News Release
20 years of blues, community and fighting hunger
Rainbow Maker to create rainbow over the Willamette River at 2007 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival
PORTLAND, Ore. (June 13, 2007) – “Bring sunshine.” Add that to your list of things to bring to the 2007 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, presented by First Tech Credit Union.
As a special treat to celebrate the festival’s 20th anniversary, internationally renowned Rainbow Maker Fred Stern will create a spectacular rainbow over the Willamette River, and he needs all the sunshine he can get. Look for the rainbow on the festival’s opening day, Wednesday, July 4, around 5:30 p.m., depending upon sun conditions.
Stern will work with the Portland Fire Department to create a natural rainbow in the sky. A city fire boat will pump water into the sky to make an artificial rainfall which will refract the sun’s rays to create the rainbow. Stern uses a computer program to determine the optimal time, position and spray parameters for rainbow generation. Stern’s appearance at the 2007 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is presented by PacificSource Health Plans.
Once Stern has created the rainbow, the fire boat will sail from north of the Hawthorne Bridge to the south end of the festival site, bringing the rainbow into view for all festival goers. In case the sun doesn’t show, Stern will reschedule the rainbow for July 5 or 6.
Stern, an internationally recognized artist, creates rainbows in support of humanitarian causes. He will dedicate the rainbow at the 2007 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival to Oregon Food Bank and its work to eliminate hunger and its root causes … because no one should be hungry.
Stern will also hold a rainbow making workshop for children at the Salmon Street Fountain on Saturday, July 7. More details to be announced.
About Rainbow Maker Fred Stern: Stern is an internationally recognized innovator in public art. He has served as associate professor of sculpture at Pratt Institute, and as associate professor of visual arts at New York University, the University of Maryland and the Instituto De Allende in Mexico. Stern has received five major awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and grants from many local and private agencies to support his work. He was the first artist to receive an Art in Public Places Individual Artist Award from the Endowment for his rainbow work. He has created more than 40 rainbows as large as 2,000 feet across in cities throughout America. In 1996, in conjunction with Japanese National Television, Stern accomplished a long-term dream of creating a rainbow over the United Nations Building in New York. In this monumental piece, Stern raised what he sees as “the planet’s true flag” over the flags of all nations, establishing a visual metaphor for global unity and world peace.
About Oregon Food Bank: Oregon Food Bank is a nonprofit, charitable organization. It is the hub of the Oregon Food Bank Network, a statewide network of 20 regional food banks and 884 hunger-relief agencies serving Oregon and Clark County, Wash. Last year, Oregon Food Bank distributed more than 34.3-million pounds of food.
About festival sponsors. The 2007 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is presented by First Tech Credit Union. Major sponsors are iQ Credit Union, The Oregonian A&E, KINK.fm, Good Neighbor Pharmacy, PacificSource Health Plans, FedEx Freight, DaimlerChrysler Truck Financial, Miller Brewing, Delta Music Experience and Land Rover.
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Note to editors, reporters and photographers: The rainbow maker will rehearse the rainbow making event with the Portland Fire Department on Monday, July 2, at about 5 p.m. The rehearsal is open to the media. For more information, call 503-419-4170.
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