🥇 The Portland Olympians heading to Paris

Local Athletes Represent at Paris Olympics

Two dozen Pacific Northwest athletes are competing at the Paris Olympics, which begin Friday. That includes Portland Thorns Sophia Smith and Sam Coffey, who will play for the U.S. soccer team — as well as fencer Magda Skarbonkiewicz, who lives and trains in Portland. [KGW]

• Related: Look up the Olympians with a connection to your hometown. [NBC Chicago]

Oldest Workforce by Industry

At least a quarter of the workers are over age 55 in Oregon’s oldest industries — agriculture, real estate, and public administration. Health care, manufacturing, and retail have a high number of older workers and may also face challenges as people age out of the workforce. [Oregonian]

Who Wants To Represent Southeast Portland

In a left-leaning town, Southeast Portland’s City Council district might be the furthest to the left. Portland Mercury news editor Courtney Vaughn breaks down what’s at stake — and why candidates are running. [City Cast Portland 🎧]

A Weed Now Popular for Home Decor

Tumbleweeds are like their name says: weeds that have overtaken large parts of the West — and that are a thorny enough problem to require specially trained firefighters in the case of Washington’s Hanford nuclear site. But for one home decor company, they’ve also become a new product line. [OPB]

Portland paraded in all its glorious rainbow, sparkles, and tie-dyed variety at Pride this past weekend. The music pumped, people danced. There was joy and peace.

And it all felt very, um, ordinary — even the guys in itsy-bitsy bikinis twerking for the crowd.

I admit I liked the lack of edginess.

A C-Tran bus processed in rainbow color; the NPR affiliate OPB/KQED wore tie-dyed t-shirts. You had your religious groups: “What would Jesus do?” asked one poster, with the answer: “Love everybody.” The Portland animal hospital Dove Lewis, among many other local groups, professed their Pride too. And there were plenty of children lining the route.

Don’t get me wrong. The parade also had plenty of varieties of Portland-weird. There was a llama float, followed closely by the emotional support llama offering hugs.

But this is the city’s normal now — and plenty of other American cities’ too. And, sure, Oregon has its bragging rights: We have our second LGBTQ+ governor — in a row. (She was there too.) Oregon’s had a decade of legal gay marriage. And this city has been a welcoming place far longer than that.

I made sure to show up this year, because I wonder if next year or decades hence there will still be that same easy vibe. Stay tuned, I suppose. I hope to see you there next year!