Prepare the picnic, lay out a blanket, and put your toes in the grass, folks. Summer in Portland means delighting in some live music al fresco, including within one of our city’s southernmost neighborhoods.
Head on down the Springwater Corridor to Sellwood Park, where the nonprofit Sellwood Community House is curating not one but two weekly concert series as part of its absolutely jam-packed summer programming.
(Seriously. Just look at their calendar.)
On Thursdays through August 20, Sellwood Community House is hosting solo piano performances in the park from 6:30 pm to 8 pm in partnership with fellow nonprofit Piano. Push. Play, an organization that refurbishes old pianos and plops them in urban pockets for plinking passersby. (Like in the middle of a park, for example).
The Friday night series— known as Summer Sellwood Sessions—runs through September 11, and features a mostly local lineup of free shows with the likes of bluegrass pickers the County Fools (August 14) and indie-folk darlings the Apricots (September 11).
The shows take place on the lawn beside the Shack—a summer hub operated by Sellwood Community House—which offers free, recreational programming in Sellwood Park seven days a week. Since its seasonal opening on June 13, the Shack has welcomed Portlanders from over 60 Multnomah zip codes.
Much of the nonprofit’s programming takes place at its homebase, a cozy-looking building located a half mile east of Sellwood Park on SE Spokane St. The space was formerly the beloved Sellwood Community Center, a space managed for decades by Portland Parks & Recreation until a budget crisis forced its closing in 2019.
In response, Sellwood-Moreland residents mobilized to save the treasured center, negotiating a lease with the city to re-open the building as Sellwood Community House, which launched the nonprofit by the same name.
The Shack’s history is similar, having laid dormant as a once-flourishing, city-managed PP&R base until Sellwood Community House brought it back to life in 2025, re-activating Sellwood Park as a third space for neighbors of all ages, including as an outdoor live music venue.
“Music and the arts are natural and essential elements of creating third spaces,” says Elizabeth Milner, the nonprofit’s director of development and community engagement. “Those places where people can easily and naturally gather, connect, build community and experience the shared sense of belonging that is central to a healthy and thriving community.”
Sellwood Community House’s programming also includes a slew of interactive music and arts programs. On Mondays at 11 am, Rhythm in the Park, hosted at the Shack in collaboration with Ethos Music Center, is a welcoming, all-ages jam circle open to the rhythm-curious as much as professional drummers. If you’d rather strum a ukulele, you can swing by Sellwood Community House for SMURK: the Sellwood Moreland Ukulele Revival Klub, on Thursdays at 6:30 pm—a drop-in, all-levels uke-jamming ensemble that grows community as much as musicianship. (Its name is a cheeky nod to the Sellwood Moreland Improvement League—or SMILE—the local neighborhood association).
Beyond music, Sellwood Community House’s programming also includes kids’ summer day camps, game nights like go and American mah jongg, craft nights, senior exercise classes, a haiku group, book readings, and book clubs.
“Prioritizing music and art in all of the programs we do creates a layer of beauty that’s accessible to everyone,” says executive director Ashley Murray. “More people need to have opportunities for beauty in their life to feel hopeful.”
Back in the winter, the nonprofit hosted a series of ticketed concerts at Oaks Pioneer Church, featuring sets from singer-songwriter Laura Veirs and Jenny Conlee of Decemberists fame. The funds from those shows funnelled back into this year’s Sellwood Summer Sessions, providing pay for musicians.
And Sellwood Community House will soon expand beyond its namesake neighborhood. Laurelhurst Park’s historic Laurelhurst Studio is another vacant, public structure in the queue that Sellwood Community House will restore and reactivate in partnership with the City of Portland and PP&R for community use.
Here are a few concert picks from the Mercury to check out at the Shack:
Asher Fulero
Thursday, August 6, 6:30 pm [Update: Due to smoky skies, this performance has been rescheduled to Thursday, August 27 at 6:30 pm.]
A fixture of Portland’s experimental jazz and jam scenes, Asher Fulero’s catalogue as a producer, composer, and keyboardist is prolific. His many credits include instrumental, self-produced solo albums in addition to records under the moniker Halo Refuser (Fulero’s electronic alter-ego) as well as with his groove-psyche outfit, Asher Fulero Band. In the best way, Fulero is tough to pin down, and it’s certain to be a treat to discover what he cooks up on the ivories in the park.
Isaiah Mostafa
Friday, August 7, 6:30 pm
Oakland-based Isaiah Mostafa is about to bring some bounce to Sellwood Park. Alongside bedroom beats and jazzy chord structures, Mostafa’s storytelling blends contemporary R&B and hip-hop with singer-songwriter vulnerability. Mostafa’s vocal delivery can be soulful and moody—often featuring a slick falsetto—or rhythmic with poetic flow, evocative of Omar Apollo or Steve Lacy. His latest release, “Over and Over,” is a highly swayable track with three-part harmonies that will set your body into a two-step without realizing its happening.
Reb & the Good News
Friday, August 21, 6:30 pm
The good news is that Reb & the Good News is coming to the Shack! The bad news is… well, there is literally none, because this seven-piece, pop-funk, onstage party is going to heal your soul and jostle your hips. The Good News delivers bouncing horn lines behind Reb Conner’s extremely singable, feel-good hooks. Tracks like “Flying High,” “Fire Burning,” and “I Made It” off their 2025 album Silver Lining sound like an optimistic hunch that everything might just be OK.
Sellwood Community House hosts Piano. Push. Play concerts every Thursday at 6:30 pm through August 20, and Summer Sellwood Sessions every Friday at 6:30 pm through September 11. All take place at the Shack at Sellwood Park, SE 7th and SE Miller. For more information, visit sellwoodcommunityhouse.org.
