Explore Washington Park

Jason Miller  00:02

Hi, I’m JAM at peaceful media. Welcome to a new episode of marketing for what matters. I’m joined by my special guest, Meghan McCloskey from explore Washington Park. And what’s your role here at explore Washington Park? I’m the Marketing Director at explore Washington and you’re about to watch a very special you may I say that a very special episode of this show, something that we’ve never done before, which was a scavenger hunt and and I want to walk down to from this beautiful scene underneath a giant sequoia, I don’t know, Sequoia redwood, something majestic and amazing that the Pacific Northwest is well known for and explore. Washington Park is well known for, with its Hoyt Arboretum, and it’s just nestled in a beautiful forest of old growth trees and and and really is a serene place. And yet, when you arrive, by the way, a lot of people unfortunately arrive, it’s a scene of chaos, okay, and so what we’re alluding to, we’re gonna show you in a sec. All right, so do you guys remember this episode with World forestry center? Right? Meghan, this is all, this is all part of explore Washington Park. It’s amazing. And look at that just a bunch of cars. And guess what else folks? Guess what that is. That is Washington Park’s public transit system that connects to PDX. It connects to the west side of Portland all the way out to Hillsboro West, and all the way out to Gresham east, drops you off right here in the heart of Washington Park, the Oregon Zoo, right across the way world forestry center. And yet, unfortunately, a lot of people are leaning on their cars and driving over here and parking and paying for parking, paying quite a bit. You’re going to see in this episode that it is kind of a big deal to like sit there and wait for a spot to open when, especially when there’s a free shuttle that takes you around everywhere. There’s a max, it’s like, under $3 and I think there’s even some perks, like, if you have the right permits and so forth, you can ride max for free.

 

Meghan McCloskey  02:30

Kids under seven ride free. There’s a senior discount. There’s a kids discount.

 

Jason Miller  02:35

Right now in the when it’s nice out, right, 75 degrees or so here in Portland in March. It’s very unusual. This place is crazy. Oh, spring break, right? Totally

 

02:47

crazy.

 

Jason Miller  02:48

So when that happens, what they do is they open up beyond the free shuttle bus that kind of cruises around the whole 410 acres. They have to bring in school busses if visitors

 

Meghan McCloskey  03:00

show up to the park and there aren’t parking spaces available, they’re directed to an off site parking lot. We’ll bring them down to the park and drop them off just outside the zoo and the world forestry center. Yeah, and I

 

Jason Miller  03:15

thought I was planning enough time to get down here and meet up for this preamble to the episode, and found that there were zero parking spots. Yeah, right. And so I was like, parking way off in residential. So this whole episode is when we talk about marketing for what matters. We’re talking about ways that, how do, how does Meghan communicate out to people who want to come to Washington Park and don’t necessarily know how easy and fun and regenerative it is to do the public transit. So I hope that you enjoy this episode is going to be honest with you, it took twice as long as we thought it would, because we were having so much fun in Washington Park,

 

Meghan McCloskey  03:56

but didn’t even get through. Half of us wanted to get through because Washington Park is massive, and we were having a lot of fun.

 

Jason Miller  04:03

You’re going to notice that we kind of cut off a little bit early in this episode. We’re going to come back and shoot episode two of this episode, so that you get the full scavenger hunt and you get the full experience of Washington Park. Is that fair? Yep, that’s great. Yeah, cool. All right. Well, welcome to this episode, and we hope you have a great time on the scavenger hunt through Washington Park. Hi, I’m Jason.

 

Nicole  04:26

I’m Fran This is Bo-Peter, and I’m Nicole. And this is marketing for what matters, where we explore how marketing paired with a regenerative mindset can uplift humanity, heal the planet, and still achieve profitable business growth.

 

Meghan McCloskey  04:37

So how do you do it? How do you so I have this, I just have a hop card that I, yeah, I keep in my wallet all the time. It’s so easy. Done. Where’d you get that? Well, explore Washington Park gave this to me, but you can get it on the Yeah. This is a

 

04:58

Yeah. How do. Does everyone else get one?

 

Meghan McCloskey  05:00

Okay, so there’s a station right over here. You can, you can pay, and you can order, you can get a hot card, and then you can just, yeah, keep it loaded, or connect it to a, you know, card, or whatever. So

 

Jason Miller  05:13

compared to, like, all the chaos of trying to park up there sometimes, and the cost of paying, yeah, so I made

 

Meghan McCloskey  05:22

sense for Yeah, many hours.

 

Jason Miller  05:25

And so while we were standing here, I downloaded the hop, you know, app and connected it to my Google Wallet. So I’m gonna do the digital version of what you just did. Okay, sweet, okay, let’s, let’s see, ready, yeah, ready, ready, ready.

 

Meghan McCloskey  05:44

I love the sound too. Isn’t it a nice sound? It feels

 

Jason Miller  05:47

really good. Yeah, it feels really good because I’m not driving my, you know, 20 mile an hour, miles per gallon car up to Washington Park or the zoo, or anybody, any of the other attractions we’re going to be exploring today, and I get to meet new people. I get to see new sites. I get to experience Portland in a very different light. See a lot of more diversity than I normally, normally see in my life. You

 

Meghan McCloskey  06:13

get to experience the deepest transit center in North America. Did you know that? Yeah, this Washington Park Transit Center is the deepest transit center. So we’re going to go through gonna go through the tunnel. And that’s kind of a crazy experience too. It’s fun.

 

Jason Miller  06:26

I feel like, I feel like people from all over the world should come to Portland and Washington Park specifically, yeah, exclusively, because they’re going into the deepest transit tunnel. It’s pretty cool. Why is that not on the map? There should be a pamphlet PDX that says, Hey, I know. Have you been in the is it the world’s the world? It’s North

 

Meghan McCloskey  06:49

America. North America?

 

Jason Miller  06:50

Yeah, continent. Deepest transit tunnel.

 

Meghan McCloskey  06:53

No, you’re gonna when we ride the elevator, your ears are gonna imagine

 

Jason Miller  06:57

them. Imagine what we could do for the Portland what do we call this tourist? Tourism, right? What we could do with Portland’s tourism if only people around the world knew about the deepest transit? Well,

 

Meghan McCloskey  07:12

they know about Washington Park. I was, you know, I was gonna tell you this later, but I guess I’ll tell you now. No

 

Jason Miller  07:21

surprises for you, surprises for me. Okay, all right, let’s, let’s go hop on this beautiful mess. Okay, should we do we do need to walk down the stairs. Let’s just go walk down some beautiful mocks. Okay, come back today. Let’s

 

07:33

do it. Okay, let’s go explore

 

07:37

Washington park.org.org.

 

07:40

I’m very excited. It’s a beautiful day. Yeah, I don’t

 

Jason Miller  07:43

remember the last I want to speak to the parking we just used, yeah, free, right? Yeah,

 

Meghan McCloskey  07:48

this is totally free parking. There’s 600 more than 600 free parking spaces here. It’s a really great option for people who don’t necessarily want to take the max all the way, yeah, maybe they, you know, maybe that takes too long, so they can park here and then take the max. It’s a 10 minute ride from here to Washington Park. So, yeah,

 

Jason Miller  08:11

so, so I think when I think of, like, how we get around, how, like, we’ve been going to the Oregon Zoo forever, yeah, yeah. And every time we go and drive up there and just thinking, what a what a missed opportunity, yeah, this opportunity to use Portland’s awesome public transit, this beautiful max line you come up here, you park at the sunset transit center, or wherever you’re coming from. PDX has a direct line here, yeah, to the Washington Park. Yeah. So like, why are we

 

Meghan McCloskey  08:44

using I know it’s 10 minutes from here to Washington Park, and kids actually love it. My kids do. So we started when we go to the zoo, we take the whole family, the kids, they love it. They actually consider this like part of the zoo experience. Now

 

Jason Miller  08:59

all this time, I didn’t know how easy this was with Max, with free shuttles, with the busses that take you there. And I feel like, as a Oregon native, like, I gotta know this like, and I know that’s this is why we’re doing this. One of the reasons why we’re doing this podcast is to really tell the story of how public transit is not only a way to make your life easier in regards to getting to Washington Park’s attractions, but also it adds, it adds so much color to the experience, especially for kiddos like to experience like the diversity of Portland and just This, isn’t a this is all part of the adventure. Absolutely. Yeah. So if you guys are anybody who’s going to the zoo during the organ zoo lights, organ zoo lights like this is an especially important note is take public transit. Yes, absolutely.

