July 31: Ramona Falls headlines at TBF! Awwwyeah.  Just as you thought the party couldn’t get any sweeter, we just smacked you in the face with a huge bag of whipped cream.  Oh, shut up. I know whipped cream doesn’t come in bags. 

Seeee youuuu theeerreee! 

Um.. but did you know Whipped Cream Vodka exists?

Portland Live music announced!  Bull Ramos, Portland’s “Official Drinkin’ and Dancin’ Band” is coming to TBF.   So if you like both of those things… or either of those things, then it’s your kind of party, baby.  Bull Ramos will have us stepping into a dance party as soon as we set foot on land!

Bull Ramos is just one of FIVE fabulous PDX bands coming to TBF on July 31^st.  Five dollars for five bands is a damn deal if you ask me.

Getting the word out about fun Portland summer activities required the help of Dot Zero Design, a fabulous local design company that has created the Popina website as well as many other high-end websites, logos and product packages.   Dot Zero has created some little handbill beauties to pass around to our friends about The Big Float.  Because of their utter exquisiteness, we expect that everyone in Portland proper will be feasting their eyes on The Big Float.

Kona Brewing will deliver a classic Portland Beer-drinkin’ time at the TBF after party. 

Picture in slow motion: After The Great Crossing, you will gallantly toss your survival PDX raft aside, grab a cold one, and raise a glass to Kona, for providing 15 kegs of “Liquid Aloha” beer, a symbol of their support for transforming the Willamette River for our city!

       Hip, Hip, Hooray! Hip, Hip, Hooray!

The Liquid Aloha Kona beer will be flowing all day long as you meet new friends, listen to awesome live Portland music, and celebrate the new frontier!

Being a frontiersperson of river faring never tasted so good. Aloha!

Looking for Portland Volunteer Opportunities this summer?  The Big Float asks you to come on board The Big Float Event July 31, 2011.

This is my friend Lauren. AKA LoLo.  She will be volunteering in PDX for the Party/Fun team! She will be making sure the after party is set up for maximum fun times, and then she will tear it down.  She <3s destruction. She is very cool and if you sign up to volunteer with her, maybe she will tell you tales of how she once met a seal in Antarctica!

Did you know that the Hawthorne Bridge, TBF take-out site, is the busiest biker and transit bridge in Oregon? According to Wikipedia, about 800 cyclists and 17,400 bus riders have the chance to see you Portland river tubing in at the East Bank after the “Great Crossing” of the Willamette! It will be a site to behold…

These are some things these people will see you doing and therefore be jealous of you for:

1.     Enjoying the water

2.     Having fun with friends

3.     Eating at some of the most delicious food carts in the Northwest

4.     Flaunting your swimwear

5.     Drinking Portland keg beer from Kona Brewing!

6.     Going through a human car wash!!

7.     Aaaaand supporting your local river, with Willamette RiverKeepers!

Your Portland water activities begin at Marquam Bridge.  Not driving on top of the bridge, my friends, but under! 

Don’t worry, the Marquam Bridge holds importance as the first Portland bridge was the first to undergo “seismic retrofitting” in 1995, a process to modify the structure to resist seismic activity.  THANK GOODNESS.  Well, now we know the bridge won’t fall on our heads when we float! Great news.

Now that we know The Big Float is a safe Portland activity, let’s meet at the Eastbank Esplanade to parade our way to the river!

See you at TBF! July 31^st, 2011!

Today, the Portland after party planners really went to work.  After a pick-me-up at Cooper’s Coffee in Southeast, a café near the party grounds, we headed out on foot to the riverside.  It starts to get exciting when you are at the point of physically walking around a party site, figuring out where are the PDX food carts, beer stations and even Honey Buckets are going to be! Yes, even the Honey Bucket planning was exciting!

Don’t forget, even if you don’t plan on doing the Portland river activities, you still have a lot to enjoy at the after party.  So bring anyone who loves fun! And Honey Buckets! (Just kidding – but no really, if your friends love Honey Buckets, that’s fine , too.)

10. Support your local Portland river.  Your money is going to a good cause!

9. Get a Portland inner tube – an investment to tube all summer long

8. Be active:

1.5 miles of walking = roughly 160 calories

Plopping down in a tube = 10 calories

Laughing at everyone plopping into their tubes = 20 calories

Floating across the river = 1 calorie

Drink a beer from one of the FIFTEEN Kona Brewery Kegs = - 177 calories (OOPS, OH WELL.  WORTH IT).

7. Get in the sun!  Vitamin D is good for your teeth, bones, immune system, weight control, blood pressure and mood!

6. Take Portland up a notch!  Let’s add to the culture of craziness that Portland is known for.  The Big Float could be the next naked bike ride but less bits and bobs flying around if you know what I mean. 

5. Try new food at the TBF Portland food carts

4. Try new Portland music.  We’ve got a smashing line up for the after party!

3. Walk through a HUMAN CAR WASH brought to you by the fabulous FAB PDX, Portland’s most creative people in the building biz.

2. See what the underside of the bridges look like…. I just blew your mind, I know it.

1. The chance to know what you’ll be doing July 31^st, 2012!

Love a good portland parade? Love a good river?  JULY 31, Before The Big Float, Popina Swimwear is leading a public display of affection for the Willamette as we march down the Waterfront strutting our Portland inner tubes, bathing suits, bikinis, speedos, boardshorts, goggles and floaties!  Here are the hotspots of the parade route where the spectators will see and hear (we will have a drum corps leading the way!) us making our way to the river!

1.     Parking Lot of the Eastbank Promenade Beneath the Hawthorne Bridge. At noon high, we will begin to form the line of fabulous paraders

2.      We will march across the Hawthorne Bridge, hopefully not to distract the drivers too much with our beautiful bods. J Hopefully we can get the Trumpet guy to join in the band!

3.     We will parade south, down the Waterfront It will also be the 24th Oregon Brewers Festival on the Waterfront!  Do you think we can get a few drunk cheers for our cause?

4.     Then we will hop in the river at the Marquam Bridge.  Let the floating begin!

Registration coming soon!