The We Are Timbers campaign has showcased fans from many different walks of Portland life. From art directors to craft brew specialists, business professionals to newborn babies, and 3rd graders to third generation loggers plus many more in-between, we have seen that there are Timbers fans everywhere.
And now we’ll be showcasing one last group to grace a downtown Portland billboard as selected by you: the supporters.
The Facebook votes are in and our winners are:
Milan and Ariana
Luke
Loretta
Franz and Peyton
The images of these six will live high atop a building on West Burnside and 17th Avenue, just around the corner from JELD-WEN Field and be in place before the Timbers home opener against the Chicago Fire on April 14.
The fan photo shoots generated over 1,500 images of all kinds of fans. You packed our downtown store for hours patiently waiting to get your photo taken. Photos have been emailed, shared on Facebook, and tweeted across the world.
However, the image that ended up with the most votes overall, that of Milan and his 4 year old daughter Ariana, was one of the first photos we took at the team store.
As Milan put it, “When I saw the open opportunity for anyone to come down to the store, I took off work and made a daddy-daughter date out of it.”
Perhaps the key element to their photo, though, was the brilliant juxtaposition of ballerina dress, soccer cleats, and a look of serene toughness.
Milan explained the story and “art direction” behind it, “Ariana is a princess kind of girl so she wanted to wear something pink, and my wife and I thought the cleats would be a good touch. I brought the cleats and almost didn't put them on because we were second in line on the very first day, and I was nervous and Ariana was shy. But the guy behind me in line said it was a must so we did it.”
And as for the serene toughness? “We were 45 minutes early that day and had taken the MAX so [Ariana] was cold. We decided to go for hot chocolate where we practiced her 'mean' face. She did the typical funny kid mean face every time. Then in front of the camera she got really shy. The face in the picture she never once came up with while we were goofing around having fun. That face in the picture is a mix of her trying and being really shy.”
Congratulations to our winners and we thank you all for participating and joining in on the fun. GO TIMBERS!
