Have Your Cake and Race It, Too: Scenes from the Portland Adult Soap Box Derby

It featured some of the most ambitious and creative carts ever seen at the annual summer tradition.

By Matthew Singer

Good morning, Portland. How was your weekend?

Guess that depends on where you spent it. If you were downtown, or on the industrial eastside, your experience was probably quite different than if you were up on Mount Tabor, watching giant cans of beer, a huge pair of dentures and replica of the Simpsons' living room couch fly down the hill.

On Saturday, as tensions flared on the streets, and several other events changed plans to avoid the fracas that never really happened, the annual Portland Adult Soap Box Derby went on unabated. And based on what we saw, it featured some of the most ambitious and creative carts yet.

If you were too busy helping run far-right interlopers out of town, or were just too nervous to leave your house, here's what you missed.

All photos by Rocky Burnside.

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Related: There's a Moon out Tonight: Scenes from This Year's World Naked Bike Ride.

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Matthew Singer

Matthew Singer

A native Southern Californian, former Arts & Culture Editor Matthew Singer ruined Portland by coming here in 2008. He is an advocate for the canonization of the Fishbone and Oingo Boingo discographies, believes pro-wrestling is a serious art form and roots for the Lakers. Fortunately, he left Portland for Tucson, Arizona, in 2021.

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