[Find the Mercury's 25th Anniversary Issue (in print) near you by using this handy-dandy map, and read all of our anniversary stories here.—eds.]

When the Mercury joined Portland's cultural cache, it entered an artistically fertile time. Powell's City of Books had expanded to a full city block the year before. Sleater-Kinney had just released All Hands on the Bad One. Pub movie houses were boldly venturing into serving pizza and beer with second-run flicks.

Now as we look back on 25 years of the Mercury covering and caring about art and culture, we realize it's more accurate to say these were 25 years of Portland caring—we just wrote about it.

2000

"Arts Editrix" Julianne Escobedo Shepherd was working at both Powell's and Reading Frenzy before she signed onto the new paper's slim outfit. Music was the main thing readers wanted to know about, so Shepherd saw it as her job to get to know every music act in Portland. "All of these musicians were coming up, and a lot of them became nationally known… I remember when Colin Meloy came to the steps of the Mercury, and handed me a burned CD-R of his music. He was just a singer-songwriter, and then he started the Decemberists. Then, within a couple years, they were super famous."

Novelist and comics writer Chelsea Cain was also an early Merc adopter, writing humor columns, such as a "wholly uncorroborated" list of actor Benicio Del Toro sightings around town. Del Toro was playing a survivalist "gone rogue" in a William Friedkin action film, The Hunted (2003). The film's producers tried to close the Hawthorne Bridge for three weeks (!) and the city eventually gave them four weekends wherein Tommy Lee Jones could hunt Del Toro to his heart's content.

2001

A group of no less than ten zinesters organize the first Portland Zine Symposium—which is still going and now in its 25th year.

2002

One of Miranda July's sound installations makes it into the Whitney Biennial. At the time, we were as likely to label her a "performance illustri-ess" as we were to call her a filmmaker, but her works appeared regularly in Matt McCormick's Peripheral Produce experimental film series. July narrates McCormick's The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal—a short whose continuing relevance will make you question the passage of time. Just before moving to LA, July and social practice artist Harrell Fletcher launch Learning to Love You More, a website that provides creative prompts and posts documentation of the works sent in response—and appears in the 2004 Biennial.

Eleven professional comics writers and artists, working on books for both large publishers and locals, like Dark Horse and Oni, form a co-working space—initially named Mercury Studio (flattering!) before becoming Periscope in 2007, and incorporating as Helioscope LLC in 2016. Over the years, it grows to be the largest of its kind in the US, offering internships and mentorship to less connected artists.

2003

We start off 2003 by encouraging readers to get high and watch Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (1986) at Clinton Street Theater, as part of the pub's Winter Prozac Film Festival, which notably includes a "Super Secret Short Film" by local director Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine, Carol). Editor-in-chief Wm. Steven Humphrey promises "if you bring in something belonging to an ex-lover, we'll destroy it for you onstage!"

Soon to be arts editor, Justin Sanders proves his worth by profiling the newly-opened gay bathhouse Steam as if it were any other business. "Steve made me do that," Sanders recalls. "He delighted in sending me things that made me uncomfortable. Once I was there, it was completely fine, which is why the piece sounds so rudimentary." Sanders also fondly remembers a feature he wrote about riding TriMet buses for 24-hours, saying: "That was the most-read thing I ever did; it was all downhill from there." 

Graphic novelist Craig Thompson puts out Blankets, a nearly-600 page work that is widely acclaimed by critics and comics fans. Sanders remembers this as a "canonical work" both in Portland and the wider comics scene. "Plenty of comics artists were making work outside the superhero genre, but Blankets showed—to a really wide audience—that you could do these little intimate, personal stories on a grand scale."

Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) unveils its immediately-iconic Time-Based Art (TBA) festival, which we later describe as "an exhausting 11-day whirlwind of international performing arts." A lot of really cool artists perform (July is back, pre-Me You and Everyone We Know), and there's even a talent show. Soon to depart for New York, Shepard asks: "Seriously, what kind of asshole doesn't love a talent show?" 

2004

PDX Pop Now! explodes into Southeast Industrial, bands banging it out in the baking alley streets of SE 3rd. In 2006, music editor Adam Gnade writes, "the committee behind the fest has always put on a good party. They've kept it free, kept the incest nil, and picked crowd pleasers over naked emperors." 

Also in its first year, Stumptown Comics Fest reportedly draws just 150 attendees to the Old Church. By its third, it's at the Oregon Convention Center and has become a place of live comics art battles and harrowing portfolio reviews. Stumptown starts out with a focus on small press titles and auteur creators, but arts editor Alison Hallett also observes "an appetite for a more pop-culture minded show, attracting people more likely to dress up in a Spider-Man unitard than to seek out obscure small-press titles." In 2013, organizers announce that Stumptown will fold into Portland's big new pop culture show, Rose City Comic Con.

2005

Literary arts fest Wordstock debuts with a hot roster of authors like John Irving, Norman Mailer, and Susan Orlean. In 2014, nonprofit Literary Arts rebrands the fest with an extremely literal name: Portland Book Festival.

Immersive theater shows, like Sleep No More, are the hot new way to stage plays, and some Portland theater groups are nontraditional-curious. Arts editor Justin Sanders skewers those doing it poorly and lauds ensembles like Sojourn for inventively staging the audience as town meeting attendees in The Visit. About performance group Liminal, whose 19th century murder mystery The Resurrectory is partially told through archival materials and maps, which can be examined at length, he writes, "indefinitely and constantly find fresh things to observe."

2006

In late June, Sleater-Kinney announce an indefinite hiatus and play their last show at the Crystal Ballroom on August 12. Music editor Ezra Caraeff seeks counseling for a piece about getting past his Post Sleater-Kinney Breakup Syndrome.

