Big Float

The Big Float is an annual July[1] event in Portland, Oregon, United States, organized by the Human Access Project is a giant people-powered flotilla and beach party to encourage Portlanders to reclaim the Willamette River for swimming and other aquatic recreation.[2] [3]The event, which also serves as a fundraiser for the group, was established in 2011.[4] An estimated 6,000 people participated in 2018.[5]

The Human Access Project, under the leadership of Willie Levenson, started the Big Float in 2011 to give Portland residents a positive interaction with the Willamette River.”[6]

The name for the event came from Portland's Big Pipe project — a 20-year undertaking that was completed in 2011. It entailed the overhaul of the city's wastewater system to divert sewage from flowing into the Willamette River and the Columbia Slough. After completion of the pipe project, the Willamette River became more swimmable.[7]

The float takes about 45 minutes to one hour to complete.[8] The event kicks off with the River Hugger Swim Team swimming across the river, followed by an inner-tube parade from Tom McCall Bowl Beach in Waterfront Park along the esplanade to the put in at Poet’s Beach. Participants then float back to Tom McCall Bowl Beach where they float past two floating band stages to an after party.[9] Since inception some 25,000 people have used tubes, kayaks, or flotation devices to drift half a mile downriver through the center of Portland in The Big Float.[10] Named the #16 top festival in Oregon out of 50 by the Oregonian.[11]

"Our hope is that if we can reconnect people with the river through their own self-interest, through something that will benefit them — being able to get into the water and swim — they will naturally care more about the outcomes of what's happening in the watershed. They'll naturally be more inclined to fight for this thing that they love and enjoy.", Human Access Project, Ringleader Willie Levenson[12]