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Basketball season is over, and Portland's Blazers-themed bar is transforming into a rec hall dedicated to a more leisurely sport: shuffleboard.
A new pop-up, Jumptown Shuffle Club, is taking shape inside the Spirit of '77 on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. It kicks off Monday, July 8 and runs through Aug. 30.
Though plenty of bars have table versions of the game, Jumptown recreates the lido deck of your dreams. Some of the seating has been cleared in the cavernous space to make way for two 52-foot regulation courts flown in from Florida, where you use a disc and paddle to compete in teams of two vs. two.
To further tie in the cruise ship theme, the bar has a special menu with tropical cocktails like Pink Flamingos and Margaritas served by the pitcher, as well as snacks of skewers and pimento cheese tea sandwiches meant to serve four.
Why embrace a somewhat obscure activity best known as a pastime enjoyed by retirees on vacation? Brandon Bowden, general manager of Spirit of '77, says he's long been a shuffleboard fan.
"There was a place in Seattle I used to play shuffleboard with my friends after work," says Bowden "and when I got talking with one of the partners here about a different way to use the bar in the summer, we realized we both loved floor shuffleboard but couldn't find it in Portland. Since we have a space big enough for the courts, we thought, why not?"
The pop-up takes place daily with free shuffleboard offered before 3 pm. Between 3 pm and 5 pm, it's $20 an hour to play, and from 5 pm to midnight, it's $40 an hour.
Spirit of '77 food and drink options will also be available and tables will be brought back out during the summer for major televised sporting events.