Is Portland geekier than other cities? We do have a large open source community. Linus Torvalds, Mr Linux himself, lives here. Groups like Personal Telco install WiFi in cafes here for free. People spend career years without vacations designing a single chip here. Circuit benders are creating quiet mayhem. You could argue that the Sprockettes and Zoobombers are pretty geeky. How about those tall bikers? The Rebuilding Center, SCRAP, crafters....
One of Portland's geekiest brilliant useful things is Free Geek. They accept donations of old computers. They teach you how to Frankenstein the pieces into a new computer body, load an open source software brain into it, teach you how to use the interwebs and control the monster, and send you home with it. Free. They also set up non profit computer environments and recycle old computer bodies properly.
Every year they celebrate with a street fair. It's for kids, grown up kids and adults. Music, games, puppets, magic, talks, a dunk tank, even more! Details are here: http://www.freegeek.org/geekfair/.
At Free Geek. 1731 SE 10th 1-7PM Free
That same day, the Recyclery, a few blocks away are having a bike swap. The Recyclery isn't a non profit, but it has some of the Free Geek feel for a bike shop.
The Recyclery 1417 SE 9th & Madison
