Our Sellwood/Westmoreland neighborhood is a wonderful place to live and do business.  Even in a city known for its strong neighborhoods there’s a special warmth and vibrancy that sets Sellwood apart, but this weekend, August 6^th, you can expect even more.  This weekend brings the 5^th Annual “Passport to Sellwood” event, a day filled with food, music and dancing at three stages, new discoveries, people finally getting out to enjoy the summer weather, and THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN VALUABLE PRIZES!

The centerpiece of the Passport event is the passport booklet itself, which you can get at just about any business in Sellwood.  Now the fun begins… take the passport to any business in the area and get it stamped (no purchase required).  The more stamps you get, the more prizes you can win!

• If you collect 10 stamps, you can enter a drawing for gift certificates at over 100 neighborhood businesses.
• Getting stamps from 16 or more businesses bumps you to the next level, where you can enter drawings for one of FOUR grand prizes, including two nights for two at The Resort At The Mountain!
• The person collecting the MOST stamps wins a special prize package worth $900!

Along with the festivities in the main business district, there are two other places you ought to know about…

• The Passport Village gives you a chance to meet some of the people and businesses who are outside the main walking area of Sellwood.  Look for the big inflatable Oregonian Puppy, and listen for the music coming from the Passport Village stage all day.
• The Community Health Fair (from 10a-2p)brings you together with all the health and wellness businesses hidden throughout the neighborhood.  Get FREE health screenings, $5 bike helmets, music, a water slide, a teddy bear clinic, farmers market booths, and more.

Now, Passport is going to be fun no matter what, but we want all our Tom Dwyer Automotive clients to know the inside tips that will really push you over the top.  Don’t tell anyone, but…

• You get ONE passport stamp for going into any of the participating businesses, but there’s a list of restaurants, cafes, and food carts in the Passport event brochure that will give you and EXTRA STAMP with a purchase.
• You can pick up 11 STAMPS at once at Passport Village, where all the businesses represented there will gladly stamp your passport.
• Hidden throughout the neighborhood are 3 “Kaboom” stamps, worth 3 STAMPS each.  We can’t tell you where they are (because we don’t know) but many people won’t know they exist at all.

That’s all the basics but you can get more info on how to play, a list of all the participating businesses, and a list of all the prizes when you get the Passport To Sellwood flyer from the Sellwood Westmoreland Business Alliance website, or when you pick up your copy on the day of the event.  We hope to see you there, and GOOD LUCK!