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Portland State Students Turn Pallets Into Pickathon Stage

Students at PSU have crafted a stage out of pallets
Courtesy PSU
Students at PSU have crafted a stage out of pallets

Portland State University students are finishing construction of a new venue on the Pickathon music festival grounds, just in time for the first guests Thursday.

is called the “Tree Line Stage.” It will hold an audience of up to 500 people. What makes it interesting is that PSU architecture students designed and built the venue entirely out of pallets.

Student Adam McSorley says they wanted a cheap material that might otherwise be thrown away. He says pallets fit that description -- and they’re easy to essentially "rent" for the festival.

"They buy 'em, and then we sell 'em back after the festival," McSorley says. "So, all told, we probably have about 600 pallets out here. Bought 'em all, and then we’re going to return them all afterwards, after the tear down."

McSorley says a local contractor built the stage floor, and it's not made of pallets. But he says workers did use pallets to make the benches the audience will sit on.

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Rob Manning is a news editor at Oregon Public Broadcasting, with oversight of reporters covering education, healthcare and business. Rob became an editor in 2019, following about 15 years covering schools and universities in Oregon and southwest Washington as OPB’s education reporter.