Adrian Esteban, 42, of Northeast Portland, helps his son, Diego, 3, attempt the long jump

“He wanted to win. He wanted to jump farther, so he asked if I would do it with him. So we ran, and I picked him up. He was happy when he got his first place gold medal.”

Tonie Esteban, 39, mother of Diego

“It was a birthday for my 3-year-old son, Diego. It was Olympic themed. So we used the track, which was awesome, and it was perfect because there was enough shade for us, and the kids had plenty of stuff to do. There was long jump, disc throw on the football field, then they did relay races on the track, and they came up and did bean bag toss. They loved it. Each event we scored them first, second, and third place. We gave out medals, and they got to stand on the little podium and take their picture.”

– Photo and interview by Molly Metz

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Samra Meredith, 10,  of Northeast Portland (right): “I go to Beverly Cleary. My favorite thing about Grant is … I like that it’s turf, I like that it’s big and you can play on it, and sometimes when you just come out to play you find a lot of your friends here.”

Kurt Meredith, 50, father: “We live next to the park. We’re here all the time. It’s big enough… it has a little bit of everything. Tons of soccer. It’s fair to say she started at 4. She always talks about wanting to play for the Thorns.”

Samra: “My favorite player is Tobin Heath. She’s just really inspiring. She’s a really good soccer player. She likes a lot of things I like. Her team number is the day of my birthday.”

Kurt: “We moved in here before we got the kids, and we were just looking for the best community to raise kids in. And we’ve loved it ever since.”

Samra: “It’s an awesome community.”
– Photo and interview by Finn Hawley-Blue

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Mateo Cornelius

“I got it on the second day right after it came out. So there’s a Pokémon right in front of you, and you have a Pokéball, which is just a little ball, and you swipe to throw it, and if it hits the Pokémon, it catches the Pokémon. But sometimes the Pokémon escape, and when that happens you just keep throwing Pokéballs at it.”

Lee Moyer, 36, Mateo’s mother

“I like that it gets the kids outside. My problem is the safety factor of it all. He likes to cross streets obviously when he’s doing the Pokémon thing, and he will keep the phone up. So we have a ‘No phones up when you’re crossing a street’ rule. So it’s both good and bad. We actually hadn’t been to Grant since the Pokémon GO craze started, but we’ve hit up all different parks around the city. It’s like a standard to the trip to the park, there’s always that component to it now. When he came back over to the other part of the playground, I had to say, ‘OK, we got to put the phone away now and get some wiggles out and do the park thing’ and you know he transitioned well into that. I think you have to make a conscious effort to do that, or it’s just going to be all Pokémon all the time.”

– Photo and interview by Molly Metz

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SataieVior Ayilola, 14, of Northeast Portland

“There was nothing for me to do at home. Instead of just sitting…I know like people come here at the park all the time and just play basketball. I play basketball for the Grant varsity team. I played as a freshman, but I couldn’t play that much ‘cause there was a lot of people in front of me. But this year, I’ll be able to play a lot more and start on varsity. I just have a passion for the game. When I was born, my father put a basketball in my hands when I was like 2 months old, and ever since then I’ve just been playing, building a love for the game… working hard to get good at it.”

– Photo and interview by Finn Hawley-Blue

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Greg Truax, 34, of Northeast Portland, with his son, Evan, 3

“We’re just here to play tennis. We come here every day pretty much, sometimes twice a day. He loves it. He comes over to the playground most of the time, but sometimes we play tennis, sometimes we go swimming, sometimes he goes in the fountain. I’ve played tennis for a long time, since I was little, so he’s just picking it up right now.”

– Photo and interview by Julian Wyatt

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Juan Saldivar, 31, of Sandy,  an Assistant Project Manager Grant’s renovation

“I’m like an Assistant Project Manager. I’ve been doing this for about two years. I used to be a pizza guy. I wanted something new. I got bored of pizza after working in that for 10 years …  I didn’t realize how much asbestos was everywhere when I started. This might be my favorite project so far because I don’t normally use big tools. I usually work in the office. It’s a lot different. More muscle is put into it, but I like it. Working out here will help me, getting experience.”

– Photo by Kayanna Henderson, Interview by Toli Tate

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Adrian Esteban, 42, of Northeast Portland, helps his son, Diego, 3, attempt the long jump

“He wanted to win. He wanted to jump farther, so he asked if I would do it with him. So we ran, and I picked him up. He was happy when he got his first place gold medal.”

Tonie Esteban, 39, mother of Diego

“It was a birthday for my 3-year-old son, Diego. It was Olympic themed. So we used the track, which was awesome, and it was perfect because there was enough shade for us, and the kids had plenty of stuff to do. There was long jump, disc throw on the football field, then they did relay races on the track, and they came up and did bean bag toss. They loved it. Each event we scored them first, second, and third place. We gave out medals, and they got to stand on the little podium and take their picture.”

– Photo and interview by Molly Metz