Through the years, Portland has bestowed many gifts upon the world. Longfellow. Stephen King. Otto’s pizza.

Now we can add to that list the world’s first “Urban RAID.” On June 30th, up to a thousand people will work their way across a 5K obstacle course in Portland’s downtown. This first-ever event has been put together by Tri-Maine Enterprises (which manages races across the state) and Aura360 Ventures, an event/marketing firm. Recently I sat down with Parker Swenson and Lauren St. Clair, from Aura360, to learn more about the upcoming Urban RAID.

Q: Is this like a 5K run? I see you call it “the next generation of obstacle racing.”

Lauren: It’s the antithesis of a 5K run. It’s more of a fitness challenge taking place over a 5K distance. And this is the first time it’s happening anywhere. That’s part of what’s exciting, it’s originating here in Maine, it isn’t being brought in from somewhere else.

Q: Where will the course be?

Parker: It starts and finishes at the Ocean Gateway cueing lanes. The actual run will go along the Eastern Prom Trail to just about where the boat ramp is. Then it’s up the hill of the Eastern Prom and back down Fore Street. Just before the end, there’s a seven-story stair climb up to the top of Ocean Gateway Garage, at Fore and India streets.

Q: And along the way…?

Parker: There are eight major obstacles, including monkey bar sets, 15 rows of high hurdles, 20-foot-tall cargo nets, and a tire field.

Q: But not with hundreds of people scrambling across these all at once?

Parker: The competitors will start in waves, about five to six minutes apart, based on age and gender divisions, all the way from teenagers to 60-plus. There’s also a non-competitive division, if you just want to go through the course, and you don’t want to worry about people passing you, you can do it on your own terms.

Lauren: That way, you get to compete, you get the energy, you get the endorphin rush, but you’re going at your own pace.

Q: And what happens at the finish line?

Lauren: We’ll have medals for the top three competitors in each division, and there’ll be a whole festival at the finish line with music, and product demo’s – and beer, obviously.

Parker: The way the course is laid out, you’ll be going along the Eastern Trail with the harbor right there, so you’ll get the vistas while you’re moving through the obstacles. It’s the best that Portland has to offer.

* * *

The Urban RAID is actually one of a set of three such events occurring in Maine this year. Following our dash through the city streets, there is a Beach RAID in September in Kennebunk, and a Mountain RAID in October at Sunday River. You can learn more about all three raids, and register for them, at www.raidevents.com and you can keep up with news about the events at their Facebook page.

Bicycling is the best way I know of to explore a city. I’ve lived in Portland for over five years now, and I still manage to notice new things almost every time I ride down Congress Street. On a bike, I’m more engaged with my surroundings, and with my community. It makes me a better citizen, and a more creative person.

David Byrne, the former frontman of the Talking Heads, put it best in his book Bicycle Diaries:

[Bicycling through a city] “is like navigating the collective neural pathways of some vast global mind… it facilitates a state of mind that allows some but not too much of the unconscious to bubble up. As someone who believes that much of the source of his work and creativity is to be gleaned from those bubbles, it’s a reliable place to find that connection.”

It’s no surprise that cities that want to attract creative, innovative people are also making big investments in new bike lanes, bikesharing services, and other programs to encourage cycling. As an advocate, I always wish that my hometown would do more, but I’m happy to say that Portland, Maine is making progress, and that I’m seeing more and more bikes on our streets.

Downtown Portland and its surrounding neighborhoods are easy to navigate by bike, and it’s getting easier all the time. City Hall recently hired a dedicated Bicycle and Pedestrian program coordinator, who’s overseen projects to create new bike path connections, make neighborhood streets safer, and make it easier for students to walk to school.

Organizations like Portland Trails (featured in my last post), the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, and Portland’s local Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (which I chair) help prioritize projects and have helped to ensure that major new infrastructure projects, like the new Veterans Memorial Bridge opening in 2013, include excellent facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Portland also has a great community of bike shops, from the friendly all-purpose shops like Back Bay Bicycles, EMS, and Gorham Bike and Ski, to the stylish Portland Velocipede (specializing in good-looking city bikes, including gorgeous Dutch imports), to Cycle Mania, which serves more of the spandex crowd.