Critics warmly receive Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy, which is based on a short story by local author Jon Raymond. Film editor Erik Henriksen raves that Reichardt, "captures the subtle nuances of being in Portland, what it feels like to wake up and walk around and live here." Reichardt goes on to collaborate with Raymond on a number of other films, among them Wendy & Lucy (2008) and First Cow (2020).

The Mercury completely ignores the Portland Horse Project—which affixed small toy horses to the artifact metal rings embedded in some city sidewalks. Even now, former arts editor Chas Bowie thinks the conceptual art piece is "twee and populist." 

2008

Comedians Andy Wood and Matt Braunger, along with improviser Kimberly Brady, pull together a weeklong comedy fest in a theater on SE Hawthorne, and call it Bridgetown Comedy Festival. According to Brady, the first year works because Patton Oswalt shows up. In 2017, the last year of the fest, playing a tent in the parking lot of the Jupiter Hotel is a highly competitive endeavor. Bridgetown doesn't just draw good comedians, it draws people who hire good comedians, and this makes Portland a place performers move to.

2009

Upstart theater company Atomic Arts adapts an episode of original series Star Trek and stages it for free, calling the show Trek in the Park. Critic and notable Star Trek fan Erik Henriksen declares it "the most fun you'll have watching a play all summer." Eventually it becomes so popular that calendar editor Bobby Roberts pens a list of tips n' tricks for how to sit within hearing range.

2011

The beginning of the end for some, Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen premiere their skit show Portlandia on the Independent Film Channel. Wm. Steven Humphrey points out that the show succeeds best as a series of brief clips, but hammers the same jokes relentlessly when consumed as whole episodes.

Monologist Mike Daisy delivers a 24-hour performance at what was then still "decrepit old" unused Washington High School (in 2015, it would reopen as Revolution Hall), and the editorial staff bands together to (semi) live blog the experience. Four months later, journalists expose exaggerations and fabrications in parts of Daisy's The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.

2012

Reading Frenzy owner Chloe Eudaly announces that her building wants to expand its lobby, and therefore her store has to move. Emblematic of Portland's once thriving indie print culture scene, the shop now faces being priced out. Eudaly is able to raise $50,000 in five days, to defray moving costs. It's worth noting that when a new business moves in, the lobby stays the same size. Reading Frenzy moves to the Mississippi neighborhood and Eudaly successfully runs for a city commissioner seat in 2016, based on a platform of renter's rights, affordability, and inclusion. As she takes office she has to close up her store because Portland law prohibits elected officials from holding other jobs.

The city's voters widely approve an annual $35 arts tax to support arts education in Portland-area schools. Lawsuits, site crashes, and administrative costs ensue.

2014

Likely due to the legacy of Bridgetown, Portland continues to grow as a comedy city. Hallett decrees "improv comedy is having a moment," when likable improvisers Jed Arkley, Leon Anderson, and Erin O'Regan found Stumptown Improv Festival. By winter, we have a comedy speakeasy. Kickstand Comedy boldly holds shows in the basement of a bike shop.

Reese Witherspoon plays local author Cheryl Strayed in a feature adaptation of Strayed's best-selling memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. The Mercury covers it exhaustively, and when it came time to critique the film, call it "striking and intense." Strayed and company hold a red-carpet Portland premiere at Cinema 21.

2015

In the spring, the fire marshal shuts down Kickstand's basement shows, saying that the building isn't permitted for "assembly." Bad Reputation's Shelley McLendon opens the Siren Theater in the scrappy Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, and rents them the school-style rooms above it.

2016

After 13 years of using other spaces for performance, PICA shifts the hub of its TBA festival to a 16,000 foot space former skateboard spot in Northeast Portland—after a patron buys it and gifts the organization 10 years of free rent. 

2017

The Hollywood Theatre launches an effort to purchase the collection of the city's iconic movie rental shop Movie Madness from its retiring owner Mike Clark. The crowdfunding effort succeeds in nine days and also partially raises a stretch goal amount to build a micro theater in the video store.

2019

Artists Repertory Theatre (ART) announces a massive renovation plan for its Goose Hollow property, selling half to developers to build a 21-story apartment building. The company plans to tour other performing arts venues during the construction, reopening in its rebuilt theaters in stages. This plan has the very poor fortune of unfolding during the pandemic, but ART eventually reopens in 2024.

2020

Oregon's government shuts down the state's schools, venues, and basically any gathering place  it can think of in a desperate attempt to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone is forced to adapt to streaming, with mixed levels of success. Portland's venues aren't permitted to reopen until mid-2021.

PICA takes TBA:20 programming outdoors, but September wildfires cause hazardous air quality.

2021

Kickstand Comedy partners with Portland Parks and Rec to hold Friday comedy shows in Laurelhurst Park—Comedy in the Park. Success isn't immediate, but in subsequent years, it draws crowds numbering in the thousands.

2023

Darcelle XV Showplace and feminist clothing brand Wildfang team up and set a new world record for longest drag artist stage show: 48 hours, 11 minutes, 30 seconds. The Mercury liveblogs the event, and sets a new personal record for the number of drag performer names in a single blog.

Comedy theater the Siren moves from Old Town Chinatown to the Mississippi neighborhood. Music venue Doug Fir announces it will renovate and open a venue in a shuttered restaurant space in SE Industrial. Portland Art Museum opens Tomorrow Theater in the old adult movie house, Oregon Theatre. Our Fall Arts Issue proclaims that the post-pandemic Portland arts scene is rebuilding.