by ANDREW WILKINS
Held on August 24, Illamette was an all-ages hip hop river festival in Cathedral Park— celebrating the Willamette River and everyone’s connection to water.
The festival was presented by Portland Harbor Community Coalition & Get Hooked Foundation.
It was a beautiful sunny day, and Village Portland reporter Lesley McLam and I had a good time catching up with old friends and learning more about what’s happening with the Portland Harbor Superfund site.
Learn more about the issue and how to get involved at this Village Portland @ St. Johns link promoting the event. There is definitely more work to be done cleaning up the river, and you can sign up for emails to stay in touch with the issue.
Hosted by Donovan Smith, there were a ton of great musicians there: Mat Randol, Swiggle Mandela, Talilo Marfil, Amenta Abioto, Jonny Cool, Corinthia Bethune, Westcoast Blackbear, Nikole Lashel, J Prodigy and a poem by an elder Wilma Alcock.
There was also this a group of rappers who call themselves The Avengers:
Portland Harbor Community Coalition:
Founded in 2012, we are a group of individual community groups elevating the most-impacted groups (Native Americans, African-Americans/Black, immigrants, and houseless) in the billion dollar federal cleanup of the eleven mile Willamette River Superfund site, Portland Harbor.
Keep in touch with updates on the Superfund project from the Environmental Protection Agency and read all the public comments here.
Village Portland @ St Johns 