Portland Pickles Season Opener Kicks Off Summer of Freebies, Total Weirdness

Tattoo Tuesdays are back, along with new additions like stripper night and Dillon’s Drag Race.

Portland Pickles Baseball By Hilary Sander
By Rachel Saslow

Service industry workers, firefighters and strippers: You’re all getting in to Portland Pickles games for free this summer. (Not all summer, just June 3 and 12 and July 6, respectively).

Tonight is the Portland Pickles season opener versus the Ridgefield Raptors, so it’s a good time to peruse the collegiate wood-bat baseball team’s promotional schedule to see what other fun events and freebies the team has in store for fans.

There are 45 games this summer, and each one has a different theme. This weekend, there’s Dillon’s Drag Race (June 1) with performances by drag queens from Darcelle XV between innings. July highlights include Dilly Parton Night (July 7), when fans are encouraged to stuff their bras, and Space Pix 2: Journey to Uranus (July 27), when mascot Dillon T. Pickle will try to launch an actual rocket to space. With a pickle inside of it, of course.

Many weekly promos from summers past are still on the list. The team’s signature Tattoo Tuesday is back, when fans sign up for the chance to get an actual, permanent pickle tattoo. Choices include plain pickles, the P-logo baseball hat, or the mascot Dillon T. Pickle.

“There are plenty of people running around Portland with Dillon’s face tattooed on them, believe it or not,” says Courtney Schmidt, the Pickles’ assistant general manager.

Schmidt says that for the past few years, Tattoo Tuesday has been completely booked out with a full slate of 10 eager participants who sign up in advance to get inked. The Pickles’ tattoo partner this summer is Anatomy Tattoo.

Other recurring themes include Woof Wednesdays (all dogs get in free and get to strut the bases in a parade); “Rockin’ the Walk” concert series on Fridays; and Little League Sundays, when youth baseball and softball players get half-price tickets.

The full promo schedule is available here.

GO: Portland Pickles 2024 season, Walker Stadium at Lents Park, Southeast 92nd Avenue and Holgate Boulevard. 503-775-3080, picklestickets.com. Most games start at 7:05 pm May 31-Aug. 8. Prices vary, but about $12-$25.

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