If you’re looking for a ride this spring, mark your calendar for April 29th, when the Bicycle Coalition of Maine hosts its annual Great Maine Bike Swap at the University of Southern Maine’s Sullivan Gymnasium.

And I will not neglect to mention the new Portland Maine Bike Map, which highlights bike routes, lanes, and paths from Falmouth to Scarborough, Casco Bay to Westbrook — almost everyplace you can comfortably reach in an easy hour’s ride from downtown Portland. You can buy copies at any local bike shop, at Longfellow Books, or here at the Bicycle Coalition of Maine’s online store. And please do, because I happen to be the publisher.

If you’re planning a visit to Portland this summer, consider bringing your bike (they’ll let you take them in the luggage compartments of Concord Coach and the Amtrak Downeaster) or renting one while you’re here.  It’s a better way to get acquainted with the city while you’re getting around.

Photo: Biking over Portland Harbor on the Casco Bay Bridge. Photo by Christian MilNeil.

Since its founding in 1991, Portland Trails has become one of the city’s most visible and productive nonprofit organizations. With a small staff, a shoestring budget from membership dues and community fundraisers, and lots of volunteer effort, the nonprofit has built a 50-mile network of trails and open space connections throughout Portland and its surrounding communities, connecting neighborhoods with prized parks and wildlands.

Portland Trails recently hired a new executive director, Kara Wooldrik, who happens to be a former colleague of mine from my days at Maine Audubon. Kara had previously been Maine Audubon’s Director of Education, an extremely busy job that entailed running dozens of day camps, wildlife-watching excursions, after-school programs, and nature walks, all in the service of connecting people with nature.

Now, at the helm of Portland Trails, Kara looks forward to connecting Portlanders with the wild places that exist in abundance right here in our city. I recently sat down with Kara to hear more about her new job and introduce her to LiveWork Portland readers.

Q: How would you describe Portland Trails to someone who’s never heard of it?

Kara: I think of Portland Trails as connecting people to recreation and their communities via trails and active transportation options. But Portland Trails is most known for the trails it builds and the greenspaces and connecting habitat it preserves as well. It’s acting as this link between humans and nature, and humans and each other. And it plays an active role in promoting a healthier Portland both on the individual level and on a community level.

Q: When we worked at Maine Audubon, I really admired your outreach to city schools in Portland and the Bangor area, and your advocacy for the idea that people don’t have to drive for two hours to experience Maine’s outdoors and wildlife — that we can and should have the same appreciation for the nature that exists right in our backyards.

Kara: It is amazing to go someplace like the Presumpscot River Preserve and see bald eagles and osprey regularly. It feels like you’re nowhere near the urban hub, yet it’s just a couple miles from downtown. Soon there will be a continuous trail connection from the downtown waterfront, around Back Cove and out to the Presumpscot River. It’s a few different trails we’re going to link up, I think it’ll be about a three mile trip to get out there.

I have a neighbor who works downtown and rides his bike to work. He emailed me the other day just to tell be what an amazing city we have, to be able to ride to work along the ocean on the the Eastern Prom Trail. To be able to experience that on a daily basis as part of your routine is pretty lucky.

Q: Do you have a favorite trail or open space?

Kara: I don’t really. I feel like they serve different purposes for me. I like running from my house through the Fore River Sanctuary and through Evergreen Cemetery, and I like taking my dog to the Presumpscot River Preserve. So whether for jogging or walking or dog walking or transportation, there are different trails for different purposes.

It’s just nice to have different greenspaces with different feels, whether the Stroudwater Trail on a snowy day or Back Cove with a friend on lunch break.

Q: Anything new in the works, or new initiatives you’d like to introduce as the organization’s new leader?