 

Meghan McCloskey  09:56

I mean, some you’ve been to the zoo. Right? So you get to the parking lot, usually you’re sent up to the off site or overflow parking. You have to take a school bus down. Every once in a while, even the off site lots get full, and then you’re sent here to a sunset transit center to take the max 10 minutes to Washington Park. You might as well just start here 600 free parking spots. It’s a 10 minute trip to Washington Park, and it’s just so easy. I think one thing that makes the park so unique is that there is this transit center right there. It’s steps away from the zoo entrance, steps away from the world forestry center entrance, and it arrives at Washington Park station every seven to nine minutes, this max train. So Wow.

 

Jason Miller  10:41

Yeah, okay, it’s a no brainer. It’s got to be, like, Portland’s worst kept secret or best kept secret, but a secret that we need to, like, not make a secret. Yeah? Like, I

 

Meghan McCloskey  10:52

appreciate you helping me do my job. This is a huge part of my job, trying to tell people that this exists and right. So I love that we’re going to be able to show people

 

Jason Miller  11:00

how today. So while we’re waiting for Max, this is really nice. I you know, Portlanders know that when it comes springtime, like, we just want to, like, this may sound a little racy, but we want to just rip the clothes off and, like, frolic around in the forest and the meadows. And maybe we’ll get to a chance to do that and climb some trees.

 

Meghan McCloskey  11:21

65 degrees today, you’re in your shores. Yeah,

 

Jason Miller  11:25

gotta take these shoes off now. We’ll wait until after we get off the max, but I wanted to chat real quickly about marketing. Okay, so, yeah, maybe you could just explain what your role is at Washington Park. First, explore Washington Park, yeah, and like, What drew you to work there and bring your genius to this beautiful attraction? Oh,

 

Meghan McCloskey  11:47

okay, well, yeah, I’m marketing director at explore Washington Park. And before, I’ve been with the park for about a year and a half, before that, I was running my own nonprofit making art and craft kits for kids in foster care and patients at children’s hospitals across Portland. And then before that, I was at Nike, and I kind of knew I couldn’t corporate life. I was done with that. Moved to nonprofit. Decided helping people in our city locally was really important to me, and I just love that we have access to this green space in the heart of the city. It’s just amazing. Everyone should be able to access that space, and it’s just so cool. I feel so fortunate that I get to help people access that

 

Jason Miller  12:39

all of this, all of those notes really touch my heart. Yeah, I feel like we’re kindred spirits with that, with that regard, like, where are we using it’s one of the big themes of my expression right now, is, how are we using this time we have on the planet, yeah? And are we taking it for granted? Are we using the bulk of our time doing things that really light up our souls and help serve the planet and uplift community, and if not, like, when, when are we going to start, you know, like, what are we waiting for? Yeah, big question. Yeah. So I love that you listen to that, that hearts call it calling, you know, yeah, listen to your soul. And said, Yeah, let’s Yeah. I’m gonna use, if it’s eight hours a day, I want to make sure that it’s bringing people into this kind of beautiful nature, experience this connection.

 

Meghan McCloskey  13:30

Yeah, cannot ask for a better thing to highlight, to be able to market, you know, getting people out in nature like and not taking cars there. What could be better, honestly. All

 

13:42

right, here comes our max. This is so exciting.

 

13:50

Hello.

 

Jason Miller  13:54

So tell me about the accessibility aspect of Max and public transit here in Portland.

 

Meghan McCloskey  14:04

Well, the max is wheelchair accessible. And, you know, we’ve talked about how it connects to Washington Park and it connects to the free shuttle. The free shuttle is ADA accessible as well. So it’s really a great way for people with mobility means to explore the park again.

 

Jason Miller  14:24

For Portlanders who didn’t know this, like me, yeah, there’s a free shuttle that can take you all around all the biggest the big attractions and regions of Washington Park. Washington Park is 441 acres, 410 410

 

14:45

can I get this up into the angel numbers?

 

Jason Miller  14:48

Okay, so it’s 410 acres. Yeah, that’s a lot of ground to cover. Yeah, right. And so the shuttle now I understand will pick you up. It’s also Ada, yeah? Hands free. Yeah, we’re kind of like eliminating any excuses for not getting up there and frolicking in Washington Park, especially when it’s so nice here in Portland.

 

Meghan McCloskey  15:09

Yeah, absolutely awesome. Yeah. The shuttle will take today. It leaves from the Tri mount closet, so you get off the max right there, and then the shuttle is little, literally right there. So the red line goes all the way I want it from the airport to Washington Park and then beyond. Yeah, so it’s kind of cool. You can land. You can land at the airport. It takes less than an hour on the maps to get to Washington Park. If you want to experience nature right after your long flight. Yeah, you don’t have to switch trains. Kind of amazing. So now we’re gonna go, we’re going like we’re underground. We’re gonna be underground for the rest of the ride. Oh, Washington parks next. Look how easy that is. We’re here. So this one is the deepest transit station.

 

Jason Miller  16:07

When we talk about this is part of the adventure. Yeah, I didn’t, I didn’t know that this was available to us. I know as parents, and

 

Meghan McCloskey  16:16

look at all this fun stuff. So I don’t know there’s all this, all these fun facts that you can kind of explore and read as you’re waiting, oh, the dawn Redwood facts. We’ll walk through the arboretum today and see some Dawn redwood. This is

 

Jason Miller  16:38

fabulous Meghan. It’s so cool. So in, in my world, oh, my god, ah, yeah.

 

Meghan McCloskey  16:46

So all of this artwork depicts the part too. So we have the zoo, and then this is the Stevens pavilion at the arboretum, right there.

 

Jason Miller  16:55

It’s amazing. So, yeah, so in, in our research for marketing, for what matters. One of the words that was new and nascent for us was this concept of regenerative. Do you and the difference between regenerative and sustainable? Okay, so when we talk about sustainability, I’m not I’m no expert. I’m not wonk or anything like that. My understanding is, is that sustainable is like, you can keep doing what you’re doing, and it’s, you know, hopefully it’s recycling and renewable and all that stuff, right? Regenerative actually adds value back, right? So it’s not just about maintaining the cycle. It’s about fueling, refueling, whatever is being taken. And in this case, this is a regenerative experience. Not only did we take a more sustainable green way of transit, we’re also getting getting something from this experience that adds value, that adds value to the adventure of getting to Washington Park, yeah, like just walking through the history and timeline and all of this sets the stage for this connection to bats, whales, man, sloth, the baby elephant at the Oregon Zoo. Like this is, yeah? This is really, really nice polarity reversal, like any science teacher friends of mine are just gonna love on

 

Meghan McCloskey  18:21

this. Yeah, look at Rock. I know well, homage

 

Jason Miller  18:26

to Portland’s weirdness. One of the themes for this, for this episode of marketing, for what matters, is, I want people to fall back in love with Portland, like, why not come back to Portland? This is, like, our our little way of saying, Hey, we’re back. Yeah, we’ve gone through a dark winter. Yeah, we had some really bad news and some bad stuff going on, and all the turmoil and rage and all that stuff during the last five, five plus years, and we’re back, and we’re as weird as ever, and we’re as quirky as ever, and organic as ever. And

 

Meghan McCloskey  19:06

I love that we’re all working together to do that. It’s like we all have that same goal. And, you know, I know tri Matt has that goal. Like, how amazing was that ride. It was so clean, it was calm, it was nice, like they’re working so hard to make that happen. And then I love that you’re doing it too. I

 

Jason Miller  19:23

feel like, I feel like the blanket that Portlanders have been underneath is, you know, basically written in cursive all over the place, maybe not cursive, maybe more like big, bold marker, fear, fear, fear, fear. Yeah, it’s scary out there, yeah? You know, even when you’re walking around in the forest, wear a mask and it’s like, yeah, we’re back, we’re back, we’re resilient. I know, like nature, we regenerate. Yeah, so

 

Meghan McCloskey  19:52

I have to point out to you, this is our one park, a community of destinations. This is our panel up here. It’s meant to remind folks coming to the park that the park is more than just the Oregon Zoo. It’s more than just the Arboretum. You know, it’s a community of destinations that are all accessible by way of the free shuttle. This is our free shuttle route map here on the floor. So we put this here to help people kind of maybe get a sense of like, oh, there’s something out there that I can take connect me to all of these different places. Oh,

 

20:30

look, it’s yours. Oh, these

 

Meghan McCloskey  20:34

panels are ours too. Wow, wow, that’s me right there, really,

 

Jason Miller  20:39

with longer hair? Oh my gosh. But yeah, yeah. So this is a key theme that you’re communicating as the marketing director, Yep,

 

Meghan McCloskey  20:50

absolutely, yep. We say Washington Park is a community of destinations all connected with our free shuttle. So it’s more, yeah, it’s more than just all

 

Jason Miller  21:02

connected. All Connected, yeah, that’s a big that’s a big theme for today’s episode, connection.

