Events bring community together

Two different venues.
Two different audiences.
But both spoke well of a healthy community.
On Saturday, the Arch Bridge Kroozers held the car club’s May “Kroozin’ the Courthouse” event in downtown Portland.
While the first few cruise-ins sponsored by the group had a great turnout, the last few — because of weather and other factors — had been something of a disappointment.
That wasn’t the case on Saturday.
Hot rods and classic cars turned out in significant numbers. So did the crowds of on-lookers and car buffs. It was an outstanding event, just about as good as things like this get.
On Sunday, the crowd was younger.
While the cruise-in audience had an average age somewhere in the 60s, the mini-festival kicking off Arts in the Parks drew a decidedly more youthful crowd.
In the arts park across Walnut Street from Arts Place, inside Arts Place, and in the street itself, there was a flurry of activity. All of it was free, and all of it was aimed at kids and families.
Like juggling? There was an excellent juggler.
Want to hear the Jay Community Band? They were on hand in force.
Need your face painted or want to decorate an Arts in the Parks T-shirt or express yourself by painting on a huge chunk of limestone from the U.S. Aggregates quarry? You had your chance.
On the surface, the two events couldn’t have been more different in terms of their focus and their audience.
But both of them drew folks out of their homes, off of their sofas, away from the television and the internet to interact with one another.
And by our calculus, that’s evidence of a healthy community. — J.R.