunday. the weekend page alone holds over a hundred more. it sits behind the wall with the rest of the halloween list.
Trick or Treat on Denver Street Oct 29 at 17:00 N Denver Ave | Free [ more ] [ + all ages ] kenton's shops hand out candy from schofield to willis. paul bunyan stands at the end of the block, thirty-one feet tall, roughly up to my kneecap. he has never given out a single piece. take double from the humans.
NoPo Night Ride: Halloween Edition Oct 29, meet 19:45, rolls 20:05 Columbia Park Pool | Free [ more ] eight to fifteen miles through north portland in the dark, in costume. lights required. 21+. the hard start is 20:05. pin your cape down before it eats your rear wheel.
Halloween Drag Queen Bingo with Poison Waters Oct 30, 17:00 to 18:30 Hi-Lo Hotel | see info [ more ] [ + all ages ] poison waters calls the numbers. the prizes include hotel stays. win a night in the building you are already sitting in and cancel your ride home.
My-O-My's Canine Costume Contest Oct 30 at 18:00 My-O-My | Free [ more ] dogs in costume on sandy blvd. the dog did not pick the outfit. the dog will win anyway. clap for the terriers.
Scary Home Companion: Live Radio Stage Show Oct 30, doors 18:00, show 19:00 The Victorian Belle Mansion | $23.18 [ more ] a 1930s radio horror play with live foley artists, inside a victorian mansion you can tour before and after. i have to peer through the second-story gables to watch. the floorboards creak louder than the sound effects team.
Scare Night at The Hallowed Halls Oct 30, doors 18:30 The Hallowed Halls | $12 [ more ] darkwave bands, a halloween rave and scare actors loose in a hall on se 64th. 18+. some of those scare actors answered our bulletin board. if one grabs your ankle, tell them giant janet says hi.
Tock's All Vinyl Halloween Eve Oct 30 at 22:00 Donnie Vegas | Free [ more ] dj tock, of freeform portland's electro nouveau, spins records all night under the biggest disco ball on alberta. all vinyl. no laptop. if the needle skips, blame my boots on the pavement outside.
Witchy Women's Halloween Walk and Magical Exchange Oct 31 at 14:00 Laurelhurst Park | Free [ more ] [ ~ outdoors ~ ] a halloween walk around laurelhurst with a swap at the end. bring a small magical thing. leave with someone else's. venus is retrograde, so read the label before you put it in your pocket.
Halloween Open House Oct 31 at 17:00 Synth Library Portland | Free [ more ] live modular synth scores for silent horror classics, live video synthesis and synth library djs. the patch cables hang like a nest of black snakes. do not unplug anything you cannot rewire.
Davis Graveyard Block Party: 30th Anniversary Oct 31, 17:00 to 22:00 Davis Graveyard, Milwaukie | Free, donations welcome [ more ] [ road trip ] [ + all ages ] one family has built a graveyard in their front yard every october since 1996. celebrity tombstones. ghost effects. school of rock playing live. drop a few dollars in the bucket. the neighbors stopped asking thirty years ago.
Doorway to Nightmare: A Secret Horror Marathon Oct 31, market 17:30, films 19:00 Academy Theater | see info [ more ] a horror market first, then three secret films. one clue each, posted ahead of time. survive all three and you win a poster telling you what you just watched.
Naked Zombie Ride, 20th Year Oct 31, meet 19:00, rolls 19:45 Colonel Summers Park | Free [ more ] twenty years of adults on bicycles in fake gore and not much else. clothing optional. the bike seat is not. the dead come back every halloween. some of them now bring a helmet.
Halloween Show at Wyrd Hut Oct 31 at 19:00 Wyrd Hut | $12.51 [ more ] [ + all ages ] helen joy, way of flowers, orbit17 and sw0rdswall0wer at a diy house venue on se 65th. costumes encouraged. the zeros in sw0rdswall0wer are load-bearing.
Portland Fear Festival, Day 2 Oct 31, 20:00 to 05:00 FOE lot, St. Johns | from $10 [ more ] about two thousand tinies in an open lot in st. johns until five in the morning, plus the bonus hour when the clocks fall back at two. from the bridge towers i can watch your breath rise. bring a coat. the lot has no ceiling.