 

Meghan McCloskey  21:08

Let’s go around.

 

Jason Miller  21:11

Let’s create the connection wheel. Connection wheel is forming, and what’s not forming for me is how many, how limited the trash cans are, and yeah,

 

Meghan McCloskey  21:23

like there will be, there’s one right upstairs. Can you hold it up for the elevator?

 

21:29

It’s one thing that could be improved.

 

Jason Miller  21:32

That a sunset transit center too. It’s like,

 

21:34

okay,

 

Meghan McCloskey  21:36

oh, look where we are. We’re at your friend Ally’s house, the

 

21:41

world forestry, Discovery Museum. Discovery Museum. Yeah,

 

Meghan McCloskey  21:46

yay. So we should call, we’re gonna call Allie and see if she’s on campus today. Well, you’re

 

Jason Miller  21:51

doing that. I’m finding a trash Yeah?

 

Meghan McCloskey  21:54

Look how full the parking lot is like it’s

 

Jason Miller  21:57

already it’s all baby elephant, yeah, yeah,

 

Meghan McCloskey  22:01

for sure. I mean, I think that you can only see the elephant for like, a few hours today, like from 10 to one

 

Jason Miller  22:06

mind meld right now. Yes, what they’re really here for is the free shuttle. They’re here for the free shuttle.

 

Meghan McCloskey  22:13

Shuttle is an attraction. It’s an attraction. It’s not just a sunshine

 

Jason Miller  22:19

is cool and all like the baby elephant is neat, yeah, what they’re here, really here for is the free shuttle that is accessible to all, yes, and a new thing that just popped up into my awareness. Thanks to Scotty, okay, Scotty, come on in.

 

Meghan McCloskey  22:38

Hello, Scotty, hello. Nice to meet you. Hi. I’m Meghan 

 

Jason Miller  22:43

diesel media. Scotty Dimmick. He is a bright, shiny light and object, and he cuts together all the marketing for what matters podcast episodes I do, does a wonderful job. And he just announced to me, introduced a new idea. There’s a parkour there’s a parkour portion of Washington Park that never knew existed. What do you mean, like portion

 

Meghan McCloskey  23:06

you hurtle over rocks? Oh, yeah, in the Arboretum, those five stumps? Yeah?

 

Speaker 2  23:11

No, just right over here. And I think you have to yield parkour every

 

Speaker 3  23:14

time. You can’t wait to see I can’t wait to see that later. We’re doing it now.

 

Jason Miller  23:21

Okay? Thank you for taking so much of your time. And thank you Executive Director, Heather, Heather, what last name Carrie, for going for allowing us to go on a very to me, a very sacred and special adventure and experience. This is so

 

Meghan McCloskey  23:38

much fun. Thanks for Thanks for inviting me to do this. Yeah,

 

Jason Miller  23:43

so I wanted to put a lot of heart into this episode and and so I do, I did the same thing I do with my my daughters, which is, I create scavenger hunts that take them throughout and allow them to, you know, like get that curiosity and the mystery, and then in riddles and so forth. And so the scavenger hunt kicks off with this passage, which will, I don’t want to give you too many clues, but apparently, there’s a new attraction that is designed to welcome people right into the flow Washington Park. And so it’s a southern side. I don’t want to give too much away. Oh, what could it give too much away here? Now you know Washington Park extremely well, so none of this is going to be a wildly mysterious to you, but for those who are listening to this episode, allow this to be your scavenger hunt. You know that would be my invitation to anybody, okay? And so I’m gonna give you this. You get to read it. Okay? And then, and then we’ll continue our journey. Okay? So officially, the Washington Park explore Washington. Park scavenger hunt part one,

 

Meghan McCloskey  25:03

oh, right, and I’m reading it out loud, correct? Yeah, okay. As you enter Washington Park through its southern gateway, you step onto the ancestral lands of the chinookan speaking peoples, including the Multnomah and Clackamas tribes. The striking artwork here, created by Greg a Robinson of the Chinook nation honors his legacy. Its circular design and concentric rings symbolize the cycles of nature and flow layered with characters from ancient stories, this gateway is more than an entrance. It’s a portal to understanding, connecting us to the lands first stewards and the vibrant native community that shapes Portland today. I love that. Now, do I guess what it is?

 

Jason Miller  25:46

You can guess, or you can let your heart guide us there. Okay, let’s do you know where to go next? I do. Well, I think in the spirit of flow, while we’re on our way down there, maybe we could flow onto some parkour.

 

Meghan McCloskey  25:59

Take me to the parkour. I don’t know about the parkour.

 

Jason Miller  26:04

This is apparently a new attraction. It’s not even on the map yet. It’s not even in your weirdest No, let’s all thank Scotty Dimick, okay, lead editor for peaceful media and the marketing for what matters podcast, because we are now naming this park, Dimmick Park. Par Scotty, let’s go now. Have you ever done parkour? No, I have not. Okay. Do you know what it is? Yes, okay. Do you see, like, the Bond movies where they’re like,

 

26:35

yeah, yeah, it’s, it’s crazy,

 

Jason Miller  26:38

yeah, yeah. There’s lots of that. Okay,

 

26:42

so do you? Are you a parkour

 

26:44

person? I’m, I’m an amateur parkour watch. Oh, okay,

 

Meghan McCloskey  26:47

let’s see. Oh, be careful. Oh, oh yes, you are an amateur, nice. Okay,

 

26:58

that didn’t work, but this will

 

27:00

I look

 

Meghan McCloskey  27:03

at everyone watching.

 

Speaker 1  27:11

And now we arrive at Scotty dimmicks Parkour Park.

 

Meghan McCloskey  27:17

Look at these cars circling already at 10am

 

Jason Miller  27:19

Okay, So case in point, yes, exactly. Hey, we didn’t have to worry about that. We didn’t have to worry about parking No, hassle free. Now, when it comes to max ride, when it comes to the zoo lights, it’s like 10 Costcos in one parking lot. Oh, yeah, yeah, if they had a fuel station everywhere around here, it would look exactly like Costco. So Meghan, how many people per year come through Washington Park by train? Oh, gosh,

 

Meghan McCloskey  27:49

by train. I don’t know. Three and a half million come to the park, though,

 

27:56

pretty good, huh? Train? No,

 

Meghan McCloskey  27:57

not by train, okay, not by Peggy, the train, not

 

Jason Miller  28:00

by Peggy, okay, but by car, right? So most just That’s everybody. That’s everyone. Yes, people driving their vehicles here. That’s people hopping on max as people doing the TriMet busses. Those people walking and running up here, biking up here, yep. So what percentage this, this may be way too deep into the

 

Meghan McCloskey  28:20

analysis. Asking me questions that were not on the approach question list.

 

Jason Miller  28:27

It’s okay if you don’t know the answer to this. Will show it later. But generally speaking, what percentage of people coming to the park? Those three and a half million are using public transit, zoo visitors,

 

Meghan McCloskey  28:38

90% of them drive. Drive year round. Doesn’t matter if it’s rain or shine, summer, winter, 90% drive. So our goal, as an organization, pre pandemic, about 20% of park visitors took TriMet to the park, and that number, we’re just not back to those levels. So our goal is to get back to that place where 20% of people or more are taking public transit to the park, not driving beautiful.

