Our first Sunday Parkways event of the year kicked off with lots of sunshine and smiles. 14,000 gathered at East Sunday Parkways for a joyous Mother’s Day and spring afternoon. The day was in full bloom as families and friends swept past Bloomington Park, or stayed to watch the Portland World Cup youth soccer games, to visit the vendors, or work on the art of hula-hooping.

Mid-day, the Earl Boyles Parents United Group, Kaiser Permanente, Safe Routes to School and Trauma Nurses Talk Tough united to coordinate a short ride/walk starting at Earl Boyles Elementary School, looping to Bloomington Park and ending at Ed Benedict Park. The group of over 25 kids plus their parents contributed to many of the smiling faces seen at Ed Benedict where Zumba and Korean pop beats kept both children and children of all ages dancing. Even Disaster Dog, the mascot for the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management got into the act.

Did you see the soccer games at Bloomington Park? Thanks to Portland Parks and Recreation and Portland World Cup for coming out with the teams. This lively park hosted one of the three volunteer check in stations where over 150 volunteers made everything run so smoothly. You couldn’t miss them in the Kelly green Sunday Parkways t-shirts. We can’t do this without their amazing support.

Many families also found themselves at Gilbert Heights School enjoying the bouncy castle while listening to the smooth melodies of the Dixieland Band. Atop of their heads were festive fish that found their start at the Foster Floodplain Natural Area. The Bureau of Environmental Services celebrated Portland’s support for natural spaces and educated participants specifically on the Foster Floodplain Natural Area.  East Sunday Parkways was completed with a trip to Glenwood Park where Opsfest Shakespeare spoke poetically, Circus Cascadia created laughter, and Kaiser Permanente challenged everyone to get healthy. All in all everyone had a great day!

We would like to thank all of our sponsors, donors, vendors, volunteers, entertainers, Police and flaggers for making this such a great event. We look forward to our next one on June 22^nd in North Portland. To stay up to date you can like us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter.

P.S. If you would like to share any stories please do so – we’d love to hear them. And post your favorite East Portland Sunday Parkways photos to our Flickr account