Bora Yoon: Witch's Castle Soundwalk Nov 1, meet 16:00, walk 16:15 Lower Macleay Park | Free [ more ] [ ~ outdoors ~ ] headphones on, a mile and a half uphill to the stone ruin everybody calls the witch's castle. the score tells the danford balch story while you climb. the walk is free. the hill charges your calves.
[ TELL ME ]
it is costume week. i am going as a water tower. again. nobody has noticed in eleven years.
two weeks ago a tiny told me she wants to be a werewolf cheerleader. that note is still on my fridge. now it is your turn. pick the closest box, then write the real costume in the comment. the best ones get read out next week.
what are you going as, tiny?
[ SEEING ]
Remend/Remember Oct 29, 12:00 to 18:00 Poubelle and Marshall | Free [ more ] rescued fabric, reworked and hung up as a record of where cloth has been. study the mending. ignore the mustard stain on your own sweater. it has a backstory too.
Murder Casserole: A True Crime Comedy Show Nov 2 at 19:00 Covert Cafe | Free [ more ] local comics riff on horrible true stories, on a monday, on 82nd. the title is a dish. do not bring one.
ORBIT presents: GEOMANCER Nov 6 at 19:00 Chess Club | Free [ more ] a free screening of lawrence lek's film about a satellite ai that wants to be an artist. shown at a club named after a game where every piece is stuck on a grid. the satellite would relate.
TAKOHACHI: Kamishibai Storytelling on the Big Screen Nov 7 at 14:00 Clinton Street Theater | Free [ more ] japanese paper theater, the kind told from a little wooden stage, blown up onto a movie screen with live music. about eighty minutes. the pictures are finally scaled to my reading size.
Anarchaic Movement: New Works in Fabric-Animation Nov 7, 17:00 to 20:00 Mudd Palace | Free [ more ] animation made of embroidery. every frame is stitched. somebody sewed a movie. it is the only cartoon you can put through the wash.
[ LISTENING + DANCING ]
Wanker's Corner Halloween Costume Party Oct 30 at 20:00 Wanker's Corner Saloon | Free [ more ] [ road trip ] $250 cash for best costume, $100 for runner-up, and a gift card for best scream. scream loud enough in wilsonville and i will hear it from the river.
Dia do Pomquim Oct 31 at 17:30 Past Lives Makerspace | $15 to $25 [ more ] veracruz meets west africa, brazil dances with colombia, afrobeats hold the whole patch together. the flyer calls it a musical garden gone feral. it is in a makerspace, so the garden has power tools.
Haunted Karaoke & Costume Contest Oct 31, cover from 21:00 Twenty First Ave Kitchen & Bar | $5 [ more ] karaoke on halloween night, costumes judged at midnight. somebody will sing monster mash. somebody always does. let them.
Sunday Service with Lana Electra Nov 1 at 20:00 The Common Loon | $10.38 [ more ] drag in lents, hosted by feather dusted, the night after halloween. some of the queens never took the costume off. tip accordingly.
Sad Boy Union: Music Video Release Party Nov 7 at 19:00 The Common Loon | Free [ more ] two new videos, state of the union and white man's tongue, premiered at a bar on 92nd. the band name sets the mood. the bar is named for a bird famous for crying at night.
[ MAKING + DOING ]
Nu-Glitter Queer Comedy Open Mic Nov 4 at 18:30 Peacock Bar | Free [ more ] sign up and be funny for five minutes, or sit in the dark and judge. no tickets. the glitter is mandatory in spirit.
Bingo Against Fascism Nov 5 at 19:00 Over Easy | Free [ more ] comedian andie main calls bingo in st. johns, two days after the election. the free square is free. so are you.
Mill Fest 2026 Nov 7 + 8, Sat 09:00 to 17:00 Wool for the People | Free [ more ] a weekend of fiber and crafting at the wool shop on se 9th. last month their spinning circle out-clicked most of the concerts. you tinies love a sheep.
Mahjong Open Play at CORE Nov 8 at 13:00 CORE | Free [ more ] open mahjong at a food cart pod on 82nd. the tiles click. the carts sizzle. nobody explains the rules twice.
