"Business is booming for one Portland costume shop. Or should we say, "blowing up?" Ever since protesters started dressing in inflatable costumes and gathering outside the South Waterfront area's Immigration and Customs Enforcement building to denounce Trump's "war on the city," Portland has been living up to its proud reputation as the epicenter of weird. And it's not all just hot air. Many of the costumes have been purchased at Lippman Co., a 77-year-old party supply store in Portland's Central Eastside."
"As far as weaponry goes, the store's inflatable frog, dinosaur and chicken costumes, retailing for $60 to $70, may not be as pricey as Raytheon cruise missiles or even tear gas and rubber bullets, but they're still capable of packing a wallop. Worth it, though, if mocking authoritarian-style policies is your thing. "The costumes provide a pure Portland counterpoint to federal officers dressed in riot gear with gas masks and guns," as Willamette Week reported."
"Lippman's manager, Robyn Adair, said that "a couple bought Garfield and a banana the other day, and I saw them on the news." Another man in a banana costume, carrying a sign that read "This is bananas," told Reuters - as SpongeBob SquarePants, Pikachu, a shark, and a mushroom bebopped happily around him - "We're in the silliest timeline, so I thought, why not be silly with it?""
Protesters in Portland have adopted inflatable costumes purchased from a long-established local party store for demonstrations outside the South Waterfront ICE building to denounce Trump-era enforcement. Costumes such as frogs, dinosaurs and chickens sell for about $60 to $70 and have become visible counterpoints to federal officers wearing riot gear, gas masks and carrying weapons. Lippman Co., a 77-year-old Central Eastside shop, has seen increased sales and media attention. Participants describe the tactic as a humorous, defiant response to heavy-handed policing, with some embracing silliness as political mockery.
Read at High Country News
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]