The Portland Spirit Is Bringing Back Its Popular Holiday Cinnamon Bear Cruises for the First Time Since 2019

One 12 months after youngsters started cautiously crawling again into Santa’s lap—following a vacation season of socially distanced want listing sharing—one other native vacation icon is about to return: the Cinnamon Bear.

The Portland Spirit has introduced it’s resuming its in style breakfast cruises with the cuddly mascot of Christmas cheer following a two-year absence because of the pandemic. The bear, sporting his conventional, jaunty sailor’s cap, will return to his throne on the ship for images with youngsters each smiling and melting down.

However, there can be just a few adjustments to the expertise that potential visitors ought to remember.

When cruises get underway in November, they may function at a diminished capability, characteristic reserved seating for every celebration and a devoted server for each desk. Prior to 2020, the Cinnamon Bear tour was basic admission.

But maybe the finest modification of all—a minimum of in the eyes of oldsters who view the expertise as a two-hour bizarre Yuletide delirium—is the addition of a full, scorching meal of eggs, potatoes, sausage and bacon as a substitute of the pre-COVID La Quinta-style continental breakfast, which suggests a minimum of you’ll be effectively fed as you watch adults dressed as fairies prance round a stage.

If you occurred to maneuver to Portland in the previous two years and are asking your self “What the hell is a Cinnamon Bear?” we’re right here to assist.

The character is basically simply a part of a long tradition of quirky but beloved native mascots—from Oaks Amusement Park’s Chipper the Squirrel to the Hillsboro Hops’ anthropomorphized eponymous inexperienced cone to the button-adorned Ramblin’ Rod, longtime grasp of ceremonies for morning cartoons.

The Cinnamon Bear was the topic of a radio program in 1937—a protagonist in a story about two youngsters looking for their silver star tree topper by means of the enchanted world of Maybeland. The 26-chapter sequence ran from Thanksgiving by means of Christmas, and for many households, listening to the present grew to become a ritual and solution to rely down the days to Dec. 25.

Department retailer chain Lipman Wolfe sponsored the broadcasts, and the Cinnamon Bear took up residence in its native retailers, holding the function a mall Santa Claus usually would from the Forties till the Nineteen Eighties. In reality, the vacation breakfasts first happened in Lipman’s, and featured musical performances in addition to cinnamon cookies for every little one.

In 2004, Portland Spirit acquired the rights to provide a Cinnamon Bear Cruise, and its first themed sequence of outings occurred the following 12 months. Many authentic breakfast particulars seem in the up to date model, together with customized cinnamon bear-shaped cookies (baked by Simply Sweets), story time with Queen Melissa, a magic present with Jack Frost and different character appearances.

“We are so excited to carry again Cinnamon Bear and his associates for our area people,” Dennis Corwin, Portland Spirit basic supervisor, acknowledged in a press launch. “After being absent because of the pandemic, we’re completely happy to supply households a secure and enjoyable exercise to take pleasure in this vacation season.”

There are 11 breakfast cruises on choose dates in November and December. Boarding begins at 9 am at the Salmon Springs Dock. Tickets can at present be purchased online.