Boasting more than 200 parks and gardens within city limits, Portland, Oregon, is a natural choice for business events that want to inhale some fresh air during their agenda.
From Forest Park—one of the largest 20 municipal parks in the U.S.—to the smallest park in the world (according to Guinness World Records) in the two-foot circumference that is Mills Park, the Rose City offers a wealth of options.
“We have a really wonderful number of public gardens in Portland,” said Will Lerner, communications manager for Portland Japanese Garden, who mentioned Lan Su Chinese Garden, Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, International Rose Test Garden and Leach Botanical Garden as other standout natural spaces that are popular for groups. “A lot of the gardens here are also expanding—the city is in love with its gardens. If you want to come to a place that offers urban amenities but also natural places, Portland is a really great place.”
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Following are some top parks and other open spaces and services that provide fresh-air options for Portland meetings and events.
WildCraft Studio School
One Portland company that literally stitches it all together is WildCraft Studio School, which has two studios in the city but can take groups anywhere in the region—or even bring activities to a meeting venue—for teambuilding-style programs that last anywhere from an hour to all day.
Led by Chelsea Heffner and entering its 12th year in operation, WildCraft now offers about 400 adult-learning workshops per year.
WildCraft started as a textiles and crafts school and studio—with a further specialty in Native arts—but has branched out to offer nature-focused programs for a corporate client list that has included Nike, Adidas, lululemon and increasingly healthcare and tech companies.
“We have a really robust private/corporate offering,” Heffner said. “The design teams originally found us, wanting that hard skill, like teaching their design team about natural dyes, and from that point it’s really expanded to corporate groups coming to us for soft-skill development by using creativity to really foster connections.”
Heffner said WildCraft can also organize customized events, brand activations and cocktail receptions that feature hands-on creative activities, and can even bring a “Creative Station” onsite to an event at, say, a local hotel or event venue.
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Nature- and food-focused programs for groups include wild mushroom foraging, intertidal foraging and beekeeping.
“Some teams are desperate to get outside and want us to organize a full event at a flower farm on Sauvie Island or at a winery out in Lyle, Washington,” she said. “We do a pretty diverse range of programming for corporate clients, and also on cultural moments like Earth Day, Women’s History Month and AAPI month, for which we have classes where we work with such a diverse range of educators in Portland.”
Heffner, who gained her teambuilding chops working as a consultant for Adidas for four years, emphasized that WildCraft is a “planner’s dream” because it can handle all aspects of an event, from catering to programming and transportation, and is very nimble when it comes to the structure and length of activities.
“We can do half-day programming, we can do hour-long programming—it really depends on the client’s interests, needs and budget,” she said. “We have so many ways to get people outdoors, with really great connections such as local farms in the Portland metro area, such as a lunch on a farm and then a little hands-on natural dye workshop for an hour.”
WildCraft can also operate programs in Portland parks, such as Forest or Washington parks, or any Oregon state park.
“We can do a day-long mushroom forage or go to the coast and do wild sea edibles and take them out there for clam digs and maybe a beach campfire roast kind of meal,” she offered. “What we really love to do is customize an experience.”
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Portland Japanese Garden
A tranquil yet standout Portland outdoors experience can be had at Portland Japanese Garden, which was founded in 1963 by a group of civic leaders in the aftermath of World War II to reestablish ties with Japan.
“They worked to rehabilitate the land by hiring an expert, Takuma Tono [of Tokyo Agricultural University], who made a choice that was unique; rather than having one kind of garden site he decided on five, so it’s almost like a living museum off all the garden styles throughout Japan,” Lerner said. “We’ve been declared the most authentic and beautiful Japanese garden outside of Japan by several different dignitaries.”
The 12.5-acre garden features a Cultural Village where a large amount of cultural programming happens, as well as a cafe, gift shop, performance space, classroom space and a large outdoor courtyard that hosts outdoor programming.
Tea service ceremonies and instruction are among the most popular offerings at the garden, as well as art exhibitions of traditional and modern Japanese art.
“There’s a lot to offer,” Lerner said. “If you want to come and have quiet time to yourself there’s a lot of corners here where you can sit and have that reflection.
“Chief Curator Sadafumi Uchiyama called it a ‘depository of emotions,’” he added. “Whatever you’re feeling in the moment, it can provide it for you, and I think that’s really special.”
Located in Washington Park, the privately owned Portland Japanese Garden offers discounted group rates for 15 or more that is applicable to tours.
Portland Farmers Markets
For attendees that love to wander farmers markets, the non-profit Portland Farmers Market runs tours to five of the city’s top agricultural community gathering spaces.
Tours are presented by a Portland Farmers Market staff member and provide an overview of the organization, information on each market and a walk around each to discover the goods of various food growers and producers. Downtown tour packages start at $250 for up to 12 people and seasonal neighborhood markets tour packages start at $150 for 12 participants.
Forest Park/Washington Park
The granddaddy of Portland parks, the 5,200-acre Forest Park is a verdant focal point of Portland, offering more than 80 miles of trails, meadows and the historic Pittock Mansion, which has a variety of spaces that are available for event rentals.
Next to Forest Park, Washington Park’s Hoyt Arboretum offers four outdoor spaces—Stevens Pavilion Picnic Shelter, Redwood Deck, Wedding Meadow and Stone Circle—that can be used for events for up to 100 people, with rental proceeds supporting the arboretum’s global tree collection and educational programs.
Washington Park also contains the World Forestry Center and its Discovery Museum. The World Discovery Center, a 20,000-square-foot wooden building built in 1971, is actively seeking out business and social event customers and offers banquet and meeting halls that are sequestered in an urban forest only 10 minutes from downtown.
Business events for 20 to 300 using a list of approved caterers can gather in any of six venues and avail themselves of exhibits that showcase the role forests play in our lives.
Connection
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