Learnings from Portland Pride Festival

This past weekend, Selkie Sam, Elizabeth, Nicole, and I represented Wild Waters at the Portland Pride Festival. I originally applied for a vendor spot at Pride because I'm both a queer small business owner, but I also wanted to showcase open water adventure opportunities (as well as the Quackpacker) to a community that doesn't get a lot of positive exposure in swimming.

Friday afternoon, Nicole and I dropped everything off at our booth with the plan to return Saturday morning and set up the whole tent. Needless to say, I was worried overnight and slept poorly, nervous about vending at a non-swimming event. I was also very concerned that someone would hop the security fencing and make off with some foam heads wearing swim caps, my banners, and a whole lot of Quackpackers in the night. Thankfully, when Sam and I arrived early on Saturday to set up the displays, nothing had been tampered with and setup went swimmingly. Before the gates for general admission even opened, fellow neighbors stopped by to inquire about the "huge rubber duckies," thinking we were rubber duck collectors. That curiosity persisted all weekend, and we became known as the "duck hustlers" of Pride.

Once the general admission finally started, Elizabeth joined us and curious patrons started to wander into our little 10x10 ft booth. We had all models of Quackpackers on show, as well as all 6 swim caps, some dry bags, a sticker display, and free beverages to keep our visitors hydrated. My two favorite elements were the pieces we placed at the front edge of our booth, the Mini and a poster about Lev and his impending record attempt: https://levswimslakes.ca/.

I was a ball of nerves, trying to figure out how to explain that we weren't just rubber duckie enthusiasts to all the patrons squealing and asking if we were giving away free duckies. "We're here showcasing some open water adventure products that keep you safe and visible while you're swimming, paddling, snorkeling, or floating! Not only are the cute and fun, they make excellent snack b*tches!" became my spiel, drawing people in. If there were kids, I adapted to "snack buddies" to try to be a good influence.

Let me tell you, if we got a nickel for every eyebrow we raised, we'd be millionaires. We had a lot of demographics into our booth, but a few stood out to me.

First, we had a lot of families with kids stop in and inquire what the duck we were doing. Their kids saw the mini and dragged some adults in. The parents were either really enthusiastic about the idea of using the Quackpackers for activities, or devastated that we weren't handing their child a free duck (noted for next year).

Second, we had swimmers and triathletes stop in when they saw the banner with swimming stuff on it:

The swimmers did a bit of a squeal of delight when they saw the amount of swim stuff on offer, and were really excited about the swim-themed stickers. Many pool swimmers asked "Where do you swim around here?!?" Sam and I would just point outside of our tent, as we were maybe 100 yards from the Willamette River. "You swim in tHaT??? EWWWW!" We'd spend a few minutes explaining the Willamette and Columbia rivers are generally clean and safe to swim in, provided it wasn't during extremely warm cyanobacteria blooms or sewage overflow post-hard rains. Overall, there are likely 360 days a year that it's clean and safe to swim in the Willamette, with data backed by USGS water quality testing. In fact, it's so clean that Marisa Frieder wanted to prove it by creating the Portland Bridge Swim in 2011.

Third, and my personal favorite, were the patrons who stopped to stare in awe at the sign about Lev's 51km swim next month. They wandered in a little more hesitantly, and a few shared they had previously been swimmers but no longer felt comfortable going to the pool. With all of the recent Olympic and USMS anti-trans policy announcements, we absolutely could empathize. I invited each person to swim with us locally, and encouraged folks to try open water swimming. Our wild waters don't care who you are, only that you have a healthy respect for the water (and are safe). It was really heartbreaking to hear the nostalgia of their love of swimming, and their grief about giving up a sport they'd felt good about. I'm selfishly hoping we inspired a handful of ex-swimmers to try out open water swimming, with or without us.

I know I'll remember vending at the Portland Pride Festival for years to come. Meeting everyone who stopped by the booth was incredible, and I can't believe how many squished the display Mini! We ended up selling enough to cover the cost of vending, and I hope we expanded the open water community just a little bit.