Kara: I’m eager to increase the number of people, Portlanders and out-of-towners, connected with our greenspaces. To help people be more active and healthy, for one thing, but also so people can connect with their neighborhood nature, and understand the plants and animals that live in their community.

I’m also really interested in the active transportation piece. I’m really interested in increasing the livabilty and walkability of Portland by just shifting how we get around.

Q: You have a lot of experience as an educator, especially in nature-based learning and environmental education. How do you think that might be useful here in your new job?

Kara: I think there are a lot of opportunities to connect people with Portland Trails and our properties through recreation and education, whether through programs or passive interpretation. I’d particularly like to increase Portland Trails membership, and connect more people with the mission and the organization — beyond just enjoying our trails and properties.

There are less than 800 members of Portland Trails, and yet on a nice day there are thousands of people out using the Back Cove Trail alone. Those people aren’t necessarily aware that PT is a nonprofit organization, but we need their support. We need to educate people about who we are and what we do.

The City did a recreation survey, and if I’m remembering it correctly, it said that about 75% of respondents ranked trails as the most important recreational amenity for the city to focus on. We should easily be able to convert more people into members and supporters of Portland Trails.

Q: And if someone did want to get more involved with Portland Trails, what would you suggest?

Kara: I would encourage them to volunteer, either on trail building or repair, or on an invasive species control project, and get them out there in a place they know and appreciate so they get to know the place better and meet some of the people involved in maintaining it. By volunteering in that way they’re enacting the Portland Trails mission.

And for people who are unable to do that physical work, there are multiple events like the Happy Trails auction [coming up on April 27th] and the 10K race, Trail to Ale, where we need a lot of volunteers. And they’re really fun events and the volunteering is a blast.

For me, when I first moved here ten years ago, the trails and the greenspaces were what made Portland so unique and such a great place to live. That network is continuing to expand into the neighborhoods all over the region — no matter where you live, there’s a trail within walking distance.

Portland Trails members and volunteers are the ones who made that happen. And if we get more people involved, we can have an even bigger impact.

To learn more about Portland Trails, visit trails.org. There, you can also find out more about volunteer opportunities, or buy a membership online.

Photo: Kara Wooldrik in Acadia National Park. Courtesy photo.

Happy is the city with great architecture. In Portland, that happy list includes the brick edifices along Commercial Street, the varied homes of the West End, the Wishcamper and Abromson buildings at USM, the Observatory, the Victorian houses perched in Deering Highlands, the Art Museum – an embarrassment of riches.

Happy, too, is the city, with great architects. In Portland, we have long supported significant architects, going back to the 19^th Century, with Francis Fassett and John Calvin Stephens and Frederick Law Olmsted (what, you didn’t know? After New York’s Central Park, Olmsted designed Deering Oaks).

Today, the hundreds of members of the Portland Society of Architects (PSA) encourage “…innovation and vision in design and planning” throughout the city. The PSA offers a wealth of programs, from the “Unbuilt Design Awards” to “10 Minute Architect” (a free clinic for anyone thinking about whether they need an architect) to last year’s Symposium on Sea Level Rise and the biannual “Drink’n Crit.”

What is “Drink’n Crit”?  Twice a year, the PSA recreates the student experience of an architectural studio. Only this time around, the students are local professionals who, with some trepidation, present their current projects to the public, as well as a critical review by fellow architects. Unlike an actual charette in architecture school, this event does not involve pulling an all-nighter!

The most recent Drink’n Crit was on March 12^th, at the SPACE Gallery on Congress Street. As guests milled about, talked, and had a beer, four architectural teams were taping drawings and photos of their projects on the walls. The team of jurors was introduced and then, one by one, each team presented its project and listened to the critiques.

The crowd may have been most energized by the team working with the City of Portland to re-imagine the several blocks of Spring Street that bisect much of downtown, past the Holiday Inn and the Civic Center.  Should Spring Street be two lanes wide, instead of four? Become a “bicycle boulevard”? Foster new garden spaces and stairways leading off to other streets?

