Plunderathon
| Plunderathon | |
|---|---|
Official logo
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| Date(s) | June 13, 2015 |
| Frequency | annual |
| Location(s) | Portland, Oregon |
| Inaugurated | 2004 |
| Participants | 100-200 pirates |
| Attendance | 2,000-3,000 |
| Budget | Donation based |
| Patron(s) | Public |
| Website | |
| plunderathon.org | |
Plunderathon is an annual pirate-themed festival in Portland, Oregon, United States that usually coincides with Fleet Week or the Rose Festival. Plunderathon is run by a group calling itself "the Infernal Order of Pirates, Buccaneers, Scallywags, and Privateers" that prides itself on a heavy disinformation campaign leading up to the event, often issuing press statements that flatly contradict previous ones and making "historical" claims of Plunderathons from over a century ago. Throughout the event, the designated historian will often be called upon to recite the history of the Order in exchange for rum, which he or she does by making it up on the spot and claiming authenticity.
Plunderathon is not tied to any venue or location, but is a mobile combination of a parade, bar crawl and public art spectacle very similar to the CacophonySociety's SantaCon.
Participants dress up as pirates, make "ships" out of shopping carts and parade through town for around 10 hours, mostly in the Old Town/Chinatown, Downtown and Vaseline Alley areas. Costumes range from cheap party store items to high-quality theatrical costumes. The 2006 Plunderathon had over 120 pirates and featured a treasure chest-shaped piñata that was full of condoms and a beanbag fight (called "cannonball fight") in the North Park Blocks. They also visited the Shanghai tunnels, walked completely through Powell's Books, the Pearl District, pushed the ship/cart through the US Bancorp Tower and blocked traffic on several downtown streets while moving from one place to another in long single-file lines.
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Wikipedia