 

Jason Miller  29:07

I love the intention of this. I love that we’re sitting on one of the industrial ages biggest polluters, and rethinking how we do how we do travel. So, Meghan, yeah. Once again, we have people kind of stocking up with these vehicles. We have sometimes, you know, you see two or three people in the car. Sometimes it’s one in a dog. Uh huh, you know? So, yeah. Again, we come back to that theme of how as communicators, marketers get that bad, right? We have to say, communicators, we’re just communicating. We’re trying to help people understand, and maybe it’s gently persuade them to consider public transit, yeah. What? What do you see as the biggest benefits? To public transit, and one of the in some of the biggest problems with driving your

 

Meghan McCloskey  30:08

car, we just okay. So we just sort of experienced the benefits. It’s fast, it’s easy, it’s stress free. Stress free. You’re not sitting looking. I mean, that is stressful. Coming in and looking at this parking lot with your kids in the back, thinking, I just want to see a baby elephant. What do I do? And and it’s inexpensive. You know, it costs us $2.80 kids under seven ride free on the max, and then ages seven to 17 have a discounted rate. So it’s, it’s really inexpensive,

 

Jason Miller  30:47

and you’re spending how much here for parking? Well, for the

 

Meghan McCloskey  30:51

for a day of parking, it’s, it’s close to 10 bucks. It’s nine something per hour. It’s $2.40 now rates were actually just raised in February for the first time in years. You guys

 

Jason Miller  31:05

are like the Adam Smith, the gentle hand of the market, saying, take public transit. Yes, take public transit, or you will pay more

 

Meghan McCloskey  31:18

everyone. So here we are. So

 

Jason Miller  31:21

do you feel like you have a hunch of where the first stop is? I think I have a hunch below the southern gateway to Washington Park. Yes,

 

Meghan McCloskey  31:31

we’re coming

 

Jason Miller  31:32

up on it. So tell us about this installation. You have any details about how this came to be well,

 

Meghan McCloskey  31:41

so Portland, this is Portland Parks and Recs project, and I think they needed a solution for storm water management. And, yeah, I mean, it’s a beautiful solution. I love that. It’s kind of art mixed with the function.

 

Jason Miller  32:03

Look at this. I know it’s functioning. That’s four minutes. Yeah,

 

Meghan McCloskey  32:08

there we go. Oh, actually, I haven’t seen that before. That’s so cool. Yeah,

 

Jason Miller  32:13

where is it sourcing that water? Just coming from underneath. Wow, that is gorgeous. Ah, I love this. Oh, look at this piece of art.

 

Meghan McCloskey  32:26

Here we are, wow, yeah, and we can read about it up here too. This is flow, yeah, by Greg a Robinson, Yellow Cedar cast glass and glass tiles. Oh, my. Inspired by the oh so inspired by the circular nature of the site of this area, as well as the chinookan characters and stories.

 

32:52

Oh my Meghan.

 

32:55

What is that?

 

Jason Miller  32:58

Should we check it out? Do you think we should, okay, would you like me to I’ll go get it across the crevasse here.

 

33:06

Well, played, wow. All right, wow.

 

Jason Miller  33:09

Well, am I reading it? I think we should explore what’s inside of it has significance to where we’re at. This looks like one of our peaceful godmothers. Godmother fairies may have placed it, we’ll see sage is useful for cleansing and renewal. In some of my deepest moments of despair in life, I found that going out to the desert and collecting sage, drying it out and bundling it just like our Native American brothers and sisters did, has a profoundly healing impact. So this must have been placed here for some reason, huh? Yeah, for some reason, as Portland is coming out of this deep what is it called the the dark storm of the night, the dark storm of the soul, good, yeah, yeah, as we come out of that and seek renewal, will let this, the smell of the sage, guide us to something lighter and brighter and new, sounds really good. And then look, look at this seems to be missing the bottom its other half. Yeah, I wonder. I wonder if that will ever come to completion on our scavenger hunt. Just an open question. Okay,

 

34:38

we’ll have to wait and see

 

Meghan McCloskey  34:41

some foreshadowing? Yes,

 

Jason Miller  34:42

well, we’re planting seeds here, right? Planting seeds in people’s consciousness that Portland is back, weird as hell, and better than ever. I love that. All right. Oh, look Meg. And another

 

35:00

clue.

 

Speaker 1  35:01

Weird, it’s it’s got a clue. Yay. Do I get to

 

Meghan McCloskey  35:05

read this one too? Please? Okay, let’s see here, humans reconnect with animals from around the world, fostering respect for all living beings. The Asian elephants remind us of the importance of conservation and coexistence. I think I have an idea. I do.

 

Jason Miller  35:23

I have no idea where an elephant would be an organ.

 

35:28

Should we follow our hearts to where we think the only

 

Jason Miller  35:32

thing to do? All right, wow. So fun. This peaceful, very godmothers, something special. Let’s go. Let’s go.

 

35:43

Oh, whoa. No

 

Jason Miller  35:45

wonder I was hearing all those animal noises. Here we are, the Oregon Zoo. Oh, what a treat. What a treat.

 

Speaker 4  35:56

Hello. How’s everybody doing? Your tickets? You’re hidden to the bottom

 

Meghan McCloskey  36:01

of the hill. This cafe is such a great place to come. And you know, you don’t need a ticket to to enjoy what’s in there, but it’s under construction. I think it’ll be okay open this spring, and it’ll be better than ever. Wow, oh, little tables outside, outside, a lot.

 

Jason Miller  36:22

Oh, this is just calling me. Is there a fire pit over there too?

 

Meghan McCloskey  36:24

Yeah, I think there is.

 

Jason Miller  36:27

Wow. You think about where flow is going as you’re communicating out in marketing, explore Washington Park, yeah, a lot of it is around the zoo, right? 80%

 

Meghan McCloskey  36:40

because it’s because so many people already know about the zoo, and a lot of people, when they get to Washington or when they get to the zoo, they don’t even realize they’re in Washington Park, you know, they don’t realize that there are all of these other great places to experience that are right next door, that are connected with our shuttle. So I think we’re starting to help people understand that the zoo is in Washington Park, and there’s so much more to explore than just the zoo, and this is amazing, and it’s so much fun to see. And, you know, it’s the top, I believe. I mean, you don’t quote me on this, but I believe it’s the top paid attraction in Oregon. Yeah, it’s a really big deal, and it’s obviously a huge, huge draw.

 

Jason Miller  37:23

As a Portland native who has kids, who’s always at the zoo, members of the zoo, you know, how many times have I stood in this circle, looked at these mountains, that mountain goat right there, Charlie, and yet have never even noticed the rooftop of the world forestry center. And I don’t want to give too many clues away, but you know, to your point, all of these attractions are worth a visit a standalone absolutely right? Yeah, so I would now that I’m aware that that’s there, we’re gonna make sure that our we’re distributing our activities and our our energy into all these 410 acres worth of attractions at Washington Park. Yeah,

 

Meghan McCloskey  38:09

I love that. And the world forestry Center has so many great things for kids. I mean, we were just on the train, there were kids on the train. They were super excited about it. They have all this new programming. Maybe Ally’s already told you about that, but they have all these fun craft days, and, you know, they’re really like, ramping up their kids activities. So I think it’d be a pretty fun afternoon and seamless to maybe come to the zoo and then have lunch, maybe at Cascade Cafe, and then pop over to world forestry center or something, or

 

Jason Miller  38:38

make a picnic and go up to the wedding meadow. Absolutely,

 

Meghan McCloskey  38:41

yeah, take the shuttle. Oh, okay, is that we’re foreshadowing again, foreshadowing. Oh, wait.

 

38:49

Oh, hey, how’s it going? Oh,

 

Speaker 3  38:53

what’s going on here? Something for you here. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thanks so much. Oh, my gosh. What is it should I pull Oh, here we go. How do we open this? There we go. This looks cool. Are these like little bookmarks? Oh, how cute? Are they bookmarks? Very cool. I’ll

 

Jason Miller  39:24

hold that while you’re reading this next clue. Wow. How random Do you think? Oh, it’s my little secret. Maybe we’ll do a special commercial for the antique store from which most of this game. I mean, supposedly, I know that doesn’t look

 

Meghan McCloskey  39:44

like it came from the zoo gift shop, but I love

 

Jason Miller  39:47

they are yours to keep too amazing.

 

Speaker 3  39:49

Oh, thank you. I love bookmarks. Is it

 

Jason Miller  39:53

normal for just zoo employees to just randomly show up with scavenger hunt? Please?

