Tiki Kon goes into the future by embracing the past …
This year sparked a new and exciting beginning for Tiki Kon. For the last couple years, Tiki Kon has been held at The Red Lion Hotel up in Jantzen Beach. The hotel was great but it was located about fifteen minutes north of Portland so getting to Hale Pele or The Alibi (Portland’s tiki bars) was a little tough unless you had a car, and let’s be honest, the last thing anyone should be doing while attending Tiki Kon is driving. Some decisions have been made and this year Tiki Kon moved to the Doubletree by Hilton at Lloyd Center.
The Doubletree is very close to downtown and there are tons of cool places to get coffee or grab something to eat nearby. More importantly, Hale Pele is a short walk away! But there’s something else that makes the Doubletree the perfect place for Tiki Kon … back in 1959 when the Doubletree was the Sheraton-Motor Inn, Steve Crane opened a Kon Tiki in what is the business center of the hotel now. This was the façade from the outside ….
If you look around the Doubletree now, you won’t find anything that would give a clue that this awesome tiki restaurant was here. I think it’s safe to say that nothing tiki has gone on at this hotel in a long time. Well gang, this weekend things changed. Tiki is coming back! Let Tiki Kon 2019 Pageant Of The Pacific begin!
There’s a long weekend of symposiums, how-to workshops, entertainment, and last but not least, tiki drinks to enjoy, but first let’s head to the VIP Lounge hosted by Hale Pele, to get something to eat and have a cocktail.
Martin Cate was back again with his Dole Whip machine!
Martin served the crowd Dole Whip spiked with Plantation Pineapple Rum. It tastes even better than you think!
Meanwhile downstairs …
If you want to learn how to make your very own Hair Flower, Liza Voodoo Doll is here to help.
Liza of Voodoo Doll Designs hosted a Make-n-Take Hair Flower Workshop where she taught step by step how to create your very own hair flower.
Not could you learn how to make a beautiful hair flower, but you also got to take it with you!
Later that afternoon …
My birthday was coming up so my good friends Jeanie and Tom got me a big surprise …
A Haupia cake from Cakes Of Paradise! This is my favorite cake ever!
A bunch of my closest tiki friends came by to sing happy birthday to me, I made a wish …
Blew out the candles …
And we all ate cake!
This meant a lot to me. There is no better way to celebrate your birthday than with your tiki ohana. Here’s a big Mahalo to Jeanie and Tom and everyone who joined me.
I’d like to thank Sveinn Kjartansson for his pictures used for this post.
Here is the Sveinn Photography website
And Facebook Page