Hawthorne Street Fair

The Hawthorne Street Fair began in 1984 as something small: a parking lot, a guitarist and a few local organizations at folding tables. It grew into two more lots, and when those were redeveloped the fair moved onto the sidewalks and parking spaces of the four blocks between 34th and 38th.

In 2015 the fair took the street itself, its booths set out in the boulevard in twenty-foot squares with room to wander between them.

In 2020, with COVID, it went online. Hawthorne at Home opened on August 23 and ran through November — the vendors' booths, music, food from Hawthorne's restaurants and things to do with the kids, all from home.

In 2021 it came back with only weeks to plan: half the usual booths, half the usual crowd, and the first rain in months. People gathered anyway, and for a day it felt like Portland again.

The 40th anniversary fair was in 2023. Today the fair closes the boulevard on the fourth Sunday of August for about 150 community vendors and nonprofits, some 25 Hawthorne businesses, food from local shops and visiting carts, two music stages, buskers and things for kids to do — and more than 23,000 visitors in a single day.

Presenting sponsor: Toyota · Stage sponsor: Fred Meyer · Champion sponsor: OnPoint Community Credit Union · Community sponsors: SE Uplift, Birdie Time and Flipp 3D · Media sponsor: KBOO

Watch KOIN's interview from the 42nd fair (2025)