 

Meghan McCloskey  39:58

No, that’s not normal. A weird this is a very special occasion, special day, okay, this museum stands as a bridge between humanity and forests, teaching us to cherish and protect these vital ecosystems for future generations. All right, where that

 

Jason Miller  40:16

sounds really familiar to me, I think we were just talking about I think we were just talking about it, and I’m gonna break fourth wall here. If you guys haven’t seen the podcast episode with Allie Gannett and the world forestry center Episode 16, please click on the little video card up here. Pop on over to that one and see how we’re helping them get more exposure, get more people in to rent their space at the World forestry center. It’s an awesome episode. You ready? I’m ready.

 

40:47

Let’s do

 

40:50

1. Oh, okay,

 

Jason Miller  40:53

okay. Meghan, the zoo is awesome. We got some clues. You have a sense. Does your heart know where to go next. My heart knows exactly where to go. Okay, well, I’m just gonna follow your lead.

 

Meghan McCloskey  41:06

We’re gonna loop around here. We’re gonna we’re gonna go right past our free shuttle stop and our visitor information booth, which is closed for the season right now, but it opens me more, yeah, Memorial Day. Now,

 

Jason Miller  41:19

do you guys have a map or anything that helps people understand the scope and attractions. Is there anywhere where I could see a

 

Meghan McCloskey  41:27

map? Yes, we will walk right past this visitor information booth and we can grab it right there.

 

Jason Miller  41:35

Is it in your brand colors? Yes, oh, wow.

 

Meghan McCloskey  41:39

Okay, here’s the so the new mark is actually, we just put that sign up the other day. So the new mark is there. It’s sort of a slow transition. Oh, and they just peeled off our old logo on the top. But that’s the new Washington Park mark. It’s supposed to look like a map for sort of explore exploring Washington Park, you bet. And then this sort of looks like a W, um, oh, hey, I know. Isn’t that cool? I love

 

Jason Miller  42:06

when there’s layers in a logo and a mark. Yes, we have

 

Meghan McCloskey  42:10

zoo area of the park. We have forest area of the park, which includes world forestry center and Hawaii Arboretum. And then we have the gardens, which is Rose Garden, Portland Japanese garden, and then this area represents the reservoir, which will be open this spring, right?

 

Jason Miller  42:24

Yeah. I’m really curious about what they’re doing with the reservoir. It’s, yeah, it’s going to

 

Meghan McCloskey  42:29

be beautiful there. It will look like a reflecting pool with paths that and some other water features, wow.

 

Jason Miller  42:37

So way more than just a place to store a water yeah, it’s an attraction. No wonder it gets its own little fold of the map. Yes, awesome is you want to do a shout out for the agency or teams? Did the brand identity work? Yes, sparks and Sullivan did this. Sparks and Sullivan, are they a local firm? Local? Yep, they’re a husband

 

Meghan McCloskey  42:57

and wife, partner shop, local go, and they’ve done a lot in Portland. Yeah, they did the Portland airport,

 

Jason Miller  43:07

really. Oh, wow, prolific. They’re doing fabulous work. Yes, this is really lovely. Okay, oh my gosh. Look a map, a map. So now that we have a map I have, I love this. This part of your guys’ map, yeah. Top five selfie moments, yeah.

 

Meghan McCloskey  43:25

Top five selfie spots. We need to take some selfies.

 

Jason Miller  43:28

This is the first time I’ve seen a warm, warm welcome signage for everyone. Yeah,

 

Meghan McCloskey  43:36

yeah. We welcome all ages, all races and ethnicities, all cultures, all sizes and abilities, all beliefs, all genders and identities, all people. I love that. Shout out to Allie. I’m sure she got together.

 

Jason Miller  43:51

Yeah, and even if you have the ability to do parkour, you are welcome here,

 

Meghan McCloskey  43:56

absolutely all abilities.

 

Jason Miller  43:59

So this is there anything you have you noticed any fairy activity going on here, like fairies placing clues or anything? Because we’re just, we’re searching, oh, for we’re searching high and low clue. Oh, wow, look what I found.

 

44:19

Oh, wow. Barry must have dropped this off, oh,

 

Speaker 3  44:22

or something like, what’s in there? Amazing. The time

 

Meghan McCloskey  44:31

cone, very, okay, very appropriate. And what

 

44:38

do we have in here? Oh,

 

Speaker 3  44:41

that’s adorable. Oh, what? This is so cool. Good necklace with an owl on it. Is that one? Yeah? Oh my gosh, I love this big

 

Jason Miller  44:51

part of that, yeah, big part of Oregon’s heritage. Yeah,

 

44:56

owls, yes.

 

Speaker 4  44:59

1. 1000s of hours, can definitely see, oh,

 

Meghan McCloskey  45:03

and a squirrel or chipmunk? Is this a squirrel or a chipmunk? Do you think,

 

Jason Miller  45:07

I think it’s subjective? Okay, yeah,

 

45:12

I’m gonna say

 

Jason Miller  45:13

every scientist in the world, every every scientist in the world watching this on YouTube goes down. There’s

 

Meghan McCloskey  45:21

stuff inside rock or Chris rocks or crystals. Crystals

 

Jason Miller  45:26

there were specifically chosen by the fairy godmothers husband for grounding. Wow. And

 

Speaker 4  45:33

healing, healing properties, wow. Those are some, some nice crystals there.

 

Jason Miller  45:39

So if you want to get a little woo, woo here. Okay, sure, because it’s all about integration, how humans integrate with nature, with these beautiful, majestic trees that Oregon is so so home to. You think about Oregon. You think about our license plate. It’s got these beautiful fir trees, you know, Adorning it everywhere you look here, just from this VISTA, right here, looking out, everything is evergreen trees. So when you come here in the winter, yes, the skies are pretty gray, right? And it’s probably going to be wet, but you have this beautiful green landscape, this green horizon saying, well, we’ll be back. We’ll be back.

 

46:23

And yes,

 

Jason Miller  46:24

and so, you know, the trees have access to the clouds and the spirit and the sun, the ground, which is the crystals here, representing the ground, reminds us to keep, keep our hands in the soil and source, source from Mother Nature. So we source ideas at the top of the tree. We source that grounding energy from the roots and the mycelial network and the roots that are all connected to create a resilient human being, resilient ecosystem and resilient tree. It’s all connected, all right, so what

 

Speaker 3  47:01

is this, and it’s a clue, okay, should someone else read the

 

47:08

clue? Scotty,

 

Meghan McCloskey  47:13

do you want to read the Yeah,

 

Jason Miller  47:16

anonymous, anonymous,

 

Speaker 4  47:19

okay, at this solemn sight, we honor the courage and sacrifice of those who served in the Vietnam War. This memorial dedicated in 1987 stands as a testament to Portland’s commitment to remembering all veterans, including the 57,000 Oregonians who served in Vietnam, the curved black granite wall etched with the names of fallen soldiers reflects our own images as we read, reminding us that their stories are interwoven with our community’s history. As we stand here, let us reflect on the complexities of war, the resilience of the human spirit and our ongoing responsibility to support veterans and work towards peace. Thank you. There you go. Do you good luck to figure it out

 

Jason Miller  48:16

that’s a tough one. Do you mind if we get a close up of the beautiful pins you have. Oh sure, yeah. I don’t know if you’ve seen office space, but we call that flare. Oh yeah, flare, oh yes. If I’m to give Portland a rebrand, I would include the word, the keyword, flare. So we’ve done again. We’ve done a whole episode on marketing for what matters on the world forestry center with Ali Gannett, again, highly recommend watching that episode. Really, really fun. Getting to know this museum for the first time, again, as a Portland native, we’ve got to distribute some of this energy that the zoo gets out to all the attractions. Yeah. So, ah, little homage to the Japanese influences that we feel we experience throughout Portland. I feel like Bailey, Bailey, heavy equipment repair incorporated in Lexington, Oregon, is really going to love the shout out being part of the machinery vibe. They

 

Meghan McCloskey  49:20

have a really great space upstairs. Have you seen the art museum? Yeah, or the art they always have a new artist

 

Jason Miller  49:28

up there. Yeah, we have a lot of fun up there for such a

 

Meghan McCloskey  49:31

low cost. I mean, it’s five to $8 to see all of this. That’s

 

Jason Miller  49:36

it, right there. So do you know where your heart’s calling, you know, I do.

