Being green is easy in Portland because this Northwest river city has a sustainable soul.
Long before others hopped on the bandwagon, Portland was gung ho on green. This metropolis recycles not just bottles and buildings, but also sends its animal waste into a “zoo doo” composting program for zoo gardens.
Portland’s number of LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) buildings is multiplying. The Rose City is home to the Ecotrust, the nation’s first restored historic building to receive a gold-level LEED stamp, and the 1891 Armory Theater, a former armory-turned-warehouse-turned-theater, the first theater to have a LEED designation. Both buildings boast unique meeting and event spaces.
Industry luminaries Nancy Wilson, CMP, and Amy Spatrisano, CMP—green rainmakers who convert others to their liturgy—live here. Wilson and Spatrisano founded the Green Meetings Council and the MeetGreen measurement tool for assessing event environmental impact. Most clients of their company, Meetings Strategies Worldwide, hire them to build sustainable events.
Portland’s hotels also go the distance. Among the newest: the 79-room Ace Hotel, whose rooms have recycled furniture and doors, and 1,400 square feet of dedicated event space.
Housed in a late-Victorian building downtown, The Governor Hotel offers business groups an interior meld of elegant gilded and paneled Italian Renaissance with contemporary accents.
This city’s green nature spaces include its Chinese and Japanese gardens. Portland Classical Chinese Garden sits on what used to be a paved parking lot, yet now its walled-in collection of flowers, waterfalls, bridges, and a climate-controlled antique teahouse invite business groups of up to 300 to enjoy the tranquility within the urban core. The Japanese Garden sits on five acres within Washington Park and has a network of five themed and tranquil gardens, a Tea House and a pavilion for groups of up to 200.
When it comes to food and drink, Portland prefers local and organic. Plate and Pitchfork and Artemis Foods are among the most sustainable caterers. Fresh and local also define the chef’s contemporary creations in the trendy Pearl District restaurant Bluehour. Local wines flow at Urban Wineworks, where groups may enjoy tastings and blend-your-own instruction. Now that’s a sustainable way to enjoy wine without spending carbons driving to the source.
