The Kidz Outside Festival enters its 4th Year

The Kidz Outside Festival debuted in 2022 as a community-driven effort to revitalize the neglected George Park. The event has since grown into a community staple.

This year’s event seeks to deepen the celebration of the St. Johns community with performances by the Roosevelt High School Dance Team, Northside Tego, Jordan Fletcher and more. TKO 4 was also recently sanctioned as an official event for PDX Hip-Hop Week.

Meanwhile, efforts to update the park have gained support from city and state officials. TKO organizers Mat Randol and Donovan Scribes began the process in 2019 by distributing community surveys and collecting data to make sure the park revitalization process was guided by current and former George Park neighbors. In 2024, festival organizers partnered with Portland Parks and Recreation and the Portland Parks Foundation to launch the George Park Project. Together, they will develop a plan and ultimately build out park improvements. To date, organizers have secured nearly $4 million to support the project, which is scheduled for completion in winter 2027.

Street Roots spoke with festival organizers Mat Randol, Donovan Scribes and LaQuisha Minnieweather about the evolution of the event, what to expect this year and what’s next for the George Park Project. This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.   

Bruce Poinsette: You were recently named as one of the Best Summer Events in Portland Monthly and one of the Essential Black Community Events in the Portland Mercury. Can you talk about how this has all grown since TKO 1?

Donovan Scribes: Last year there were more than 600 people coming through. When we first envisioned this event, it was before COVID. And when we got the grant money to put on TKO Fest, we had to shift our approach, not just with the festival, but also with how we engaged people around the park. With the park side of things, what was dope to see during the pandemic was, like, people were filling out this survey. People actually had a lot to say even during the pandemic about how they wanted to see that park get improvements.

So going into 2022, putting that experiment out there and having such a great response from people was a big thing to me. Seeing that continue to grow, year after year after year has just been really incredible.

Mat Randol:  This whole idea came from taking my son, Knox, who was four years old at the time, to George Park and he just goes, “Dad, I’m bored” after 10 minutes. It brought me back to when I was a child living across the street, going to that park and remembering that I had a lot more fun. There was just a lot more going on when I was a child, and then they took it out and replaced it with the equipment that has been there since I was about 13 years old.

A lot of people feel like we’re disconnected because people are moving in and out of that neighborhood so much. My family was probably one of the last original families on that block that had lived there for damn near 30 years. So it was just really about bringing the neighborhood together and letting them know our idea for us updating this park. There’s four or five different schools that George Park is in the middle of. This is for all of the kids who grow up there.

Poinsette: Can you talk about the importance of TKO as a back-to-school event?

LaQuisha Minnieweather: I’m a resource kind of girl. I like making sure our community has what the community needs, and a lot of families look different. I wanted to introduce bikes last year because some parents or caregivers are heading to work before school and wanted to make sure kids have ways to get to school on their own. And we introduced a breakfast pantry also last year. That was more geared towards young people making their own things, like bagels, cereal, oatmeal — things that young kids can do on their own in the mornings.

And, yeah, the first year, I think it was about 70 or 75 backpacks. And then last year, we did 500 backpacks. We did 110 bikes. We had hygiene items ranging from menstrual hygiene all the way to laundry soap.

We had a breakfast pantry. We served about 100 families with our breakfast pantry. The bikes came with helmets, locks, lights and they had a little instruction on how to change your tire, how to make sure your chain is tight enough or loosen it up, or whatever is needed.

Scribes: This is not something where you have to fill out paperwork. You just come and get what you need. No questions asked. Do your thing.

Poinsette: Mat, a little bit earlier, you talked about making George Park a destination. (Kitchen Killa) just had the second annual Community Cookout there this past weekend. How would you assess how that aspect of TKO has progressed these last four years?

Randol: I always envisioned it being a destination. The drives that we’ve done, like the holiday drives and of course Kids Outside Festival. I think it’s only going to get bigger once the park is redone. It’s going to make everyone be there.

Scribes: How the cookout happened just shows the importance of not just using buzzwords, but having representation for real. It came about from working with Rep. Travis Nelson (D-North Portland). When we were working with him to secure the $750,000 for lighting and pathways at George Park, which we got during that last short session, Travis was talking with Crystal (Chanel, director of marketing and branding at Kitchen Killa Culinary Solutions) at an Urban League function and she was trying to figure out where she was going to host this cookout. It’s their thing to put on, but they’ve hosted it at the park. And it just became another activation point where folks’ needs are getting met.

I don’t necessarily think of this as a regional destination point. I do think of it as a spot in the North for the North and if (other) people come through then that’s a bonus.

Randol: Shoutout to Crystal. Four hundred ninety-three plates were given out at this last cookout. So, again, just incredible.