 

Meghan McCloskey  49:41

Okay. It’s a beautiful space, just this way, really cool, if you ever take time. I mean, so the their names of the soldiers on there, but then up above there, it’s sort of like a narrative, stories of things. That were happening in Oregon at the time of the war. So it’s really like this stark sort of contrast between, like, you know what’s happening in Vietnam, versus just sort of life goes on here in Oregon. Yeah, yeah. It’s really interesting to read, if you ever get a chance?

 

Jason Miller  50:21

I don’t know how long that’s gonna last, but this looks to be there our next clue, and looks like we have some dog tags speaking to what you were just describing, the history of each of these individuals who sacrificed for our country, and I want to honor and acknowledge the people who lost their lives on whatever other side of the war we’re facing. Because tell you, visiting Ho Chi Minh, it’s not called the Vietnam War there, you know and acknowledge that everybody was fighting for what they believed in as a worthy cause. Country, being one of them, they were too. What’s next? A Hummingbird. Hummingbird, yes,

 

51:23

that’s beautiful. And look

 

Jason Miller  51:27

so the hummingbird is a beautiful symbol of transcendence and kind of moves beyond, moves in between, spirits, spirit realms, with messages. And then I feel like every time you look around in Washington Park here, you’re getting a message again, that idea of flow being one of the central themes, everything being circular,

 

Meghan McCloskey  51:53

looks like you got another clue. Okay, we got another clue. How exciting. Since 1924 these roses have symbolized Portland’s moniker as the city of roses. Each bloom carries whispers of the city’s history diversity and the beauty that unites its people. I think we’re going to the Rose Garden. Oh,

 

Jason Miller  52:15

you know your part. Wow. All right, well, we’re gonna see if we can catch the shuttle, which is, is it free? It’s totally

 

52:22

free. Well, you do not have to pay to ride the shuttle. Golly,

 

Speaker 1  52:26

everyone, the Washington Park shuttle is free.

 

Meghan McCloskey  52:33

Just like this space here to enjoy. It’s all free.

 

Jason Miller  52:36

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Already noticing is big leg room and a wheelchair friendly access to the free shuttle. Yep, yeah, it’s great, yeah. So truly this little hidden gem that helps people get all that circulate, yeah, in a loop all the way around Washington Park. Yeah, it’s truly accessible for everyone. Do you want to go cruise up to our next stop? Yeah, let’s

 

Meghan McCloskey  53:13

do it. I’m excited. I forget where we’re going to the Rose Garden,

 

Jason Miller  53:17

right? Yes, yes. I had no idea, but until the clue just showed up in our lives.

 

Meghan McCloskey  53:24

Okay? Well, this will be fun. It’s, you know, I think the shuttle is sort of an attraction in itself. It doesn’t have to be just for function. I sometimes tell people, if you want to get a lay of the land and check out everything that Washington Park has to offer and just kind of get a sense of how big it is too. Just take the shuttle on its loop. It’s like a 25 minute loop, and it’s really beautiful through the trees. And, yeah, it’s fun.

 

Jason Miller  53:53

So what other programs do you guys offer at explore Washington Park that makes this truly accessible for everyone, everyone in Portland and beyond,

 

Meghan McCloskey  54:04

one big program that we’re doing right now. We call it the transit pass program. We work with Metro and the Federal Transit Administration to subsidize TriMet passes. We provide TriMet passes for individuals who are living on a low income or people of color, people living with disabilities, people who are non native English speakers, and people who are dependent on public transportation due to lack of access to private cars. So it’s a really broad group that we’re able to provide these transit passes too. They can use those passes for travel to and from Washington Park. They can request them right through our website, directly from us, or through community organizations that might be supporting them. We partner with a lot of local communities to provide those passes in bulk for the. And to then distribute to their Yeah, their communities, yeah.

 

Jason Miller  55:03

How do you get the word out about that? As you know, marketing, yeah, well,

 

Meghan McCloskey  55:08

we do a lot. I mean, we have, obviously, our website and our social media, but we, because we partner with these organizations, a lot of times, will invite us to appear at their events. We’ll have a table there, and we’ll be distributing to their communities there. We’ve worked with, we’ve worked with companies to put out 32nd commercials about the program, and it’s all funded through a grant. So we’re able to, we’re able to do a lot, actually, yeah. And then we also have a parking validation code program. We have a handful of parking validation codes that we can distribute to people living on a low income. All they have to do is request them through our website, and they essentially get free parking. Need it.

 

Jason Miller  55:56

Wow. Okay, yeah. So explore Washington park.org. Is a place to kind of go explore all these options, correct? Yeah, absolutely.

 

Meghan McCloskey  56:04

And I want to tell you about one more that is, I mean, there, yeah, viewers, listeners, will have to have to go to our website, but because there’s so much, but one program that organizations, big organizations, like the zoo and Portland Japanese garden participate in is the arts for all program. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but it’s where folks who are receiving government assistance, people living on a low income, they have to show, all I have to do is show their Oregon Trail card and they get like, $5 tickets to the Portland Japanese garden. Normally those tickets are $22 so they get a huge discount. That’s one way that we also we try to kind of get the word out about that. We have information on our website too, but it’s another way to make the park accessible and available to everyone, because everyone should be able to experience nature and enjoy nature. Get

 

Jason Miller  57:05

into the flow? Yes,

 

Meghan McCloskey  57:06

the flow, the theme of the

 

Speaker 3  57:07

day. The theme of the day. Yeah, this entire thing sponsored by flow.

 

Meghan McCloskey  57:15

We’re working to secure grant funding to update our website, which I think I told you about before this interview, but hoping to make that website more equity centered, more accessible, so that the content itself is is more accessible, but also the information we’re sharing, so like which trails are paved and what do Each what does each shuttle stop look like, so that people kind of know whether or not they’re able to access it. Because something I’ve learned recently is that accessibility can mean something different to everyone. So instead of just saying, Oh, this is accessible, we’re starting to think about maybe just showing what things look like, and then someone can decide for themselves whether it’s accessible to them,

 

Jason Miller  58:04

right? Would video content help there? Absolutely, you know, you kind of see it in context, and you it’s not just a static, yeah, image trying to tell an entire story. It’s like, do a 360 or drone, definitely, like, interact with the sort of illustration of the park also see, like, what does that look like in person? Yes, right, absolutely.

 

Meghan McCloskey  58:26

So that’s the plan. We’re hoping to do that at all the shuttle stops, and then even at our off site parking lots, like we were talking about before, the lots that take people down to the zoo. There are areas of those lots that have a little bit of gravel, or, you know, I think it’s helpful for people to be able to see the size of the parking spaces. And, yeah, so we’re hoping to do all of that nice. Yeah,

 

Jason Miller  58:53

I remember what I wanted to share with you. This is useful for Scotty to hear too. Okay, so as we talked about prior to this flow state interview, we do what’s called a double click segment in our podcast where we try to develop or integrate or enhance something in your digital presence, your marketing, your communications, your website as a give and I can’t think of a better organization than explore Washington Park to give something like that too. And and we, like we discussed, we want to create a small commercial that helps tell the story that we’re doing today in in long form, but condense that down to small snackables, little people can go to get a little tidbit that helps them understand, like you said, makes it feel like, Oh, that’s really accessible to me. Oh, that’s that’s a really good idea. I’m going to save a bunch of money. I’m going to save a bunch of stress and anxiety. I’m don’t have to bust with parking. So that’s the commercial where we’re going to. Follow up with you. For you, yes,

 

Speaker 3  1:00:01

yeah, so excited about that. Yeah, we talked

 

Jason Miller  1:00:05

about your website. Maybe it doesn’t make sense to integrate it into the website as it is today, because we know it’s going to be changing dramatically. Yeah, but what we can do is at least produce that commercial for you and let you deploy that wherever it makes sense in the meantime, that’s

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:00:23

amazing. Yeah, I think it’s so important. I mean, you know, to be consistent when you’re messaging one in one of your services or programs. You know, it builds trust, and there’s so many reasons to do it, but I think we’re sort of all over the place with because there are so many reasons to take transit to the park, and we’re the way we’re talking about it now, we’re just sort of all over the place. So I’m excited to sort of have one like, this is the way. And these are the reasons. You know, these are the top

