Timbers Army scarves.jpg

The Portland Timbers Army holds up their scarves as they sing "You are my sunshine" as the Timbers close in on a 3-0 win over the Colorado Rapids in an MLS soccer match Sunday, June 23, 2013, at Jeld-Wen Field in Portland.

(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)

You can ask any diehard Timbers fan about scarves, just be prepared to fall into a very deep rabbit hole in response.

You've likely seen the iconic "No Pity" scarf around Portland, but there are dozens upon dozens upon dozens of others. You can shop in person for the newest scarves at the No Pity Van outside games, or online at the official team store (which even sells a 'PDX carpet' scarf). To unearth rarer finds, you might have browse eBay, where you can get your hands on pre-MLS scarves, the classic Cascadia scarf, and even a promotional Castrol Oil scarf.

This weekend fans can get their hands on scarves old, new, common and rare at an organized scarf-trading event, coming to Bazi Bierbrasserie in southeast Portland.

New scarves are dreamed up and produced all the time, it seems, fueling an obsession that feeds a potentially lucrative collectible line to a growing group of diehard fans. Of course, to the collectors themselves, there's much more meaning than that.

Cameron Tanner has been in Portland for less than a year. He wasn't a Timbers fan before he moved to town, but that quickly changed. The scarves came naturally with his new fandom, but it wasn't all about building a collection, he said, there was a deeper meaning to it.

"Collecting scarves for me ... was learning the history of the team through the scarves," Tanner said. You can actually learn a lot about the Timbers just looking at what scarves were produced throughout the team's 39-year history, and figuring out what that meant about the organization at any given time.

His love for Timbers scarves led Tanner to organize next week's scarf trade, an event he thought would be small, but has since grown to roughly 100 confirmed guests on Facebook. But while it might be a big event, it's not exactly official.

"We just thought it would be fun to get together in person," Tanner said. "There are no hard and fast rules."

That means no designated vendor tables, tickets or bags of merchandised swag – the scarf trade will simply be a bunch of fans getting together at a bar to trade scarves. You can buy, sell, trade or just browse what will likely be a beautiful and fascinating collection of team scarves, ranging from old classics to those rare "holy grails."

Tanner is looking to see a couple particular holy grail scarves himself – an original Tetris-themed scarf, and a "Little Beirut" scarf.

Moreover, he's just looking to bring the community together, regardless of how obsessed with the Timbers and Timbers scarves they are.

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SCARF TRADE

When: Saturday, Dec. 6, from 3 to 6 p.m.

Where: Bazi Bierbrasserie (map it)

Admission: Free

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB