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We make podcasts and newsletters that connect people with the cities they love.

City Cast Portland

A totally real holiday celebrating Portland, Oregon.

[UPDATE 5/1] All the contestant slots for the costume contest have been filled

By now, you've most likely heard all about 503 Day. It's the 

 we dreamed up to celebrate everything we love about Portland.

Perhaps you've already signed up to attend

 And now you're looking for a way to get even more involved. Well, guess what... 

The Portland Icons Costume Contest will be held live on stage as part of our 503 Day block party on Saturday, May 3. It's simple. 

🎤 Get judged by hilarious local personalities

People, places, or things that represent our city. Bridges. Authors. Buildings. Tonya Harding. Use your imagination! If you have to awkwardly get on mic and explain your costume, that's fine too.

All participants get an exclusive City Cast Portland tater tot plushie (yes, really)!

A special spot on stage during the official 503 Day proclamation at 5:03 p.m.

A Portland Timbers 50th Anniversary jersey

They'll score you on creativity, originality, and effort. 

Keep it family-friendly. There will be kids around.

Be downtown at Ankeny Alley and ready by 2:30 p.m.

Not dressing up? Come cheer! It's more fun with a crowd.

We need your name, email, and what you're planning to wear. 

Sign Up Here

Try these City Cast Portland podcast episodes:

Portland Tourist Traps Even Locals Will Like

The Surprising History of Our Local Exports, From Dutch Bros to Jacobsen Salt

 we dreamed up last year to celebrate everything we love about Portland.

Thank you to our Gold level sponsors, including 

: Ankeny Alley in downtown Portland (221 SW Ankeny St, Portland, OR 97204)

: May 3, from 1 - 6:03 p.m. (5 hours and 3 minutes to honor our holiday!)

You can expect live entertainment curated by the City Cast Portland team, food and drink, local luminaries, and much, much more. And, the city will officially declare it 503 Day at (you guessed it) 5:03 p.m.

How to Enter the Portland Icons Costume Contest

Find the best of everything that Portland has to offer.

Portland’s Best

Portland's Best

Update: Come celebrate our city! Our first official 503 Day block party is coming up May 3, 2025. 



We are happy to announce the official songs of 503 Day — the new, very real holiday to celebrate Portland.

 solicited songs from listeners for the holiday, and some excellent submissions came in.

If you want to celebrate 503 Day by crooning from your porch front or 

 (the first song at least should work for that), here are two excellent tunes:

,” to the tune of “Thank You for Being a Friend,” (A pink Kate Spade dinosaur bag croons the lyrics in the music video.)

Can't wait for 503,
Portland's very own holiday
It's on May 3
Quirky, fun, and weird as can be. 
And we will throw a party
Bring by a food truck or two
There will be a ton of coffee and homebrews,
And the doughnuts from Voodoo
Can't wait for 503.


,” an all-original tune and lyrics:

Nearby ocean, mountains, forests, deserts, home
Leave us alone, leave us alone
Before 503 Day, we shut off our phones
Leave us alone, leave us alone

On 503 Day, we're outside with coffee and a shot
The ragged dogwoods blossom and the dog park garbage rots
But 503 Day makes it better
503 Day makes it better

503 Day is a joyous time of year
Another gear, another gear
We will sing for all of those who keep us weird
Another gear, another gear

On 503 Day, we'll emerge from fields filled with hops
Our food carts bustle, street fairs loom near vegan doughnut shops
Yes 503 Day makes it better
503 Day makes it better

RSVP Here

Two Theme Songs for the New Portland, Oregon, Holiday

City Cast Portland's 503 Day

503 Day



Portland is struggling, but we love this town. So we’re celebrating with a new, very real holiday we’re calling 503 Day.

We have been asking podcast guests, along with readers and listeners, to weigh in with their ideas for how to celebrate our city on this new holiday:

“I think it should be an individual holiday, and people should go back and think of the things that they loved about Portland when they first moved here and do those things … That's a cool day. My grandmother and my mother had the same birthday. They're both gone now, and that was their birthday: 5/3.” — 

Sarah from Woodstock/Brentwood Darlington

“There should be cultural criticism on 503 Day about 503. I've grown so much living in Portland just hearing people have kind of pissy little conversations about what kind of fertilizer they're using. And I'm just like, ‘I'm learning so much just listening to like Kristen and Kirsten argue about this.’” — 

Suzette Smith, arts & culture editor of the Portland Mercury

“This 5/03, I’ll probably do what I do most Fridays: leave work at noon and hit up a couple of the city’s many record stores, stop at a local coffee shop to do a little reading/writing, and later, a food cart for dinner.” — 

David “I live on the west side but love the east side” Sloan

, which I never do. But that feels very 503.” — 

Eater Portland editor Brooke Jackson-Glidden

 This episode of the City Cast Portland podcast has new 503 Day traditions, including 

random acts of kindness and smoking cannabis

RSVP for 503 Day 2025

Ideas for how to observe the new, totally real holiday celebrating Portland, Oregon, from readers of the Hey Portland newsletter and guests and listeners for the City Cast Portland podcast.

503 Day

How to Enter the Portland Icons Costume Contest

Two Theme Songs for the New Portland, Oregon, Holiday

How To Celebrate 503 Day

Latest articles

How to Enter the Portland Icons Costume Contest

Two Theme Songs for the New Portland, Oregon, Holiday

How To Celebrate 503 Day