 

Jason Miller  1:00:59

reasons, yeah, and then, and then source, like, you were talking about, like, we, there’s so many different ways to think about accessibility that’s gonna mean something different to somebody else. Yeah. Well, same thing with marketing, like, Yeah, you think you have a message, it’s gonna land for an audience, yeah? And you go out and you put it out there and like, it’s not hitting the mark, you can tell objectively, like, we’re not getting click through, we’re not getting engagement, we’re not getting whatever. And so with this one, I wonder if it was useful for us to have conversations with enough of a sample of your demographics and get an understanding of what it means to like, what are the top reasons for them to avoid the parking lot. Rigmarole, yeah, get on public transit. What are the biggest concerns they have with public transit? Yeah. And I know you aren’t representing TriMet, right, per se, or Yeah, or whatever, but still, yeah, we have to be a bridge. Yeah. Explore Washington Park is a bridge. Yeah,

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:01:57

yeah, yeah. And we, our organization, actually does surveying in the park twice a year in the summer. We asked people just what you were talking about. We asked them about their thoughts on public transit. Did you take public transit today? How’d you get here? Do you plan on taking it in the future? And sort of what we’ve heard recently is probably just what you’d expect. You know, there are concerns about safety and cleanliness, and it’s all just like the their perception. I don’t know if they’ve necessarily been on it recently or not. So I think this in particular, this what we’re doing here. Well, hell. Help will help people see, at least from from the sunset train at Transit Center, how nice and easy and safe and regenerative,

 

Jason Miller  1:02:52

clean and regenerative, yeah, versus taking away energy, yeah, yeah.

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:02:57

So yeah, some of the concerns are like, the amount of time it takes, and,

 

Jason Miller  1:03:05

yeah, for public transit,

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:03:07

yeah, I guess if you’re not, if you have to change, it depends on where you live, right? If you have to change lines. Or, I think the kid having little kids too, but I don’t know, I don’t think, I think it my kids, anyway, enjoy the

 

Jason Miller  1:03:23

maps they love. It’s a cultural experience. Yeah? You know, get out of our bubbles. Get out of our literal metal bubbles. Yeah? Driving down the road, ice in isolation. Yeah? No. Zero integration, zero connection with the rest of humanity. And then the

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:03:40

sustainability piece like there. It’s just the right thing

 

Speaker 5  1:03:43

to do. Thank you. Bye. Bye.

 

1:03:46

Good Lord,

 

Jason Miller  1:03:47

that looks fun. Wow, is there an archery range. Did you know there’s an archery range? Of course, I didn’t.

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:03:57

I don’t think you’ve asked me about all the hidden gems yet, so that would be

 

Jason Miller  1:04:02

some more. Okay, so remind me that clue,

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:04:05

okay, the clue is the Rose Garden, right? Yeah, there are no roses this time of year, but there’s the Rose Garden, the rose bushes. All right, all right. Well, that was

 

Jason Miller  1:04:17

a wonderful ride. That was, I had no idea that it was so fun and easy to just shuttle around all around Washington Park, and it’s 410, acres. So what led you here?

 

1:04:30

This clue?

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:04:33

Should I read it? Yeah, since 1924 these roses have symbolized Portland’s moniker as the city of roses, each bloom carries whispers of the city’s history, diversity and the beauty that unites its people.

 

Jason Miller  1:04:49

Let’s go see let’s go feel these Portland roses.

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:04:53

I actually, I love being here this time of year, even though there are no roses, it’s just. So it’s still such a nice place to walk through. And then you can see the view of Mount Hood and the city skyline. It’s really unique area. So I

 

Jason Miller  1:05:09

imagine this is also one of those massive international tour, you know, tourist attractions. Yes, absolutely is the International

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:05:19

Yeah, I don’t remember if I’ve told you this before, but about 60% of the tourists that we survey in the park tell us that Washington Park played a big role in their decision to visit the city of Portland. So there are lots of people coming to Portland because of Washington Park, which is pretty cool, right?

 

Jason Miller  1:05:39

And as a reminder, as you’re traveling to Portland, obviously through PDX or Portland International Airport, which is so gorgeous. Oh, I know. Oh, yeah,

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:05:51

I just want to hang out there. I don’t need to go anywhere.

 

Jason Miller  1:05:54

I know, like, can I just have an eight hour lay over there? Yeah. So you arrive, there’s some really, really great construction in Portland, and just thinking about how people move around, and I just feel like it’s still, it’s untapped, right? So you get off the your flight from wherever, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, and you walk out of your gate, Hi,

 

Speaker 3  1:06:23

we are wow. Oh, is it this or this? It’s both. Oh, thank you so much. How fun. How magical. Wow. This is so magical. Whoa,

 

Jason Miller  1:06:38

whoa, whoa, okay, I’ll come back to the Portland airport story and hear how Washington Park integrates with PDX. Okay. What is going on here? Fairies, this

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:06:46

is a very interesting every Rose has its Thorn. Brett Michaels, who’s that guy?

 

Speaker 3  1:06:56

Yeah, right. Okay. So what does that mean? Well, that’s so interesting. So rose

 

Jason Miller  1:07:02

water, I’ll tell you this, it connects deeply with a ritual My family has, oh, around the dinner table or meal, we play a little exercise called roses and thorns. You played it? Yeah, absolutely. And when I think of Washington Park and its attractions. Obviously, the zoo is one. When we think about all of these attractions, it’s so kid friendly. It’s so family friendly. And this, for me, at least, I have no idea what this fairy was thinking, but for me, it connects to that exercise of connecting, going underneath the surface of, how is your how’s your day, kind of stuff, right? What, who did you play with at recess? Kind of stuff. And talking a little bit about, you know, the good and the bad, which, you know, connects to poison in a deep, deep way. It sounds like I didn’t know this Brett, Michael’s guy was, but he was on to something. Yeah,

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:08:01

he was, well, I love rose and Thorn, or roses and thorns. We do that at the dinner table too, and actually do that with my staff and our one on ones like at work, we start with what’s your rose and Thorn for the week? So we can just know kind of where we’re coming from and how we’re how we’re showing up. You sound

 

Jason Miller  1:08:18

like you work at peaceful media. All right, wait,

 

1:08:23

oh, my

 

Jason Miller  1:08:24

goodness sakes.

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:08:29

Ooh, that’s nice.

 

Jason Miller  1:08:31

Don’t tell me that’s rose water. It must be rose water.

 

1:08:35

Wow,

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:08:38

that smells good. How appropriate. It’s very appropriate.

 

Jason Miller  1:08:41

Every thorn has its rose. And

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:08:44

what about this? Should we look in here? Oh, I think I have an idea. You do? I think I know already. Oh, but I will. Yeah, this is so cool. Okay, so it’s a little teapot,

 

1:09:00

perhaps a Japanese teapot. Let’s see, maybe. So should I read it?

 

Jason Miller  1:09:07

Yes, I think before you do that, maybe we should,

 

1:09:10

oh, fill it up. Let’s do it and

 

Jason Miller  1:09:13

sprinkle it on something that’s not going to die from rose water. Okay, what would you like to nurture if you’re thinking about, let’s, let’s imagine you are Mother Nature, okay? And you are looking at the City of Portland and saying, yeah, there’s a rebirth happening here. You just needs to be nurtured. It needs to be watered. This idea needs to be watered. What would you water? Mother Nature? What idea mother Meghan nature? I don’t know. Sorry,

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:09:44

I will not put this in any actual roses. Let’s

 

Jason Miller  1:09:47

meditate on it. Okay, yeah, we’ll just think on our own it while you read the next clip.

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:09:53

All right, in circles like this, native elders passed down stories, keeping history and tradition alive through. Oral storytelling. Each tale was a thread in the rich tapestry of indigenous culture.