[ ROAMING ]
Davis Street Halloween Night Market Oct 31 at 14:00 NW Davis Festival St | Free [ more ] a night market on old town's festival street, with $100 cash for best dressed and $50 for second. old town has worn a costume for a century. dress up and collect the rent.
Side B Market: Halloween Edition Oct 31 at 14:00 The Callback | Free [ more ] [ + all ages ] vintage, local makers, food trucks and a dog costume contest. drink, eat, shop, chill, in that order or any order.
Argay Park Volunteer Day Nov 5 at 10:00 Argay Park | Free [ more ] [ ~ outdoors ~ ] one hour of weeding, pruning and mulching with parks and rec, out past 122nd. register first. you leave the park better and your hands worse.
[ EATING + SHOPPING ]
Haunted Hot Dog Crawl Oct 30 at 18:00 Hawthorne Blvd | Free, $5 dogs [ more ] five bars on hawthorne, starting at bar scorpio, a five-dollar hot dog at each. i could fit all five in one bite. that is not a brag. it is a warning. pace your tiny stomach.
A Little Gay Halloween Market Crawl Oct 31 at 10:00 Grave Raiment Studio | Free [ more ] spectrum art market wakes up for a stamp rally between a goth clothing studio and a coffee shop called sinister. fill the card. win a limited art prize. wake up early. shop with your costume on.
Daydreamer's 8 Year Anniversary Party Nov 6, 17:00 to 22:00 Daydreamer Coffee & Public House | Free [ more ] the st. johns coffeehouse turns eight. eight years of lattes on fessenden. the espresso machine has heard every secret in the neighborhood and told none of them. buy it a drink.
Cultivate Initiative Give!Guide Celebration Nov 10, 17:00 to 19:00 Montavilla Brew Works | Free [ more ] meet the crew behind a mobile shower program, local beer in hand. drink the foam. fund the soap.
[ BULLETIN BOARD ]
Lighting Tech for a Halloween Rave oct 30 + 31 [ more ] a thousand dollars for two nights of running somebody else's light design at a halloween rave. bring moving heads and a hazer. reply today. tomorrow is too late.
Willy Costume, Worn Once until sold [ more ] twenty dollars, beaverton, inflatable. it is shaped exactly like what you think it is shaped like. i covered the photo with a hand. you are welcome.
"I'm Cujo Proof!" Bumper Sticker until sold [ more ] ten dollars for a promise from 1983 that nobody can keep. mint.
Vintage German Porcelain Pierrot Clown until sold [ more ] twenty dollars, vancouver. a sad clown with a red pom-pom, three months on the market and watching the whole time. it can wait. it is porcelain.
Pegity, Parker Brothers, Complete until sold [ more ] thirty-five dollars. the seller ignores lowballers. the box asks if you want to play another before you have played once. two very confident parties.
The Anarchist Cookbook, 1989 Printing until sold [ more ] sixty dollars, cash, montavilla. the seller spelled anarchist without the h. a shelf piece. not a cookbook.
Outlet's 2027 Calendar: Call for Submissions nov 1 [ more ] last call. the riso studio picks twelve artists for next year's calendar. sunday is the deadline.
about ninety posts are pinned up. one is a large fox head, for halloween or, in the seller's words, question mark. two days left to find out.
[ read the board ]
[ SCREENINGS ]
twenty-one films are still on a screen through sunday. three for friday night below. pick one. or drive fast and try for two.
REC (2007) Oct 30 at 19:30 Hollywood Theatre [ more ] a spanish tv crew follows firefighters into an apartment building, and then the building gets sealed with everyone inside. shot like the late news. the camera never gets to leave. neither do you.
Ginger Snaps (2000) Oct 30 Moreland Theater [ more ] two goth sisters in the suburbs. one gets bitten. puberty and werewolf turn out to be the same diagnosis. werewolf cheerleader, this one is your homework.
Vampyr (1932) Oct 30 at 19:00 Tomorrow Theater [ more ] dreyer's vampire film, ninety-four years old and mostly fog, with a live multimedia score by kraftwitch. $15. the fog has never sounded this good.
come behind the wall.
once you're down here you can never say "there's nothing to do"
i'm coming in!what's back here:
- every weird thing this week, sorted. you pick.
- any night, you already know where the noise is.
- you hear about it before it sells out. not after.
- first dibs on tv pdx events + gifts made by a giant.