#1
1970

Governor Tom McCall orchestrates Vortex I, an instantly legendary, drug-laced free music festival, to distract would-be antiwar protesters. Where was he during Occupy?

#2
1961

Meier & Frank starts selling Wham-O’s brand-new Slip ’N Slide for a mere $6.66. Pre-PlayStation youth exults.

#3
1967

At an average 83.6 degrees, our hottest summer on record. Unfortunately, not all moods lift—racially charged riots cause massive damage in North Portland.

#4
1977

Our greatest sports summer begins with the Trail Blazers’ NBA championship and ends with soccer legend Pelé’s swan-song game at Civic Stadium. Recent sports seasons make this one look better and better.

#5
1968

Newsweek hails Portland as “the Hippie’s New Nirvana,” and the city braces for an influx of 20,000 “San Francisco longhairs.” Sadly, the invasion never occurs; cultural tension is limited to local kids and their dads.

#6
1957

Elvis gyrates at Multnomah Stadium (now JELD-WEN Field). The Oregonian reports “ear-splitting tumult.”

#7
EVERY SUMMER BEFORE 1910

Portland’s frontier conditions cause “the summer complaints.” With diarrhea, cholera, and dysentery rampant, our earliest summers have a very steep PR hill to climb.

#8
1888

Worse than dysentery? Pioneer brewer Henry Weinhard promises free beer to flow from Skidmore Fountain—and is forced to renege, ruining what could have been Portland’s best summer ever.