 

Jason Miller  1:10:07

I have an idea. I have an idea. There’s a place. While we’re walking down here, I’m going to tell you a little bit about how this, this place, became special to me. Okay, it’s it’s connecting some dots for me. Okay, so we’re gonna go where you and I are gonna combine our forces. Okay? Kind of think of like the two Pisces fish just circulating, right? You got the feminine, you got the masculine. Okay, we got this little gift to Portland as a reminder to everyone who’s forgotten that Portland is amazing. It just needs to be nurtured. So this plaque reads, in a garden, the kiss of the Sun for pardon, the song of the birds for mirth, one is near God’s heart in a garden than anywhere else on Earth. It’s a poem by Dorothy gurney. So I’m going to nurture that this Portland, Portland is a place to come and rest, find peace, find joy, find love, and all the things that we’re nurturing here, amazing, ready, Yes, Awesome, and so it is. Now let’s talk about the story of the circle. Okay, all right. Would you mind reading that again? Yeah,

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:11:30

in circles like this, native elders passed down stories keeping history and tradition alive through oral storytelling. Each tale was a thread in the rich tapestry of indigenous over here.

 

1:11:42

Oh, Harken

 

1:11:45

Harkin, we are Harken

 

Speaker 1  1:11:55

the crows. The crows seem to be calling his name, thought, Ka,

 

1:12:02

Ka, it a

 

1:12:06

clue? Do you want to climb on my dock? What

 

Speaker 3  1:12:08

really Are you sure? Okay, come on. Oh my gosh. Okay.

 

1:12:12

No tipping. Okay, good job. Okay.

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:12:18

We only just met today.

 

1:12:21

Best friends.

 

1:12:28

Oh, thank you so much. Oh, wow, thank you. This is amazing. Wherever

 

Jason Miller  1:12:37

you are, Fairy Godmother, we feel seen, we feel heard. You’re speaking to us.

 

1:12:45

This is so cool.

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:12:46

Can we open it? We sit down and open Yeah,

 

Speaker 6  1:12:51

joining us. Yeah, of course, yeah. What do you love about Portland? I love being outside. Also. I love being inside when it’s raining. I don’t mind the rain, you know, and staying cozy inside, especially if you have a little wood fire going, right? Yeah, little fire, a little beer,

 

Jason Miller  1:13:07

you know, right? Ooh, ooh, that’s just about does anyone else around the world know that Portland makes a dang good beer?

 

Speaker 6  1:13:14

I think that the world should know. And if the world is listening, y’all need to come to Portland for some of the best beer

 

Jason Miller  1:13:21

ever. And if you aren’t into the hops, but you’re into the grapes,

 

1:13:25

you got the vino baby

 

1:13:32

spokesman. This is not a hired

 

Jason Miller  1:13:33

actor. This is just all organic. And this is exactly what you come to Portland for. Yeah, this is what you come to expect. Yeah, yeah. Kind people picnic with my family,

 

Speaker 6  1:13:45

and it was like, oh, scavenger hunt. I want to do a clue. I was like,

 

Jason Miller  1:13:54

I love it. Okay, well, let’s, let’s dive into this clue. Hey, you understand what’s to come Meghan, would you mind pulling out the clue that we were using to even find this place? Yeah, maybe, maybe our friend. What’s your name? Blake? Blake, so nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. Now that we’re in a circle together, yeah, we can have you read. Oh, okay, this is what led us here. Great.

 

Speaker 6  1:14:17

In circles like this. Native elders passed down stories keeping history and tradition alive through moral storytelling, each tale was a thread in the rich tapestry of indigenous culture.

 

Jason Miller  1:14:34

So I can only imagine why these things were chosen by the fairy godmother that put the put together the scavenger hunt. But to me, as we were talking about earlier, and as you’re showing us right now, having your child here, telling stories, immersing in nature, allows us to create a news story, a new story that’s. Emerging about Portland and the Pacific Northwest, where today’s episode has really been about the metamorphosis, the healing, the rebirth of Portland, Oregon, and how the Washington Park attractions help create that beautiful, magical experience of what we love about this area. Yeah, and we also need to recognize that chinook and peoples, this was their land, this is their land, and we’re walking upon it. We’re developing Roads, we’re developing places, and I and I think it’s important to note that Washington Park has done a fabulous job of recognizing that and continues to explore how we tell that story right the entrance to the park from the south is a tribute to the flow and the peoples that found their found their everything here, their soul, their Beauty, their food, their shelter that’s found here and this, let’s just imagine that this, we pull it in tight. This is the circle of the elders connecting with their young ones, telling the story of how we create unity and wholeness and hold it sacred in our hands. So let’s, let’s pass this around. We’ll put the little baby, put the little baby in there, and we’ll just pass this around and just hold that, hold that space for the new story of unity, wholeness, connection and rebirth. Thank

 

1:16:42

you. Yeah. Yes Very well said.

 

Jason Miller  1:16:46

I look forward to passing that story, this story, to my kiddos, your kiddos, your kiddos, whomever it looks like, there’s another clue. And Blake, you might just be the perfect, perfect person to read it,

 

Speaker 6  1:17:00

I would be honored. Alright. Step into this space of tranquility and harmony where every stone and plant reflects centuries of Japanese tradition. It is a place to reflect on the cultural exchanges that enrich our city.

 

1:17:21

Where could it be? The

 

Speaker 6  1:17:25

Fairy Godmother will have to vibe you in the right direction.

 

Jason Miller  1:17:29

Did you just vibe us out?

 

1:17:34

The Fairy Godmother?

 

Jason Miller  1:17:38

The Fairy Godmother has recruited i All right, we shall go follow our hearts to that next step in our dreams. Experience. What a blast.

 

1:17:52

Great to meet you.

 

Meghan McCloskey  1:17:55

Enjoy this sunny afternoon.

 

Jason Miller  1:17:56

Guess who I just found seems to be some sort of ring leader. I don’t know. I don’t know, but I saw her frolicking around over here on these steps, and so we’re gonna interview her to figure out if she knows how to tap into this mystical goodness. I appreciate that. All right, so what were you I just overheard some whispers to Meghan, what were you just sharing

 

Speaker 7  1:18:25

that it was such a joy to come here and organize people who are already here enjoying Washington Park, because they as soon as I engaged anyone In this scavenger hunt. People were so excited to participate in anything Washington Park. It is obvious that people just have this sense of pride of ownership and community about this space, and it just felt really good.

 

Jason Miller  1:18:57

Couldn’t sit couldn’t have said it better myself, that is exactly what I experienced as these random people dropped little fairy goodness into our life. It was just magical

 

Speaker 7  1:19:07

well, and all the employees, everyone who, everyone who I talked to on staff, also just what an amazing thing. It doesn’t happen very often, where everyone just seems like they’re really, really, really enjoying their job.

 

Jason Miller  1:19:23

Yeah, we spoke to that too. Meghan’s like, I get

 

1:19:27

paid to do

 

Speaker 3  1:19:31

it’s kind of weird, like I would do this for free, right?

 

Jason Miller  1:19:34

I don’t know about that part, but Heather, if you’re watching, right, Executive Director, Heather. She needs to be paid a lot. She’s really good at what she does. Okay, thanks. You’re welcome. All right, so we are continuing. We just got a clue from these strangers, former strangers, Now friends, and it’s guiding us somewhere up here, I think Meghan. Knows the way, the way knows the way, the

 

Speaker 7  1:20:02

way knows the way, the way knows the way. Good luck on your journey. And as as Blake just said, I hope you find the mystical goodness you’re looking for me too.

 

Jason Miller  1:20:16

And there she goes. There she goes. Are you gonna use the accessible ramp. Welcome, welcome, welcome. We’re wrapping up what’s turned out to be day one of dates of two days shoot for marketing. Quote matters with my new homegirl, Meghan, that late in Fusion five media, Nick from fusion five media did a fabulous job of being spontaneous in flow and beautiful concert with everything that was presented today. Well done, guys,

 

Speaker 8  1:20:49

thanks. Yeah, there’s a great moment. The energy was great all day. Meghan, you were amazing. The sun’s out, Sun’s in, oh my gosh, 65 degrees. Yeah.

 

Jason Miller  1:20:58

Portland really cooperated today. Yeah, Portland really showed up. Yeah, yeah. Well, hold on. We’ll see you for segment two of this episode, and looking forward to this peace.

 

Fran  1:21:12

Thank you for tuning in to our podcast. Marketing for what matters. You can find us on Apple, Spotify, Google or Pandora. Love the show, leave us a review and follow us on social media at peaceful media to stay up to date about new episodes and as always, thank you to this earth for giving us all we’ve ever needed. See you next time you.