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Drivers passing by Cathedral Park may notice a metal sea creature emerging from the dirt at the intersection of North Burlington Avenue and Willamette Boulevard.
The new dragon sculpture is nicknamed Willie the River Dragon after Willie Levenson, founder of the Human Access Project (HAP), a non-profit group trying to change Portlanders’ relationship with the Willamette River through clean ups and group swim events.
A ribbon cutting ceremony for Willie the River Dragon is taking place at 1 pm Saturday, June 20, to celebrate the sculpture, a recently completed boom line at Cathedral Park’s docks—which will protect swimmers from large floating debris—and to commemorate Levenson’s retirement after 16 years at the nonprofit.
Bike Loud PDX is organizing a group bike to the ceremony, which will have music, food carts and a performance by The Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers, a local percussion group. A short parade to Cathedral Park will follow the ceremony, with a celebratory group swim at the park’s dock.
The idea for a large-scale art piece started with North Portlander Jennifer Vitello. After she worked with the Portland Bureau of Transportation to rebuild the intersection, following a series of vehicle accidents, there was a small triangle of land left, and she wanted to do something to celebrate, Vitello tells WW.
Vitello brainstormed with her husband and dreamed up the idea of a sea dragon, paying homage to the idea of a fictional Willamette River creature, a la the Loch Ness Monster. She applied for the Metro Central Enhancement Grant, a grant program for the neighborhoods surrounding and affected by the Metro Central transfer facility, and commissioned Portland-based sculptor Ivan McLean to craft the creature.
Vitello found McLean online through a steel dragon installation he created for a music festival, and later found out he was local to the neighborhood. McLean has previously installed hammered bronze obelisks with carved wood and glass panels for the lobby of the Nines Hotel in downtown Portland, built Rational Exuberance, the 50-foot-long yellow painted steel sculpture on the waterfront in the Pearl District, and a crafted 6-foot-tall disco ball for the 2025 Portland Winter Light Festival. The artist, most known for his intricate steel spheres, also has work featured in New York City and Monterey, Calif.
Getting Willie the River Dragon to the finish line was a long process. Vitello secured the grant way back in 2018, and since then she created the non-profit River Dragon Club to support the project.
“It’s a huge relief, and it’s a huge relief for Ivan,” Vitello tells WW about the dragon’s completion. “We’re both just really excited, even if we’re both exhausted. The reaction to it has been really heartwarming, and it’s why we did it.”