Poinsette: One of the big developments of the last couple of years is the George Park Project, a collaboration between TKO and the Portland Parks Foundation. Can you talk about what the partnership entails and how you feel it’s been progressing so far?

Scribes: The Parks Foundation was one of the early checkpoints for TKO being recognized by other forces (TKO received the Parks Champion Award 2021 from the Portland Parks Foundation). Relationships have formed through there. Dan Ryan was the parks commissioner. We did a site visit with Dan, Portland Parks Foundation leadership, the St. John’s Boosters, David Rodriguez, who’s a teacher at George Middle School, and a few students from his class and the North Peninsula Review newspaper. That was in October 2023. After all the feedback that we had gathered, all the meetings and festivals that we had hosted, we asked Dan Ryan, as the parks commissioner, to commit to an investment in the park. He said he would and put that $3 million out there for the park. The Parks Foundation made a commitment of $225,000 for new play equipment. Rep. Nelson then secured $750,000 specifically for lighting and pathways.

TKO has gathered a lot of feedback but it’s not just a data hub. We have the relationships here and want to continue to steward that now that our capacity is built up.

Poinsette: I was looking at the advisory committee. Can you talk about the selection process and why it was important to include things like stipends? I see you also encouraged people to attend at least three community events. Can you talk about these details that might get lost in the bigger picture?

Scribes: A lot of the work that ends up being framed in terms of advisory committees is actually consulting, which are professional services being rendered on behalf of the city, county, Metro or the state. It’s your lived and professional experience and you’re giving that to your government to use for a specific outcome. Payment for those things is important.

We wanted to make sure that everybody who was on this committee was tied to the North, whether you live in the neighborhood now or you used to live in the neighborhood. What was happening with our survey was a lot of people weren’t necessarily still living there, but still felt strongly about what was happening with George Park.

Minnieweather: People have lives and people could use the money. They’re not all rich. We’re just people that came together for a common goal to make sure that this park could be something for the community and the neighborhood.

Randol: We have people that are new here. We have people that lived here before and moved out of the neighborhood because they felt the neighborhood wasn’t improving. I think it’s a great mix of everyone on the panel and it’s great just for us to listen to their thoughts on it.

Scribes: When we’re talking about improvements in a neighborhood, that can be seen as a sign of gentrification. A coffee shop. A bike lane. All of those things and more are the signs of gentrification because usually, improvement means you’re getting ready to put a squeeze on the neighborhood and jack up prices. It’s usually not being done with deep community investment, conversation and intentionality.

Randol: It’s very important to know that we are doing it. It’s very important to know that some people from the area and our cousin Donovan, who’s not from the area but gives a damn enough to be part of this, (are doing it). It’s by us, for us.

Poinsette: Do you all have any worries about the funding stalling in this political climate?

Scribes: As far as the city funding and state funding, as well as what the Parks Foundation has committed, those dollars are all locked in. It’s going to happen. A park is going to be built. Anything is possible in today’s climate, but as far as I can tell, we’re good.

Poinsette: What are you most excited about for this year’s event?

Randol: I think we’re getting back to the hip-hop element of it. The first one, just me and J Prodigy being involved, I thought that was great. It was like bridging a gap between a newer artist and then myself who’s been doing this for a while. I’m very excited to have my alma mater, Roosevelt High School. Their dance team is going to come and do a routine. This is our first year really making that connection.

I think we’re going to do bikes again. I remember I was driving back and I saw all of these kids on Fessenden, and they all had their orange reflector vests and bikes and helmets, and they got that from George Park.

Scribes: This year is also gonna be a little different. Last year, we had secured the money and we were just kind of very early into the process of talking to the community about that. We hadn’t even put together the Project Advisory Committee.

This time, we’ll be able to talk about the PAC. (For this project), it’s actually the same design firm that put together Dawson Park. Dawson Park is one of the examples of a community design process that felt like it didn’t act like a disruptor for all the gentrification that’s happened in that area. Dawson Park still feels like Dawson Park. It’s gonna be nice to be able to share some of that thought process back with the community and get some more feedback from them.

Minnieweather: I’m excited that we will have the (Roosevelt High School) step team at the festival.  It feels good to see students from schools surrounding the park to have a space to show their talents. I’m always excited to get resources out to the community. I’m excited to see the park full of smiles and laughter.

The Kidz Outside Festival 4 will be held Aug. 23 at George Park from 6:30 p.m to 8:30p.m. The event will feature performances from Northside Tego, Jordan Fletcher and the Roosevelt High School Dance Team, as well as sounds by Dom Cruz and kids’ activities provided by Kam Customz.

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This article appears in August 13, 2025.