Portland is Oregon’s largest city, its commercial center and a place well-known for far-sighted urban planning, green trees, a green philosophy and sheer scenic beauty.
Located where the Willamette River meets the mighty Columbia, Portland is also fortunate to have a mild climate, beautiful urban parks and a dynamic restaurant scene. Together with Vancouver, Wash.—its neighbor across the Columbia—Portland helps give the phrase "Pacific Northwest" its meaning.
Portland
Hip, happening, unique and fun to visit is how Michael Smith, vice president of convention sales at Travel Portland, characterizes the city.
"It’s easy to get around, the restaurants are great, and we’ve got one of the best airports in the country," he says. "It’s hooked up with our light-rail system, so for $2.30 you can go from the airport to your hotel downtown."
Visitors are never far from a park or body of water in the "Rose City," as Portland is nicknamed. Starting three decades ago, Portland and other Oregon cities created urban growth boundaries (UGBs) that compelled developers to create either high-density urban projects or rural ones, so Portland is not ringed by the large suburbs that surround most other U.S. cities. The UGBs combine with a strong tradition of forest and parkland conservation to give the Portland area an urban feel while protecting surrounding farmland from development.
This means that lots of farmland is nearby, contributing to the "locavore" ethos so prevalent in the urban Northwest. It also contributes to thriving neighborhoods that constantly change, according to Smith.
"It really is a city of neighborhoods," he says. "The one you hear about the most lately is the Pearl District, which used to be a warehouse district and has been converted into condos, restaurants and shops."
The Pearl District also has a First Thursdays art walk that turns its streets into a mini-Mardi Gras, Smith says.
"The East Side is coming along as well; the convention center is on the east side [of the Willamette] and that area along Broadway is coming along," he says. "You probably hear more about the Hawthorne District, an area of restaurants, shops and tattoo parlors—it’s just a fun place to go and do great shopping.
"It’s such a walking city, with blocks that are only 200 feet long. So people really can get out and stroll," he adds.
Another meetings-friendly aspect of visiting Portland is that there are no food, beverage or sales taxes on catering, a factor that Smith says makes a "huge difference when you talk with groups about the cost of their convention."
Portland also has the nation’s longest-running Saturday market, featuring very upscale artisan work at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, and Smith says the park is also a popular place to have a salmon bake.
A variety of meeting venues are available in Portland, according to Smith.
"It depends on the focus of the group," he says. "For example, we do a lot at the Oregon Zoo so you can dine among the elephants at a zoo known worldwide for its elephant breeding program. Plus they have some great space next door at the Oregon Forestry Center; it’s very Northwest-y."
Just across the Willamette is the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry, a very hands-on, technology-focused venue that recently hosted a dinosaur exhibit as well as Body Worlds, which offers dramatic examples of preserved human anatomy. The museum is right on the river and has a small submarine visitors can tour as well.
One newer venue is the Ecotrust building, aka the Natural Capital Center, a former Pearl District warehouse that’s undergone a thoroughly green remodeling. The building has event space that looks out over the city—and importantly, a local farmers market, Smith says.
"For smaller groups, we’ve taken them there, had a chef ready to prepare a meal, and then sent attendees down to the farmers market with instructions to shop for their dinner," he says. "We give them a note saying, ‘You’re responsible for 10 heads of lettuce and two pounds of mushrooms.’"
In keeping with the city’s green spirit, the 255,000-square-foot Oregon Convention Center is certified LEED Silver and "keeps doing more to get greener," as Smith puts it. He adds that Portland’s hotel package has also improved recently, pointing to the Nines, which begins on the ninth floor of the historic Meier & Frank department store building, and the LEED Gold-certified Courtyard by Marriott-Portland City Center, which has over 5,000 square feet of meeting space.
Other popular meetings-friendly hotels include the Doubletree Hotel & Executive Meeting Center Portland–Lloyd Center, Governor Hotel, Hilton Portland & Executive Tower, Holiday Inn Portland–Downtown Convention Center, Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront and Sheraton Hotel Portland Airport.
The city also has several smaller, boutique properties, including the Ace Hotel, and no profile of Portland would be complete without mentioning McMenamins, which operates seven properties in Portland, Troutdale (near the airport), Forest Grove (west of town) and other Oregon communities. An eighth, the Crystal Hotel, is slated to open in Portland in 2011.
Vancouver, Washington
Just across the Columbia River, Vancouver is increasingly prominent as a stand-alone destination. Its population has increased by double- or even triple-digit rates in the past few decades, and its facilities have grown as a result. The city’s compact downtown runs along a scenic stretch of the Columbia and has experienced a renaissance in the past 20 years, with new development gradually increasing hotel facilities and improving city parks and infrastructure. These factors, along with Washington’s lack of a personal income tax, have helped attract increasing numbers of both visitors and retirees.
"We now have a very vibrant downtown public square across from the convention center, and a hotel, the Heathman Lodge, that has expanded and doubled its meeting space. It really has opened up opportunities," says Kim Bennett, president and CEO of Vancouver USA Regional Tourism Office, who says Vancouver is ascending as a Northwest regional and even national draw. "We’re also positioned so close to the coast, to Mount St. Helen’s and the Columbia Gorge. We are just so rich here in the experience of things you can drive to in an hour or two. And we do have Portland right across the bridge."
Bennett’s organization is also no longer the Southwest Washington CVB. Its URL is different, too: www.visitvancouverusa.com. These moves occurred in April and underscore that Vancouver, Wash., has been around a lot longer than a certain Canadian town that shares the same name, Bennett says.
"It emphasizes that we were a city back before Vancouver, B.C., as well as the first city incorporated in Washington state," Bennett says. "I think a lot of people did not realize that, and we wanted to start touting our uniqueness—that we’re rich in history, and that the two cities are different in different ways."
Vancouver also benefits from an increasingly vibrant and well-known wine industry, according to Bennett, who says the area now has 11 wineries and cellars.
"Clark County has a distinct soil and growing region and that is winning some awards and contests," Bennett says.
Meetings-friendly properties in Vancouver and environs include the Best Western Parkersville Inn & Suites; the LEED- and Green Seal-certified Hilton Vancouver Washington, home to the Vancouver Convention Center; the Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay; and Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites in Washougal.
Paul D. Kretkowski writes frequently about travel, food and sports. He is also the founder of Beacon (www.softpowerbeacon.blogspot.com), a blog about foreign policy.
