A float in the annual 2018 Starlight Parade, in this supplied photo from The Portland Rose Festival Foundation.
Courtesy of Portland Rose Festival Foundation
The COVID pandemic put a damper on one of Oregon’s biggest civic celebrations, the Portland Rose Festival. This year, organizers hope the comeback is complete.
“I think it will feel like it’s back to normal,” chief operating officer Nick Brodnicki said of the 2024 festival, which gets into full swing this weekend. “Because the structures are all what folks are most comfortable with from the past.”
The Rose Festival began more than a century ago as a way to showcase Portland as ‘the summer capital of the world.’
Whether or not that happened, the festival gives the city an annual chance to shine.
“We’re excited for the volume of people that come,” Brodnicki said. “It showcases to everybody that this is a place that is safe. It is cleaner. It is feeling like it’s very family friendly again.”
Festivities start gradually with gardening events such as the Bloom Tour and Rose Garden contest already running. Celebrations kick off in earnest Friday with downtown fireworks and a Celebration of the Oregon Brewers.
The festival includes three big parades: the CareOregon Starlight Parade on June 1; the Fred Meyer Junior Parade on June 5, which claims to be the oldest and largest children’s parade in the nation; and the Grand Floral Parade on June 8. That event includes everything from school bands to equestrian units, marching groups, drill teams, vintage vehicles, dancers and llamas. Also, school bands from across the state will play.
“We’re really leaning into things that people really like about Portland,” Brodnicki said.
This being Portland, there are several quirky events, including the Ukulele Jam, the Milk Carton Boat Race, the Wine Walk and the Downtown Ducky Drop, in which 800 rubber ducks are dumped into Teachers Fountain at Director Park.
“The festival is an odd duck, much like Portland is an odd duck,” said Brodnicki.
Other more established events include dragon boat races, the Starlight Run, the Rose High Tea auction and the Clown Prince.
The Kiwanis float at the 1953 Portland Rose Festival.
Courtesy Kiwanis Club Of Portland
A lot of people also enjoy the Rose Festival Treasure Hunt, in which organizers give clues to the whereabouts of a three-inch block of plastic embedded with a Rose Festival medallion. The treasure hunt includes a $1,000 prize. Clues start being released on Sunday, May 26.
“I cannot tell you how many Facebook groups, social media groups and cultural groups work on this treasure hunt together,” Brodnicki said.
The only hint at this point is that the medallion is hidden somewhere within the city limits on public land. Clues get progressively easier as the festival goes on. The hope is that someone finds it before the end.
Crowds are also drawn to the City Fair that is set up in Tom McCall Waterfront Park for the duration.
Festivities come to a climax with the crowning of the Rose Festival Queen, who is selected from metro area high school students and makes goodwill visits around the state, and Fleet Week starting June 5, when vessels from the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and Canadian Navy dock downtown.
Festival organizers are looking for volunteers to do everything from guiding the parades to decorating floats. In exchange for their time, they can receive community service hours, a ticket to the downtown fair, four reserved seats at the Grand Floral Parade and a T-shirt.
Rick and Marie Saturn, prime minister and first lady of the Royal Rosarians, hosted the Milk Carton Boat Races at Westmoreland Park June 26, 2016. The races date back to the 1973 Portland Rose Festival, but this year's events marked the first time that the Portland civic group ran the show.
Bryan M. Vance / OPB