Yule Burn '10

Over the past couple of weeks I've helped to "organize" this year's offering of what is becoming an annual event - The Yule Burn. This is simply a gathering of people, discarded Christmas trees and fire. Last year a fellow Cacophonist brought it together at the old abandoned factory below the University of Portland. This terrific spot had a kind of "Scooby Doo" creepiness to it, what with all the gutted buildings and atmospheric darkness. There was a semi-square of concrete traffic barriers set up that created a perfect fir pit, and you could drive right up to it to dump your trees. We ended up with about 35 trees, which made for a spectacular burn. Flames shot 50 feet in the air and the heat was intense.

This year we were all afraid that there wouldn't be a burn, since the U.P. had the old factory torn down and the area fenced off. Then, a few weeks ago, Dave the Horrible sent out an email asking a select few of us miscellaneous Cacophonists, culture jammers and creative miscreants if we had any interest in reviving the burn this year. We were, but nobody knew where we might hold such an event, given the incendiary nature of our little gathering.

Because I have a small speedboat, I have spent no small amount of time cruising the rivers around Portland, and I have visited Kelly Point Park on numerous occasions. Kelly Point is at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, and about as far out on the edge of the city limits as you can get. Back in the day it was proposed as a possible site for the city that would become Portland, but it proved to flood-prone to be viable. That end of the North Portland Peninsula is home to all of the Port of Portland shipping terminals.  The park has numerous wide, sandy beaches and, due to its remoteness, is sparsely visited. It also doesn't get locked at night anymore (perhaps due to budgetary constraints), all of which makes it an ideal place to hold a semi-legal bonfire.

So last week I popped out to Kelly Point on a Sunday night, just to make sure they still left the gates open at night. Sure enough, it was unlocked and empty at 9:30 pm. Perfect, except for the fact that there's no way to pull a car onto or even near any of the beaches. The closest parking lot still left us with about a 400 yard schlep to the beach, which can seem pretty long when you're dragging a dead tree behind you. Oh well - we have been known to go to a lot of trouble for an opportunity to do something stupid - a schlep is something we can handle for a few laughs.

Coming up: FIRE!