The suggestions flew fast and furious, and the give-and-take was emblematic of the best of Portland. Some of us worked for the city, some of us worked in the city, some of us lived in the city – but all of us cared deeply about the city, wanting it always to be a better place.

If you, too, want to weigh in on Portland’s built landscape, Greater Portland Landmarks and Maine Historical Society are co-hosting a series of panel discussions about specific streets and spaces demanding our attention (including Spring Street, and our bridges, and our waterfront). Step up to the microphone and state your opinion!

Commercial Street and Wishcamper Center, University of Sourthern Maine, photos by Corey Templeton

Admittedly, it hasn’t been much of a winter here, or anywhere else in North America. But Portland, Maine does occupy the northern latitudes, which means that we get snowstorms, even in a globally-heated world. This week, March came in like a lion and dropped a foot of snow over the city.

Some people gripe about the winter weather. But a lot of us (the author included) love it. On snow days, schools are closed, and so are many offices. It’s the perfect opportunity to hunker down for a day of compulsory relaxation.

Or you can head outside. In 2010, Outside magazine named Portland the best “adventure town” in the east, thanks to the abundance of outdoor recreation within day-tripping distance of the city. For skiers, there are big mountains like Saddleback and smaller, more affordable areas like Mount Abram, and then there are the miles of groomed nordic skiing trails at Pineland Farms, just 20 minutes up the road in New Gloucester, Maine.

But even when driving is terrible, there are numerous ski trips you can make within city limits.

On the Eastern Prom, a short hill that’s popular for sledding can also be skied, from the end of Congress Street to a stone’s throw from the Atlantic Ocean. There’s also a shorter, steeper pitch through the trees next to the playground. The slope between the street and the ocean is short and not terribly steep, but how many ski runs end on a beach? Even though it’s only in the 20s, on a sunny day you can still manage to get a suntan.

The Eastern Prom area is also good for cross-country skiing. It’s about a mile from the abandoned railroad trestle to the north and around to the Portland Company complex to the south, and finding a few lines of untracked powder on the hills in between.

Skiers less concerned with scenery can find a slightly bigger hill on the other side of town, at the Western Prom. New Hampshire’s Mount Washington is also visible from the top on clear days, which lends this ski run more of an alpine flavor. It’s also longer and steeper, although you’ll have to watch out for the plowed walkway that traverses the hill in switchbacks. This is a good place to ski off into the sunset at the end of your workday (as my wife Jess is doing in the photo at the top of this post).

On the other side of Back Cove, the city parks and recreation department has been building a terrain park on the hill in Payson Park for the past several winters, thanks to donated equipment from some of the state’s big ski areas and local enthusiasts. The hill even has snowmaking equipment to keep it going through snow droughts.

On the outskirts of the city, several large parks and open spaces host extensive trail networks for cross-country skiing. My favorite places include the Fore River Sanctuary (where you can ski along the edges of Portland’s biggest salt marsh), and the Riverside Golf Course, where volunteers from the Portland Nordic Ski Club groom trails for skate-skiing (they ask for a small donation, but it’s a bargain).

So if global warming’s got you down, there’s no need to burn gallons of petrochemicals to get away to the mountains – ski Portland instead!

Photo: Jessica skis the Western Prom. Photo by Christian MilNeil.

On par with its sea bounty, Maine is well known for its blueberries and other gifts from the ground. This produce doesn’t magically appear at local farmers’ markets, farm stands, and in the dishes of our award-winning restaurants. Despite technological advances, Maine farmers must still wake up at the crack of dawn, till the land, tend to the animals, and remain vulnerable to the whims of Mother Nature.

If I sound a bit vague in my description of the plight of agriculture in Maine, it’s because I have never worked on a farm. The same can’t be said for the folks at Open Waters Theatre Arts. Their ongoing project to illuminate agricultural truths for Mainers who have never herded a pack of Holsteins, Of Farms and Fables, grew from a meeting between Open Waters Director Jennie Hahn and Jordan’s Farm co-owner Penny Jordan. With changing land use, economies, and populations in Maine, Hahn wanted to contribute to a question nagging many in our fair state – what is the future of agriculture here?

