Rainy concert in the park

The first time I heard Portland Taiko was completely by accident. Liesl and I had been hiking in Hoyt Arboretum 4 summers ago and stumbled upon a concert. It was a group of amazing drummers at the Rose Garden at Washington Park. We had no idea what we were walking into, but we decided to sit down and enjoy (until we had to find where the car was parked before it got dark). I started doing some research the next day and found out the name of the group. Since then I have sort of "followed" the group and have seen them perform whenever I've had the chance. For this years Washington Park Summer Festival they were performing again. I called Liesl and asked her if she wanted to join me since it was the same group in the same venue we'd seen 4 years ago. We decided we'd do a picnic dinner and enjoy the music. Not only did we experience the music, we also experienced the rain, and lots of it over the two and a half hours we sat in it. We weren't sure if the opening group (Mizu Desierto Butoh Theatre) for the taiko group would perform, and they did. Portland Taiko was then able to perform thanks to the donation of pop up canopy like tents from one of the food vendors. Their show was altered due to limited space and room to move around because of poles, but it was still good. Most people stayed through the rain for the concert and I am glad I did, even though it was touch and go for a bit! :) Thanks for sitting in the rain Liesl!

Portland Taiko performing.

"Volunteers" mopping up the stage before performers could go on. They had to wring the towels out after going across the stage once.

All the umbrellas that were being used to proctect people from rain.

Liesl and I, before we got too wet.