We brought you Carlos the Rollerblader and Spencer Sprocket last month, but the weird just keeps coming! We are honored and excited to announce the winners of our second round of #KeepWeirdAlive grants. Strawberry Pickle and Sundari Devi Franklin aren’t wasting any time while Covid-19 and systemic racism plague our city… they are hard at working making Portland a better place to live!
As the founder of Rainbow City, an eclectic performance venue and meeting space in the central east side, Strawberry Pickle has dedicated her life to Keeping Portland Weird. Throughout the pandemic she has provided performers and artists a venue from which they can livestream and raise funds, even though she faces financial hardship herself. She has dedicated herself to bringing the creative community together post-covid, making the weird in Portland more prevalent and unified.
Sundari Devi Franklin (the Founder of Minnie Opal Fashion Boutique) didn’t let a pandemic silence her creative genius. She met the challenge head-on by hand making over 1000 whimsical face masks for Native American populations, and those in need. During this time she also created a pandemic fashion series that blows our minds!
Sundari recently emptied her mobile fashion botique truck to help mobilize protest efforts, providing transportation for those in need, and coordinating and delivering food and water to other artists and creatives standing up against systemic racism in our community.
Thank you for Keeping Portland Weird!