During the summer of 2010, artists from Open Waters engaged in a work exchange with three local farms – Broadturn Farm, Benson Farm, and Jordan’s Farm. The four artists traded 12 to 15 hours of weekly labor for the opportunity to speak frankly with farmers about their experiences.

The resulting conversation morphed into a full-length play with the help of playwright Cory Tamler. (Some photos of the exchange are also on display at the Public Market House.) The drafting process included copious feedback from the farmers to ensure the play resonated with earthy truths. “We wanted to find themes in these conversations that might be relevant to both farmers and a wider audience,” explained Hahn about the work involved in gleaning one play from such a huge wealth of material. “The major thing we kept coming back to was the idea of farm transfer between generations – both within families and broader society. How do we transfer the lifestyle and the knowledge of farmers?”

With the script completed and the play cast with a mixture of experienced actors and experienced farmers, the curtain will rise from October 27^th through the 30^th. While the collaboration has been largely funded through donations and grants, Of Farms and Fables has set up a Kickstarter account to pay some lingering necessities and make sure that artisans who contribute their time and talent receive fair compensation.

There are a little over two weeks left on the Kickstarter campaign, and Of Farms and Fables is more than $3,000 short of its $5,000 goal. Pledging money to the project will get backers a variety of benefits and prizes, all viewable on the site. Tickets for the Of Farms and Fables play will be sold on a pay-what-you-can basis, so there’s no excuse not to show your face. Preferably while munching on some fresh root vegetables, pulled right out of the Maine soil.

Above: Director Jennie Hahn runs with the bulls of Benson Farm during the Of Farms and Fables Work Exchange Program.

Spring in Maine is a fleeting pleasure. Wedged as it so often is between a just too long winter and an always spectacular summer. A blush of cherry blossoms on Brackett Street near Maine Medical Center this week reminded me to enjoy what I find today because it surely will be different tomorrow. Like the mothers of young children we see tender blossoms yield quickly to riotous foliage. We are grateful to begin again…and again.

Planning for a volatile future requires either nimbleness or the commitment of resources vast enough to cope with any eventuality. The thing is, though, that developing nimbleness now can save a huge chunk of those vast resources later. Such is the approach of the Portland Society of Architects and the City of Portland to the threat of coastal inundation posed by global warming. Longstanding coastal communities, like Portland, whose boundaries have been defined through generations of tidal fluctuations are in an advantageous position over our southern (and particularly South Asian) counterparts whose unplanned rapid expansion have put them on the front lines of projected rising sea levels in this century. Nonetheless, Portland is confronting the problem head on by bringing together the creative, business and  municipal communities to explore the issue in depth.

The PSA is sponsoring Sustainable Portland By 2030: Rising Tides, a two-day symposium on sea level rise, on Thursday and Friday next week (May 12-13). There will be a Rising Tides panel and reception hosted by the City of Portland at The Ocean Gateway Terminal (14 Ocean Gateway Pier) on Thursday from 4:30-7:30 pm, followed by a continental breakfast and topic driven ‘What’s Next?’ discussions, hosted by DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant (25 Long Wharf) on Friday from 8:30-11am.

Panelists on Friday will include Sam Merrill, Director, New England Environmental Finance Center, Muskie School of Public Policy; Christophe Tulou, Past Director of the Resilient Coasts Initiative; and Kristina Hill, Chair of Landscape Architecture, University of Virginia. They will address potential physical and economic impact of sea level rise in Maine, how governments and industries are responding to sea level rise, and an overview of mitigation strategies around the world. The “What’s Next” event on Friday about will encompass discussions about the challenges and opportunities presented by sea level rise in terms of public policy, infrastructure and design, finance and insurance and (what we’re all about at LiveWork Portland) the cultural implications.

