Portland, Ore.’s international airport has a lot going for it. Named Best Airport in the United States in Travel + Leisure surveys in both 2013 and 2014, it boasts a quick and easy light rail connection to downtown; free WiFi; great dining venues offering local food and drink (including microbrews and craft spirits); unique, tax-free shopping with no mark-ups; and live musicians playing in the concourses. Oh, and then there’s that carpet. What? Haven’t heard about that distinct, turquoise-y rug that’s greeted travelers throughout the airport since 1987? It may be the only floor covering that’s got at least two Facebook pages, a Twitter account (#pdxcarpet) and more than 25,600 travel photos on Instagram under “PDX Carpet.” Walk into a Made in Oregon shop (either before security at the airport or in several locations around the state) and you can purchase any number of items — socks, bags, t-shirts, water bottles, mouse pads, helmets, mugs, coasters, hats — bearing the geometric pattern of lines and squares in purple, red and blue on that greenish-blue background. Adidas created a running shoe in the pattern, and Oregon brewery Rogue Ales recently released its PDX Carpet IPA (“big citrusy hop flavor and intense hop aroma” crafted from Willamette Valley-grown ingredients); you can try it at the brewery’s Public House on Concourse D at the airport next time you’re passing through. The carpet’s been around for more than 25 years, and locals have grown accustomed to it (though not all love it); for many it represents coming home and is attached to memories of travels taken to and from the airport. All of the to-do (commercial and otherwise) really ramped up in 2013, when the Port of Portland announced that all 13 acres of the stuff would be “retired” and replaced with a whole new design. This being Oregon, every effort is being made to keep the old carpet out of the landfill, and it seems the public may purchase salvagable remnants as one means of doing so. By the end of this month, the “turn-over” will begin, with airport officials planning for the installation of the new design — teal green with a still-abstract pattern featuring more curved lines than the former — to be completed by the end of the year. Most of the work will occur in stages at night to keep disruptions to travelers at a minimum. It remains to be seen whether the new carpet will one day attain the cult status of the old, but Port officials hope it will, at least, last as long. — Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor