The self-described boundary-pushers of the Portland Pickles baseball team have unveiled their 2023 promotions — including a celebration(?) of California refugees.
June 27 is California People Moving to Portland Night, with free tickets for those who confess to that status. The calendar blurb reads: “Let’s welcome them to PDX in style with higher housing prices, an inability to zipper merge, and lots of amazing coffee (and pickles!). Come out and celebrate our newest neighbors and give them a warm Portland hello!”
The Pickles will take on the Kamloops North Paws that night.
Among the dozens of other Pickles promotions this season are nights celebrating Nicolas (“Picolas”) Cage, Bill Nye, “The Shining,” Portland tap water, and people whose last name is a first name (free tickets for Cliff Richard, Tommy John, Meg Ryan et al.).
The Pickles, a collegiate summer league team, have punched above their weight in the self-marketing arena. In January 2022, one of the team’s tweets raised eyebrows with what some interpreted as a lewd photo of their green mascot; the Pickles contended the questionable cropping was inadvertent.
The following month, the team made the news with a comedy of errors concerning the disappearance of its mascot (or, to be precise, the costume). Dillon T. Pickle was in checked luggage that was missing after a flight from the Dominican Republic. Delta eventually found the bag, but delivered it late at night to the wrong building, where it was stolen off a porch. It was then found abandoned aboard a city bus by a rider who dropped it off at another beloved Portland institution, Voodoo Doughnut.
Closer to home for those still residing in California, the Single-A San Jose Giants have also released their promotional schedule. It’s not nearly as wacky as the Pickles’, but there are fireworks every Friday and seven nights when the Giants are rebranded as the Churros.
Visits: 0
