slides: Party Report: Portland Meadows Opening Day

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Byron Beck, GoLocalPDX Features Editor

Mitzi

Mitzi was the winner of the hat contest at Portland Meadows Opening Day. Photo by Byron Beck.

Hats and horses were serious business, and the order of the day, at Portland Meadows Opening Day celebration in North Portland on Sunday afternoon.

Ben Soileau, for example, loves his hat. He bought his newsboy cap on a street in Baton Rouge way back in 2000. Ben says he wears it everywhere and says that if he ever lost it, it would be "like losing a woman."

Hats were everywhere at Portland Meadows. Caps, cowboy hats, giant Sunday church-going chapeaus and tiny fascinators: the first official race day of the year had all sorts of hat-wearing types racing to the horsetrack In North Portland.

In the crowd there were also well-dressed hipsters, belt-buckled cowboys and tons of families all out for a day of fun and gambling.

SLIDESHOW: See more photos from Portland Meadows Opening Day below.

There was also a hat contest for the ladies to show off their best derby-worthy toppers courtesy of Goorin Hats. Several worthy candidates vied for the title of best hat, but in the end it was Mitzi's peacock-plumed, lamp-shade looking creation that took top prize for the day.

See even more photos from Opening Day here.