From Music Festival Grounds to Community Shelter: Creative Neighborhoods × Home Builders Foundation at Pickathon

Every summer, Pickathon transforms a forested corner of Happy Valley into a playground of music, art, and design. For the Creative Neighborhoods nonprofit, the festival is more than just a celebration—it’s a living classroom and testing ground for projects that ripple outward into the wider community. This year, that spirit of innovation and impact grew through an exciting collaboration with the Home Builders Foundation (HBF).

At the heart of this partnership was the Pickathon Picnic Table, designed by Eric Wenzel of Scott Edwards Architecture. The table was created to foster conversation and connection at the festival, where artists, volunteers, and festivalgoers gathered to share meals, swap stories, and build new friendships.

But the tables didn’t stop there. Thanks to HBF’s Building to Scale program—which empowers students with real-world construction education—the tables have now found a second life at Portland’s “Oasis” day center in Old Town, located at 6th and Glisan.

The Oasis is Portland’s newest innovative shelter space, designed to help people feel valued, safe, and connected. Operated with the mission of dignity in mind, the center offers coffee and snacks, access to bathrooms and showers, and opportunities for counseling and services. Staff tell us the tables are already making a difference—offering a welcoming space where small groups can gather, rest, and enjoy a sense of belonging.

This collaboration is a powerful example of how design, education, and community care intersect. From festival fields to urban shelters, the Pickathon Picnic Table shows what’s possible when nonprofits, architects, students, and city partners come together to shape spaces that serve people in meaningful ways.

Creative Neighborhoods and Home Builders Foundation are proud to support both the next generation of builders and the communities who benefit from their work.