PNW Climate Week returns to Portland on Monday with the goal of broadening participation in local climate conversations.

The big picture: Portland's Climate Week has evolved from a single, volunteer-organized event in 2024 into a 50-event regional festival, even as federal climate funding shrinks and corporate sponsorship becomes harder to secure.

Zoom in: Organizers worked to build a weeklong schedule that appeals to newcomers, longtime advocates and families alike, Portland city lead Audrey Desler tells Axios. Highlights include:

• A factory tour at the Oregon Natural Fiber Mill.
• A screening of the documentary "Future Council" followed by a youth panel discussion on accountability from a young person's perspective.
• A happy hour for the "climate curious" at the Midtown Beer Garden.

There are also climate-themed bike rides, a kid-friendly "tool petting zoo" for aspiring DIYers, yoga classes in Forest Park and dozens of panels, discussions and mixers.

• Find the full schedule here.

Zoom out: Portland is just one of several cities taking part — including Bend, Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. — as the region looks to replicate popular climate weeks in San Francisco and New York.

Yes, but: Putting together Portland's lineup with an all-volunteer crew of 10 has been no easy task, Desler says, especially as federal climate funding and corporate sponsorship have declined.

• "It has been extremely hard to raise sponsorship dollars," Desler says. "Money just makes things happen, even if it's small organizing efforts at a local level."

The bottom line: As PNW Climate Week sees rapid expansion, Desler says she's looking forward to a future where "enough companies and municipalities see the value in it that we don't just have to depend on free labor to get things like this done."

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Plan your weekend route now: Both directions of I-5 will be closed throughout the Central Eastside for 14 hours starting at 10pm tomorrow.

⬇️ Southbound drivers will forced off at exit 302B to the Fremont Bridge.

⬆️ Those heading north will need to get off at exit 300 to I-84 east.

⬅️ Westbound travelers on I-84 will be routed onto I-5 headed south.

Between the lines: I-405 on the west side will act as the detour around all the construction.

What's next: The closure allows crews to replace a sign structure near the Oregon Convention Center.

• The roadway is expected to reopen no later than noon on Sunday.

For most kids, museums are field trip destinations. But one group of King Elementary fourth and fifth graders got to be curators.

The latest: In a new exhibition at Portland Art Museum called "Harriet Tubman Center Museum," students selected works on the theme of identity and community, now on display in the museum's Black Art and Experiences Galleries.

Zoom in: Seventeen students, part of King Elementary's Museum of Contemporary Art, worked alongside artist Lisa Jarrett and Portland State graduate students to research, select and install 27 pieces ranging from portraits, artifacts and large-scale works.

• They visited PAM's collection storage, studied works that are not always on public view, discussed what each piece meant to them and helped shape the final layout.

The result is a colorful gallery filled with works reflecting on how these young people see belonging.

• On one wall, Portland-based artist Isaka Shamsud-Din's "Brothers Phree" shows a group gathered around a pool table.
• Down the hall, Robert Pruitt's drawing "Meteorite," depicts a seated Black woman with a walkie-talkie in her lap, pairing portraiture with audio that draws on gospel.
• Other works include prints and text-based pieces that invite viewers to think about confidence and representation.

If you go: The exhibition runs through Jan. 3 at Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave.

• General admission is $27.50; children 17 and under are free.

😞 The abrupt shuttering of The Leaky Roof, an 80-year-old Irish gastropub in Goose Hollow, is just the latest in a string of restaurant closings that have some fearing Portland is entering a "barmaggedon." (The Oregonian)

🍐 Fruit farmers in the Gorge are hoping for federal aid and relaxed labor standards after a combination of expanded worker benefits, increased fuel costs and a poor harvest last year left many on the brink of closure. (Oregon Capital Chronicle)

🦪 Beaches between Tillamook Head and the Columbia will close to razor clam harvesting starting next week through September to give young clams more time to develop. (OPB)

🍎 The formula Oregon uses to calculate school funding is "flagrantly nonfunctional," some educators said, and frequently fails the state's poorest and most vulnerable students. (The Oregonian)

In which of Oregon's seven regions would you spend a summer vacation … if you couldn't leave that part of the state for two weeks?

📣 We want to know which vacation zone you would choose from this map.

• We were inspired by a similar poll from our colleagues in the Twin Cities.

🌟 Click here to take our quick poll! We'll share your answers in a future newsletter.