Complete details are on the PSA’s event poster as well.

Photo of The Ocean Gateway Terminal by Kirk Rogers

I’ve wanted to interview Adam Gardner of Guster and his wife Lauren Sullivan, because their story is what LiveWork Portland is all about: Independently minded creative people who moved from New York to Portland to do more of what they love to do in a place that is relaxed and offers easy access to the natural world. When I turned on WMPG this morning, I heard an interview with Adam by Lorenzo Raffa. And guess what, it sounded just like a LiveWork Portland interview! They bought a house in Portland on sight not really intending to actually move here, but once the ball got rolling it led inexorably to them leaving New York, where the rest of the members of Guster still live. Since moving here Adam and Lauren have had two children and started Reverb, their non-profit organization that is about to “green” their 100th music tour. Guster will be on tour this summer to support their recent album, Easy Wonderful. The website for their album has a video for each song, including the winner of a fan contest for the song Bad, Bad World, directed by young Portland area videographer Nora McCormack of Soft Shell Productions, which was shot on the streets of Portland. While trying to pin a couple of facts down, I also came across this excerpt from an interview with Adam from a book called SeaVoices.

What do you get when glitter and literature collide?

“Glitterati – A Sparkling Literary Ball,” Portland Maine’s first festivity of its glamorous kind.

Tomorrow evening at The Port City Music Hall local writers and readers will celebrate the region’s vibrant literary scene in glitter-smeared high heels, LED flashing bowties, or whatever pizazz the partygoers can muster. The event is in support of The Telling Room, a nonprofit creative writing center that undergirds Portland’s literary culture.

Glitterati offers the community a chance to mingle with Maine’s foremost authors. The bar and buffet will feature Portland’s world-renowned restaurant fare. Entertainment includes a poetry performance by Munye Mohamad and tunes by songstress Emelia Dahlin. Silent and live auctions will give guests the opportunity to support The Telling Room’s free writing workshops taught by local writers for youth, immigrants, and refugees. Amongst the glitzy garb and blinding disco balls, Pandora LaCasse’s installation piece of glimmering, buoyant orbs will set the mood.

Pandora is well-known around these parts for her enigmatic public art installations commissioned by the Portland Downtown District, a not-for-profit facilitator of Portland’s economic vitality. Each winter, using LED lights, stainless steel and spring wire frames, and a creative sense of place, Pandora bedecks various sections of the city with floating shapes of colorful lights that look to me like fireworks in mid-explosion. They dangle in park trees, illuminate the streets, and cascade down building facades. At night, the festive dreamscapes seem to hover like jellyfish or shards of my imagination. Maine College of Art recently created this video about Pandora’s Maine-based career.

At Glitterati, Pandora’s installation will be the first thing you see upon entry—a forest of six or so red and white glowing orbs set high on stakes. They will linger on a shadowy platform above the bar. Other sparkling Pandora globes may dot different corners of the dancehall, depending on how she reacts to the space when setting up the piece tomorrow morning. Pandora’s dynamic relationship with place, and specifically with Portland, informs all aspects her career.

She says Portland is a unique bastion of the arts. While it’s “a small enough place to find your niche,” the community is deeply interested in creative work. Pandora regularly receives personal praise via letters and conversations around town. “It’s great to live and work in a community that supports you,” she continued. “I have had people say they’ve moved to Portland because of my work… because it shows that the city is engaged with art.” Since working within Portland’s support system, Pandora now receives offers from around the country.

Portland’s proximity to amazing natural landscapes is a major perk for Pandora. Working in tones of “mystery and humor,” she draws inspiration from the spatial elements of the Maine coastline and inland wilderness. Blueberry fields or a gold root next to a gray stone, for example, cultivate a visual vocabulary that she translates into abstract visual experience.

Now you can party with Portland’s most “glitterary” crowd in the midst of Pandora’s newest installation. Be there tomorrow, Thursday April 7, from 6 pm to 10 pm. The details you need are here.