Keep Portland Weird

"Keep Portland Weird" is the unofficial motto of Portland, Oregon, originating in 2003 when Music Millennium owner Terry Currier brought the slogan from Austin, Texas to support local businesses, trademarking it in 2007 and selling over 10,000 bumper stickers that year. The phrase quickly evolved to celebrate individuality, eccentricity, and local art, inspiring festivals and playful debates—Portland even won a 2014 Austin blog comparison, taking first in 9 of 12 "weirdness" categories. Iconic examples of this quirkiness include Voodoo Doughnut, the World Naked Bike Ride, Zoobomb, yarn bombing, and the Portland Urban Iditarod. The city's unusual traits also include its rare commission-style government and its status as the largest U.S. city without fluoridated water, having rejected fluoridation four times (in 1956, 1962, 1980, and 2013). Interestingly, the slogan has also been adopted by the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England, where a unique landscape shaped by quarrying and military history has earned its own "Weird" tag.